Do boxes ever really get switched?

Not all reps are created equal. After the last BOD meeting, we now have 2 that we will never compete under.

Yes boxes get switched during the renumbering process, but it's a pretty rare occurrence and in the couple of times I've seen it happen it always gets caught and corrected. It's a lot more common to see comment cards go to the wrong team.

I suppose that mix ups could happen, but I think due care is being taken to avoid this.

KCBS Reps can and do audit scores if something seems amiss. Within the last couple of years, contests I have been at are looking up team numbers at turn in, and telling the person doing the turn what the team name is - just to verify that it's right. At the contests I attend, they check which tables your boxes have gone to, and try not to send any team's turn in a given table more than once. Sometimes the boxes are mixed up so they don't go to the table in the order that they were turned in. I don't know if all of these things are standard KCBS practice, but most of the northeast reps are doing these things as a practice.

It seems that a lot of effort is being made to ensure that turn ins are fair to the teams. I think, from what I see the few times I have judged, is that the process is pretty reasonably managed.

It's most likely the judge didn't correctly describe the flavor, but didn't like something about it. Maybe there was not vinegar, but had that taste. Judges will equate a taste with an ingredient. It was probably too tangy or not enough sweet for their taste.

For example, a common complaint from teams is getting a comment card that says the food had a "lighter fluid" taste when the team didn't use lighter fluid. It's probably a case of the judge describing the flavor incorrectly vs. a mix up. If you smolder a wood fire you can get creosote on the surface of the meat which will impart a lighter fluid taste to it and earn you a "lighter fluid" comment card.

I'm in the same boat as you after this past weekend. My chicken average on the year has been 169. This past weekend I cooked really good chicken and got a 147. At this contest they did not hand out score sheets at all so I have nothing to go off of. How would someone go about having this looked into, or is it something that will never go anywhere so why bother?

All I'm sayin is we got four 1st briskest, two 2nds, and 1 3rd this year but our second to last comp where the IBCA president won and we got DAL also it makes you wonder alot. Not whining either but we could not find our brisket anywhere on the judging tables afterwards, but there was one empty box with no knife cut marks in the foil indicating it was not judged and the juice where the meat touched the foil tasted just like mine. There were some really sorry briskets in the finals table so you know it's like WTF! I have heard about boxes going out the back door several times. There is no proof but people just don't dream up this kind of stuff. I have no doubt that it happens. We just don't walk up our boxes anymore. Either my mom, sister or BIL do it, problem solved.

I'm clueless about those scores Wampus. I'm not whining like a little school girl, but. There's no way in he•• that we scored that bad. We knew our chicken wasn't perfect but the other 3. Completely clueless. Might be time to hang it up for me!!

Wampus said:

But, this was just flat out ODD. At what point do you start really wondering if something was switched up? Even if we did think that was a possibility.....what then?


Just thought I'd run it by y'all.

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I'm assuming this was a KCBS event? If so and you really think you got switched out you can go to the rep and ask to see your box since they save them. They will go through and pull your empty box with the blind number still on it then peel it off in front of you to make sure that the original team number underneath is yours. I don't know what happens if it isn't your original number since every time I've seen it done the numbers have been correct.

Sometimes I wish my box had been switched! :wink:


And I've yet to hear anyone ask "What the heck happened? There's no way our entry should have been in the top five!" :shock:

We actually thought the same thing at Sams club the first year. We had been top 6 or 7 in chicken at every event that year and finished second to last in Chicken and DAL overall. The thought crossed my mind briefly but I've tried to dismiss it as only a bad cook. That's the kind of thing that can get in your head and make you start doubting the whole judging process and that is no good.

timzcardz said:

Sometimes I wish my box had been switched! :wink:


And I've yet to hear anyone ask "What the heck happened? There's no way our entry should have been in the top five!" :shock:

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We have turned in some junky ribs that were super salty smoke ring all the way through falling apart sloppy, and walked 1st. Even I thought you gotta be joking me!

timzcardz said:

Sometimes I wish my box had been switched! :wink:


And I've yet to hear anyone ask "What the heck happened? There's no way our entry should have been in the top five!" :shock:

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Apparently you weren't at Green Lane when we took first in brisket :becky:

Kempis, I got a comment card back that said 'brisket tastes like salmon', we still took a 3rd, but, apparently, one judge felt we had cooked it with some salmon. That cooker specifically never saw fish, as it was for pork and beef. Who knows sometimes.

Wampus said:

Because this past weekend really made us wonder.

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At the cooks meeting I always try to double check that the number on the boxes the reps give me match up with whats on their list. That's one way to get things switched up.

timzcardz said:

And I've yet to hear anyone ask "What the heck happened? There's no way our entry should have been in the top five!" :shock:

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We've had brisket that we thought was so bad we threw it away - and ended up walking with 3rd. We actually felt guilty getting up and accepting the trophy and check...

Kempis you and Jimmy are not the only one's scratching your heads. Wife n I thought it was our best cook this year. I was going to call Jimmy when we got home Saturday night but thought I better wait till the dust settles a little bit.

INmitch said:

Kempis you and Jimmy are not the only one's scratching your heads. Wife n I thought it was our best cook this year. I was going to call Jimmy when we got home Saturday night but thought I better wait till the dust settles a little bit.

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Yea, even Kempis was afraid to call me saturday night... I was :boxing: mad. But, there is always this weekend i guess... im over it really i am ...

ique said:

At the cooks meeting I always try to double check that the number on the boxes the reps give me match up with whats on their list. That's one way to get things switched up.

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Two weekends ago I did just that, asked the rep to verify my box numbers with his list and the response I got was "I've been repping for over 20 years, your numbers are just fine". He did end up verifying the numbers for me but he took my inquiry very personal. I had no specific reason to think my box numbers were wrong but I just wanted to verify.