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

What is the best way to split tournament fees? I’ve received several requests for information on this topic. Of the roughly 347+ racing clubs (information taken from NAFA Growth Trends 2006) there are probably that many different methods used to split tournament fees.The clubs that I have raced with have split the fees equally between the dogs on each team, which is probably the easiest way to do it. However, it may not be the fairest method since heats may not be split equally between all of the dogs on the team. If your dog only runs a small number of heats for a weekend, you may feel cheated, and it may not stop there. After all, if you had to travel some distance to a tournament, pay hotel expenses, and meals only to get a few heats, you may really feel cheated.

I have heard that some clubs pay the tournament fees from club money and then after the tournament the fee for each dog is calculated based on the number of heats each of the dogs ran. This is probably a fair way to accomplish this but it does take some amount of time to figure out. Moreover, the club may need a fair amount of working capital depending on the size of the club, number of teams, and how many tournaments the club attends.

How does your club do it? Inquiring minds want to know!

Larry

I know the Measuring debate has taken on a few twist and turns after my post, Large Chest Penalty so I would like to take a few minutes to summarize the debate. The post itself wasn’t very long, only two paragraphs, because I wanted the picture to tell the story. If you’ve read the first couple of comments, I think you’ll agree the picture did tell the story, but then it slipped into another realm when this comment was posted…

The wicket didn’t do this to this dog. BREEDING did! Life isn’t fair for this dog….not just flyball.

If you read my responds, you know that I rather lost it. I took it personal. If you know me, you know that I’m all of 5 feet 4 and 1 half inches tall. I have to throw in the extra half inch because I think I deserve it, but if anyone ask me my height I tell them I’m 5 feet 5 inches.

After that rampage was over, the same person made another comment…

I say, set the jumps where you want to jump. Declare your jump height. Forget measuring.

This seems like a radical departure to me. It’s like, we can’t figure out what method, both are unfair, so let’s not measure at all. I read a comment from another post that said “…I think that there is room for another organization - maybe called NOFLI - where we don’t even have jumps, just a box. ” This is what I think of when someone suggests using declared jump heights. It just seems like a lazy mans approach to me. I could be wrong.

Julia then posted an excellent comment on a “scientific method” to determine the best method of measuring. This is probably the best approach I’ve heard on this issue. I’m no scientist or engineer, but I bet there are a few people out there that could do this.

Then we received this…

More and more, I think the solution just may be a radical departure from the “status quo”. I don’t believe that keeping the wicket is in NAFA’s best interest. I also don’t believe that measuring the leg bone will resolve these issues either. Debating “which” method is better is also leading us further down the “measuring” rabbit hole.

Rabbit hole - By extension, the term has also come to signify any event, which triggers a completely unexpected, bizarre situation or paradigm.

How does measuring trigger a completely unexpected, bizarre situation or paradigm? If you figure this one out let me know.

Jackie made a good comment about jump heights based on breeds. This sounds good but the only problem would be mixed breeds. However, the idea may be worth exploring.

Summing it Up

1. It is the Dog’s Problem
2. Declaring Your Jump Height
3. Rabbit Hole Reasoning (may have something to do with 2. Declaring your jump height)
4. Scientific Method to Determine the Best Method (my favorite)
5. Jump Height Based on Breed

Which approach sounds like something worth pursuing?

Larry

Addendum

The subject of an Electronic Measuring System was brought up, which really does sound like the best solution for measuring. I have it on good information that this was even suggested to the BOD sometime back and was deemed too expensive.

The system is such where the dog is walked down a path in front of the system i.e. through sensors while several different measurements were recorded. The information is then sent to a laptop computer and run through some algorithm where the correct jump height is given.

I suggest that this method be explored further even though cost maybe a precluding factor.

Gloucester Cathedral Choir - In the Bleak Midwinter

A Prayer For Peace

Let us pray that strength and courage abundant be given to all who work for a world of reason and understanding, that the good that lies in every man’s heart may day by day be magnified, that men will come to see more clearly not that which divides them but that which unites them, that each hour may bring us closer to a final victory, not of nation over nation but of man over his own evils and weaknesses, that the true spirit of this Christmas season ~ its joy, its beauty, its hope, and above all its abiding faith ~ may live among us and that the blessings of peace be ours ~ the peace to build and grow, to live in harmony and sympathy with others, and to plan for the future with confidence.

Merry Christmas from all of us!