Entries from October 2007 ↓

Pride is an admission of weakness;
it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals.
Author: Fulton J. Sheen

I must say that Fulton J Sheen, in the quote above, sums it up very succinctly. Pride is our recognition of our own self worth and in some instances is a good thing. It is good to have pride in something that we feel very connected to like pride in our work, our organization, and ourselves. On the other hand, pride can be detrimental when our attitude becomes one of superiority that manifest itself in arrogance and boasting.

In striving to maintain a brand or uniqueness, some may be hindering future success. If you have been following my last few posts, you have a good idea what I am referencing. I am not going to dwell on this any longer, for I get the feeling that very few in the flyball community care about this. Besides, the people that most need to hear the message are silent.

My Status

It is very hard for me to hold a neutral position on things that I feel strongly about. It has been a shock even to me that I feel so strongly about some things and have voiced my concerns, sometimes too loudly. Before I started this blog I certainly had opinions, but I was more of a lurker than an outspoken participant.

I knew in the back of my mind, it would be difficult to keep the blog going without input and help from other authors and I have sought support from others, but have been unsuccessful. I am proud of what I have accomplished since the start of this blog because I am not a writer. I have tried to post something at least weekly but I am feeling the burnout. Therefore, I have decided to take some time off to reflect and rejuvenate. However, if something happens in the flyball community that I feel strongly about or feel a need to respond I will do so.

I hope that you will find the information that is already posted here a useful reference and that you will check back regularly or even better, that you will subscribe using the “Subscribe to Post” button above. That way when I do post something, you will be sure to know. Additionally, Fay will be posting additional articles of interest for all dog lovers.

Thank you all for your continued support and comments. If you would like to keep up with what I am doing, you can read some of my random ramblings on my other blog, Life’s Curveballs.

Larry

You make the call

This issue has been batted back and forth now ever since the announcement of the Open Class and Performance team was introduced this year.

The issue is whether Open Class teams should compete in the same division as Regular Class teams. The way the rules were written, Open Class teams can only compete against other Open Class teams and Veterans Class teams.

My contentions is that running Open Class teams against Regular Class teams seeded for the same division would enhance the competition between the like teams even though the Open Class team earns no tournament points or placement in the tournament. The dogs thrive on the competition just as much as the people do.

Larry

Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.

It is really sad but I had to close the poll because I found that someone was voting numerous times. Getting your coworkers to vote for you is unfair and childish.

You Make the Call – Would you like to have your questions or problems answered in the poll? Just send me the all the details using the contact form and I will do the rest.

Sorry, I must have been asleep at the helm, it finally sunk in, or I just woke up. I was driving home from my daughter’s house and listening to loud Hard Rock on my XM radio, I know, I know, I’m 53 and that stuff rots your brain and gives you hearing loss, and it hit me. Did I read somewhere that one single BOD member prevented the Open Class from being run with the other divisions like in U-FLI? I did, and I must have glanced right over it. Here is a quote from a comment I received on my post, Open Class Pros and Cons, which were all Cons by the way:

My understanding (from a BOD member) is that basically a single BOD member prevented the Open Class from being more open based on the opinion that NAFA should not be too much like U-FLI.

This sucks with a capital S. I am just a little upset by this, can you tell? Is this in the best interest of Flyball? I don’t think so not in any way, shape, or form. I would like to know why, how can this be, is this true? If every Flyballer out there is not just a little ticked off by this, there is something wrong.

This is from another comment by Eli that says it much better than I could:

Instituting an Open class, instead of adopting a model that appears to be working, created a number of issues.

Pickup teams definitely should be entered along side Regular teams, if for no other reason than to keep the competition fun and to help fill Regular divisions. Right?

This goes right back to what I first said in my post, Open Class and Performance Teams after reading about how they screwed up the Open Class. Now I find that it came down to one person.

If anyone knows something out there, can you explain it to me, or disprove this so I can go back to sleep.

Larry