JC / Railbird

Another Committee

– But you’ll want to join this one: Dana of GbG announces the formation of the Self Appointed Fan Committee, which I had a small part (kindly, Dana gives me too much credit) in pulling together this weekend. While it might seem to be a response to the debate that erupted following last week’s congressional hearing on horse racing over the lack of any mention of fans or players made by the panel members, the idea dates back to the flap over the Breeders’ Cup changes announced in February and to a conversation the two of us had over hot dogs at Old Town, when “we agreed that we should start our own damn Fan Committee because it was clear it was probably never going to happen otherwise.” We’re keeping the agenda simple: Our goal is to make sure you’re heard, and so the site will be a forum for all fans to vent, complain, and give feedback. We’ll collect, display, and wrangle your comments into monthly reports. Self Appointed Fan Committee opens on or around July 1 — bookmark the site, prepare your laments, and check back often.
– It’s gratifying to see a turf writer of Ray Paulick’s stature pick up on my observation, made last week while watching the congressional hearing, that fans weren’t adequately represented by the panel (not that players were the only group left out on Thursday and complaining about being overlooked), even if he did kick it old media at his new media home. I’ll assume I’m the “PR Blogger” previously mentioned on his homepage, since I commented on his site about the oversight, and that I influenced, at least, “Hearing Ignores Fans,” since Paulick commented on my post making that point. Seriously though, Ray, where’s the link?


3 Comments

I find it strange that the “consumer” — the 2 headed fan and bettor was not mentioned nor did they talk about pari mutuel betting which is the lifeblood of the industry.

Posted by robert on June 23, 2008 @ 9:52 am

OK, Jessica, you got me. Forgot to link you. But we have added your post to our new feature, Best of the Blogs, at http://www.paulickreport.com.
Thanks for calling me out on that one.
By the way, who is Ed? Sounds like a total generate gambler. We need more like him.

Posted by Ray Paulick on June 23, 2008 @ 12:55 pm

Thanks, Ray, and love the new BotB feature. I think you might know Ed from TT — he’s been popping in here since the Derby.

Posted by Jessica on June 25, 2008 @ 10:18 am