BBQSMYBFF heres your cattle call.
Vinnie, I believe I met you and your brother at Yardly outside Big Barrys tent. We had a brief discussion on your sauces and i offered my opinions on the 'crazy stuff"... which is in line with the opinion presented to you here. But after going back and reading your cattle call, I'd like to make a few suggestions and point out a few things.
Its not often I have a fit, but I'm gonna step in because you just thru a blanket over my forum, its membership, KCBS and the judging pool by saying we are like everyone else with nothing better to do :icon_pissed.. Heres a reality check addressing some of the things in this thread.
1 - Get certified as a judge. Go to the class and learn what the baselines are that your required to cook to for a KCBS Contest. .. it will help you understand what the judges are looking for and stop blaming them. It will help you understand that crazy sauces and deviating too far from the the norm is detrimental. Right now, your comments and accusations seem like nothing more than a disgruntled and inexperienced competitor.
We are all aware of the risk of inconsistencies in judging, we accept it and even expect it. But there is this small hole in the center of the BBQ Universe that if you find it, you will consistently score higher than your peers. It is no longer luck, or a good table of judges you land on, but it is YOUR product that is just that good, you may not get all 9's, but u wont get 2 6's that will drag u down. The system WORKS.
2 -
Get out of your head that getting a check makes you a pro. Your NOT, I'm not and 99.8% of us here ARE NOT. We are hobbiests, we are enthusiasts, and
some even are pitmasters, but we(you included) are NOT
Professional Pitmasters or BBQchefs. I don't care how much CIA or culinary experience you have. 2-3 contests and a walk does NOT qualify anyone as a pro
on this circuit. Mike Davis, Ray Lampe, Rod Gray, Johnny Trigg.. etc..
they make their living doing BBQ. They have years and years and YEARS of experience and cook more in 8 months than some of us would do in a lifetime.
We are the weekend warriors,
they are the pitmasters and the folks who will hand us our heads with their eyes closed and a bag of lump. Teams Like I-que, I smell smoke, Cancer sucks, etc..., they are climbing that ladder rung by rung and paying their dues. Its the guys of THAT caliber that qualify as the "PROFESSIONALS". Look up the credentials of Great Grills of Fire, The boys form Tornado Alley, Munching Hogs at the Hilton, Quau, to name a few. But to beat your chest because you got a paycheck is loading yourself into the cannon of disappointment. Slow down, and learn from those around you, or you will be humbled in the blink of a eye. I'm heading to the the American Royal Invitational and possible The Jack this year, and honestly I'm scared chit of what I'm up against and I have been cooking BBQ for 25 years. There are
REAL PROS out there.
After 25 years of cooking BBQ and 4 years competing in about 20 contests(4-5 a year), I have a table of trophies, a got bunch of checks.. but I will NEVER claim to be a PROFESSIONAL. I am still learning from the members here and on the circuit, and I respect the opinions and advice of those that offer it. Especially those that know better than I. I won't dismiss their advice and fight for my right to deviate. I take the advice and decide if I want to use it and win, or conversely, try to change the game.
3 - Dump the sour grapes. Use this forum for what its here for.
TO LEARN. Face it, you are in a place many of us have been. Your coming off a high from a previous contest and you get your clock cleaned at the next. Been there done that. It's the nature of the beast, and until you accept that, you will be bitter or confused after every contest that you don't take a walk in. If you can not accept the game for what it is, then find another game. Keep this in mind, A GC in an open/backyard/grilling event IS JUDGED UNDER SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT EXPECTATIONS THAN A KCBS CHAMPIONSHIP. Your cattle call states you take pride in crazy sauces and unique products. By all means do that, and learn form the results, but don't chastize the judges because they dont like the product. Experiment in the open events and you may do well, but push the envelope to far to either side in the KCBS event, and you will have a rude awakening. As I stated before, there are expectations in the judges tent. If you choose to ignore those expectations and experiment with the judges, you can not blame anyone but yourself for poor scores.
Face it. Judges will NEVER all agree. The KCBS system drops the low score and weighs the rest. One of my last contests I had 4-8-9-9-9-9...
in appearance . WTF?.. I laughed and moved on. It is part of our sport.
4 - Look down this thread and read the names of some of those that have offered advice. Ignore those that threw back the jabs, the moderators will scrub them out again. But their are ALOT of people who have alot.. and I mean many YEARS more experience than you, and they are trying to explain how things work on the KCBS circuit, yet it seems you are fighting it and not
accepting things for what they are. You have your opinions and expectations of what this sport should be. We here, are trying to help you understand
what IT IS. They do not and will not match up. Everyone who has ever competed was pissed at the judging pool at one tim eor another, but to make blanket statements with disregard to those around you who know better is not going to help you improve. And worse, it's not going to make people around you want to help you to improve.
i apologize if this rant comes across harsh, but at the stage of the thread, the bad Karma being seeded and the constant jabs being thrown, its time to either accept it for what it is, or add it to your ignore list.