Special prize for DAL... insult or incentive?

M

Matt_A

Guest
How would you as a competition team view a special prize for coming in last? Say, perhaps paying the tuition for a Competition BBQ cooking class, or some such? I realize that not all teams that come in DAL are rookie teams, but a lot of them seem to be struggling and I was wondering if something that could help them get a handle on things would be appreciated.
 
Interesting concept...except. Im not sure how I would feel If i was in the top 10 of a comp and only receive a couple hundred bucks and the DAL gets $500-750 worth of comp classes.. ok maybe I do know how I would feel, pretty ticked! Maybe a small DAL ribbon but not anything of value.. just my o2
 
What would stop a team from turning in 1 piece of chicken, 1 rib, 1 slice of pork and 1 slice of brisket at a (let's say) $300 contest? They'd then ride off into the sunset with a (let's say) $500 class. That's a pretty good ROI in the BBQ world.

Or another scenario. Team A turns in chicken, then turns in ribs. Team A then gets to meet the contest rep for the first time for turning in an uncut slab of ribs. Knowing they have an almost guaranteed DAL rib score, they turn their attention to tanking the other two meats in order to "win" the class.

I see where you are going, but assigning a prize with significant cash value to a last place team will most likely not go over well.....IMHO.

I agree with a small ribbon or something similar.
 
As a rookie/hobby cook I strive to finish above the DAL. Bringing attention to a DAL if I am involved, and don't know about the "award" before paying and cooking? That will earn a kick to the war bag.


And not figuratively either.
 
Just pick a place and give a unique trophy or something to that place in the overall. Anything else is going to annoy someone. Though I really can't imagine me dragging all my stuff out to a contest and tanking on purpose to get a class entry. I could stay and home, buy the class entry, and probably come out ahead. $500 doesnt get me to a contest anymore.
 
I think rewarding a team for coming in last is infantile and insulting. It is not the job of the contest to try to teach the teams how to cook especially when there are teams who spent a lot of time and money teaching themselves how to cook.
 
Let's face it, any one of us could end up DAL for whatever reason. I'd hate to see one of us get a cookbook or something because we happened to trip and spill our box (or whatever reason) and end up being the butt of the organizer's joke that one of us can't cook BBQ !
 
If you give it discretely I don't see an issue with it. I agree, announcing it may not be the best way to go about that.
 
Podge said:
Let's face it, any one of us could end up DAL for whatever reason. I'd hate to see one of us get a cookbook or something because we happened to trip and spill our box (or whatever reason) and end up being the butt of the organizer's joke that one of us can't cook BBQ !
Click to expand...
True dat, got DAL in Columbia 2 weeks ago by missing rib turn in by 2 seconds.

I was already pissed at myself and would have felt pretty bad for the organizer that poured a little gasoline on my fire by giving me a DAL award.:mad2:
 
I have seen it done at a contest for last place in chicken. They called it "Choke You Chicken" award.

I was embarrassed for the guy till I found out he won more than I did and I got first in brisket and 3rd overall.

He won a free entry into next years contest.

They way I look at it is...It's not a secret, everybody knows who gets last place already. If it's me I'd take the money and run
 
At a backyard event I went to earlier this season as a warm for my rookie year they had a tradition of handing out a DAL award. In theory it was a fun bunch of guys who were all friends and it was supposed to be a good natured gesture. Unfortunately it kind of backfired this year, IMO, as the DAL team was a father/son team where the dad let the kid (about 13) do the lionshare of the work. They had some issues with their cooker and things went wrong. The heartbreak on the kid's face when they got called up for DAL was so sad.

Maybe a better solution would be to have a drawing for all teams that finished in the bottom half of the field. I am sure any of those teams would appreciate it, they wouldn't be called out for DAL and the odds would make it so no one could intentionally go for it.
 
we just had the Air Force Marathon here at Wright Patterson AFB. For the 5k race, they gave a "tail end charlie" award, DAL. they didnt do it at the awards ceremony, it was done at when they crossed the line. very discretely. might be apples to oranges a little bit as running anything more than a block is an accomplishment in my book. I still think it would be embarassing. its bad enough that its published on the scores sheets
 
While I doubt anyone would go out there and spend all the money and time to intentionally submit things to come in DAL. I'd say save the money for the people who do well. If I come in DAL I don't want any extra attention.
 
I was at a contest this year where the team that finished DAL may not have won a special DAL prize, but won a special drawing and an award that no other competitors even knew about. We didnt get notification of where teams placed for 2 weeks then when we got the email with where everyone finished we could not figure out how the DAL team won more in prizes than even the grandchampion. This was an unsanctioned event and I know they have their own rules but it made me question the legitimacy of stuff.

As a rookie team, our goal right now is to learn and have fun and get better. Individually it is to NOT be DAL and I would be bothered if I "won" anything for finishing DAL. Personally I would rather a contest organizer acknowledge first time teams rather than anything for DAL.
 
Here's a little story about DAL.

Last year, at the Sam's Club invitational, someone commented that somebody was going to come in DAL, and given that field it was either going to be someone to whom it had never happened before, or hadn't happened to in a long time. (And I'm sure everyone breathed a silent postscript, "Let it not be me.")

When all was said and done, that DAL score would have WON an awful lot of contests across the nation that day.

So in my mind, whether it's a team on their first outing or a veteran who missed a turn-in, let that last finisher have the dignity of having come out and tried. Don't try to make it into something else.
 
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