How NOT to behave at a BBQ competition

A quick story about a fairly famous competitor at a fairly well known
competition and a lesson in how NOT to behave:

First, this particular competition is capped at 45 professional teams. The
top 12-15 teams are made up of a who's-who of nationally recognized
competitors, many of them former national champions at either MIM,
The Jack, or The Royal. The next tier of 12 to 15 teams are very
consistent competitors that do 10 to 20 comps each year with numerous
GC's in each one of their histories. It's a tough field. That's part of
the fun of it.

Anyway, one of the competitors who has had a wonderful past at this
particular competition always gets a prime spot, if not THE prime spot,
and always takes up the space of 2 other teams. He's been a regular
celebrity of sorts here (no, it's not Myron Mixon, and I will keep the
name to myself).

Well, for the first time that I ever recollect, this particular outing this
particular competitor didn't make finals in any category.

BTW, Jack's Old South over the years has been *blanked* more than
a time or two, and never acted like this. For that matter, many other
nationally ranked/known teams have been blanked, and none ever
behaved like this:

Anyway, rather than being a great competitor and attending the
awards ceremony and cheering his competitors on in their success, this
particular guy packed up his tremendous site and began to drive his
truck through the crowd. He actually bumped a few crowd attendees
with his truck. The police were brought in and it was all they could
do to not arrest this guy. They did detain him. They held him until
the agreed time when all the competitors were allowed to pack up.
Honestly, the way he was acting, I'm surprised he didnt get charged
with multiple accounts of assault.

BTW, as I understand it, he and his team, historically the premier team
at this event (yes, even above Jack's Old South), will not be asked to
come back. I'm not certain, but I think the town will do everything it
can to prevent him from returning (and still keep the competition
sanctioned).

This is how NOT to take a loss.

Lets face it, we all have good days, we all have our off days. Many times
it has more to do with which table your entry lands on and what other
entries are on that same table.

You'd think a guy who's been competing for 10 years and on the national
scale for 6+ years would get this. Perhaps he just had a REALLY bad day.
However, running over people in the crowd isn't how to act. Snubbing
your fellow competitors like this isn't how to act.

Sadly, this guy and his team were way up there on my aspire-to list. No
longer. I've had great days, and I've been darned near DAL. I've always
taken both with a smile and congrats to the winners and a thanks when
it's been us. Frankly, I'm also very disappointed. I was really looking
forward to the next competition to be able to compete against them. It
looks like that's not going to happen. Oh well, guess we'll just have to
beat the Boy's In Black (Jack's Old South).
:-D

Metoeric (Eric), Was an MBN comp and yes the reps were there. Dont know about
any suspension, but I dont think so (looking at the teams subsequent results at
other contests). Luckily the cops were very close and got involved about the time
anyone realized that anything was wrong. They prevented it from getting BAD.

It was just sad really, and honestly I'm very disappointed in this person. Acting
like that has NO place in ANY competition. The crowd was pretty large (by most
competition standards), that's why they have a "cant pack up until 6pm" thing
in the competition specific rules. Even then they let the competitors out the
"back door" because the event goes until 2 or 3am with literally THOUSANDS of
people attending.

Nobody was hurt, just a few very startled folks and perhaps a very small bruise
on the one guys arm. The competitor (and I will not list his name) probably had
more bruises from the cops having to hold him. It's like this guy was having
an out-of-body bad experience or something. Normally I'd chalk this up to drinking,
but I honestly dont think this guy drinks. Maybe that's the problem; too pent up...

And, Grail (Larry), I dont think he makes it to California. Was an MBN comp here
in Georgia. To name a name would be to run this guy down. There's no reason
for that, same as there is no reason for this type of behavior to have happened
in the first place. More than anything I'm listing this to let the newer competitors
that this isn't acceptable behavior, and that on any given day you can do great,
and you can do not-so-great, and to not let it get the best of 'ya. Please, none
of the no-pics-didnt-happen. It did. I'm sure, as Rub said, it happens more than
we'd like to think, and by competitors who should know better, too.

Sadly, like I said, he was almost revered around here. From what I understand, that's
completely gone. In talking with the organizer yesterday, they're not asking him back.
It's unlikely he'll want to come back, but as it's sanctioned, unless he misses the 45
team cut, they'll probably have to let him back in if he signs up. In talking with one
of his team members this morning, he hasn't signed up yet and hasn't mentioned it
one way or the other. Something tells me he's going to be put in that faaaaar back
spot all by his little lonesome, right next to the back door, rather than up front in
grand central. His team mates will suffer a little as a result too. They're no longer
"the team". MBN = pretty large teams. Ours has 4 primary cooks, plus 2 or 3 others on ancillaries and another 2 or 3 to help out, and we're a fairly small team.

The only reason I mentioned Myron or his team is that after BBQ PitMasters it would
be possible that someone would think it was him, and it wasn't him at all. While he
sure likes his fancy words, when he's been here (his team is usually here, but
sometimes [like probably this year] he's at another comp) he's always nice and if he
doesn't make finals he's always cheered on his fellow competitors.

I'd rather not mention the comp, but I'm sure there's more than one person here in
Brethren that knows which one I'm referencing. This could happen at most
any comp, and I wouldn't want it to be a reflection of either the comp, venue, and
certainly not the organizer. They put on one helluva show!

Wasnt intended that way, and as brethren tends to be KCBS centric, I doubt 80% of
the competitors even know this guy. You actually might, being a Ga guy, but that's
neither here nor there, because:

Restated:
> More than anything I'm listing this to let the newer competitors
that this isn't acceptable behavior, and that on any given day you can do great,
and you can do not-so-great, and to not let it get the best of 'ya. Please, none
of the no-pics-didnt-happen. It did. I'm sure, as Rub said, it happens more than
we'd like to think, and by competitors who should know better, too.

Sorry, I dont "do" Basso's, and I have no idea what "put the guy on blast" is.