Harsh dose of reality

That's a lot of non-certified judges. Think you nailed the problem on the head.

Sorry you got skunked, dude. Been there...more than a few times! When you've been on a roll, it sucks coming home empty handed. It was hot & the turn ins were long for those of us in the cheap seats. However, you got to enjoy that awesome rig (I want that cooker!!!), enjoy your hobby, enjoy some Brethren company, and enjoy that wonderful bride of yours.

Once you turn that box in, it is out of your hands, CBJ's or not. Win, lose or draw, Randy and I always evaluate our weekend by two criteria: were WE proud of our food & did we have a good time.

Laurie, MO 2007
Proud of our Food: Some of it
Had a Good Time: ABSOLUTELY!!!!

Keep your chin up and don't let the judging get to you. Mean Dean always says, "You have 24 hours to celebrate or morn. Then you gotta move on."

It was AWESOME visiting with you and the wifey this weekend. Randy and I were definitely wanting to talk BBQ, catering and concessions with you. You've got a cool thing going for yourself, brother.

Pathetic........... the scoring that is. Glad to know you had a good time. I can understand venting frustration though.

Since we use untrained judges in IBCA, I have accepted the fact that you just need to cook with tenderness and flavor in mind and try to stay consistant if you want to place in a category. As long as the same judges are scoring consistantly with all of the turn-ins at a given table I can live with the fairness of the judging. Since in IBCA we will forward the same number of turn-ins from each preliminary table onto the next round, in the end I feel that the cream will rise to the top. Therefore at the final table, the actual scoring will take place.

It definitely pays to check ahead of time and see what the ratio is for judges non certs to certs. That still doesn't guarantee anything since I've sat next to CBJ's that need some more training still. I think some don't listen during the class . I've learned that you have to take the good with the bad or you're gonna get a bad attitude real quick. I agree there is a judging inconsistancy but have also came to the conclusion that as long as a human(a lot of em) in this case is doing the judging then there will be inconsistancies along most of the way.
Laurie definitely required fall off the bone meat IMO. And something chocolate for "Anything Butt" category. But, that's me! At least you had a good time:grin: . Me? I sat here in the house all weekend unable to do anything at all. I only wish I had a couple of botched scores to gripe about. However, that day is coming soon and I am anxiously waiting..:smile:

Never good to hear about poor results..

However, looking at it from the other perspective, all the other teams were put up against the same set of judges. and faced the same challenges, inconsistencies etc... so in that regard it's not possible that everyone got skunked.

Go get em next time !!!

I feel your pain, my highest scoring item this weekend was Brisket which was so over cooked I couldn't even slice it without it falling apart 52 of 80, and my almost perfectly cooked ribs only ranked 62 of 80. I guess I should have turned in the slightly over cooked falling off the bone ribs. Oh well you win some you lose some.

Yeah judging can make a great time go bad. However, you will always have it. I judge one contest and we were all CBJs, and the difference between some of us was interesting.

Just keep smoking!

Sorry for the scoring, been on both sides of that...we've hit more good tables than bad this year, so I'd say we've been "lucky"...

Hope to meet you in person someday! 1st beer's on me! That is if Becky from Great Grills hasn't drank them all......LOL

Solidkick said:

Sorry for the scoring, been on both sides of that...we've hit more good tables than bad this year, so I'd say we've been "lucky"...

Hope to meet you in person someday! 1st beer's on me! That is if Becky from Great Grills hasn't drank them all......LOL

Click to expand...

Hey, now was that called for:lol: I dont just drink yours:lol:

Is it possible the certified judge gave the 6's, Yes, is it possible that the person found your brisket to be not desirable to their palate? Yes, is there a to look at their judging of all things and see if they were consistent/ who knows. 6 is average, maybe that person has extremely high standards. Maybe they gave all 6's til they found the on ethat made them go WOW! Scott

The issue of judging is a sore spot for me. We turned in ribs that were so over cooked that I had a very difficult time keeping the bones in them. Not to mention how black they were. Well we took fourth place with them. That was embarrassing to say the least. The next comp we turn in ribs that were should have been 9's across the board and we took fifth place.
My father was in town this past weekend to take the cbj class. He said there was a few folks that scored down for the meat being tuff. Ok, no problem there, but when asked by the instructor...wheres the tuff meat...the responce was...I ate it. HMMMM. Maybe I just dont understand people. Dad said some of the people even admitted that they have never smoked any kind of meat! I'm thinking...and they want to be a judge? Oh please! Ok, I'm getting off my soap box now..Sorry, I just had to rant alittle.

I'm taking the CBJ class next week. I expect it to be pretty enlightening and I think it will help my chances of getting a little bit better scores. While it might not help the taste of my product, it will give me some ideas on what judges are instructed to expect.