[Smitty250]

The more I think about this the more disheartened I become! Why in the world would KCBS give the judges the right to NOT judge a piece of meat because they "think" it is raw?!? The OP stated that the rep said "The judge refused to try it because they thought it was raw". With the amount of money, time, effort, travel, passion, heart and soul that we cooks put into this hobby/sport - this should be troubling to everyone. The fact that one judge can base thier scores on your product on how they "think" it is cooked! Are you serious?!? Without even tasting it?!?

I know that that the score from that so called "judge" was dropped - that is not the point. I think KCBS needs to look into this deeper. There is way too much on the line for us cooks to let this happen. I know there are BOD members on this forum - If you are reading this thread please discuss this at the next meeting. Many posters on this thread have excellent ideas on how to combat this - Let the TC sample, another judge, average score, etc...

BTW - I am not a judge basher - Whenever I see the judges walking around I thank them for coming out and volunteering their time to come judge our product. I am great friends with several judges and many of them come by my camp after judging to chat. There are many amazing judges that take this serious and are a huge asset to this sport. To those judges I say Thank You for all that you do! To this particular "judge" I say please stay at home and cook your own ribs!