Entries from January 2008 ↓

Amazing skateboarding Jack Russell named JoJo does it all, jumps, spins, and rails like a pro!

Well the New Year is upon us and I am sure we are all looking forward to a great year of racing in 08.

In reflecting back over the previous year I happened upon the recently posted minutes from the last BOD meeting in Omaha along with the Attachment A Financial Report for Oct1 – Nov 28 2007. Mighty fine readin if you ask me. It brings some questions to mind that I have been unable to put answers to (yes and maybe I should be putting these questions to the bod but thought I would share them with the flyball public to see their feelings on it). For those that would like to follow along please see Attachment A - Profit & Loss for the November 30, 2007 Board Meeting in Omaha, NE.

In looking at the figures for Cynosports for 07 we see that they recorded expenditures of $17,619.19 (not counting the $1040.00 listed in the meeting minutes as not being included for a total of $18,659.19) and income of $9400.00. This would give us a loss of -$9259.19.

In looking back at the 06 Cynosports (sorry you will have to go back to previous minutes to see this) we see that they recorded expenditures of $11,906.29 and income of $5442.66. This would give us a loss of -$6463.63. Total loss between both years is -$15,722.82. Wow this is a lot of money spent in these two years.

To put this into better perspective that would add up to 786.141 team fees ($20) to NAFA® for tournaments. I can understand where this is considered a good marketing audience but to what audience or who and how are they able to track benefits of this event? It was stated in the minutes that the goal of Cynosports is not to make money. But, as an owner of a club that sends a substantial amount of tournament fees to NAFA both from our club entering tournaments to us hosting tournament, what is the benefit of Cynosports to me/us in the flyball community? I could see a better benefit for all of us would be for our money to go to the purchase of more lights and maintenance of existing ones. How many years can we continue to hold this event at such a loss? Do any of the clubs that are hosting tournaments at this time continue to hold them at a loss year after year? I know that we wouldn’t if we were going in the hole each year. Maybe there are better ways of marketing flyball that should be looked into.

Well I have stated my quarters worth. You can either agree with me or disagree. I have only stated the facts of what is being published. I look forward to hearing other people opinions on this. Maybe there is another side that I am not seeing.

Happy racing in 08.

Judy

What has happened to Larry? I guess you can say that I have shifted my focus to other endeavors. Flyball has been such a large part of my life over the last 7, going on 8 years, and it is long past time that it takes a back seat. I will still occasionally participate because my wife and I have joined another team but it will be nothing like it has in the past.

I was really hoping that I could find other contributors to take up some of the burden of the blog. After all, I look at this forum as your voice, the flyball community’s voice. It’s your voice in an otherwise closed society of owners and board members. The problem is that most people are afraid of retribution or ridicule by teammates and others in this very small community, and they want to remain anonymous.

There are still many issues that can be discussed. NAFA still continues to waste tons of money on their so-called promotion of flyball in the southwest. If you have looked at the profit & loss statement recently posted on the NAFA website, you will see that it’s been another costly year for the Cynosports boondoggle. In the government, we call these little excursions boondoggles, i.e. an activity or project that is unnecessary and wasteful of time or money. However, I digress. My point is that there are many things out there worthy of thought provoking discussion if someone wanted to take up the cause.

I will leave the blog up and running and may post something from time to time but it will be nothing like it was. It does cost me money to run the blog because decent hosting is not always cheap so every now and than it would be good if you would click on some of the links to the left side of the screen. Every click is worth a few cents and it adds up.

I want to thank everyone who has read and has participated in this forum, and I bid you all good fortune and happy racing.

Larry