What a Ride. **LONG, go get beer **.

[BBQchef33]

American Royal 2007 for an AR Noob.

From a competitors perspective, its like nothing you ever seen, unless u been there.

I've been to the Jack.. thats like a backyard party compared to the AR.

Look at it like this.

Fill the parking lot of your pro baseball or footballs team stadium with competition BBQ teams. Make the judges tent centered on Second base, spanning the in and outfield(for 500 judges).

Randomly scatter live bands and DJ's, dance floors and hay bails, beer kegs and full bars.. and even throw in a stripper pole for good luck somewhere.

Then pack the parking lot with 70,000 people, put a team in tuxedos and some in tie dyes and hippy wigs.

Wandering around the Royal on party night is awe inspiring. From the single teams with a cooler of beer and a few bottles of JD, up to these massive party tents with refrigerator trucks and golf carts.. I cant count how many times i was sayin 'holy chit'. Looking around, Jorge kept telling me I looked like a deer in the headlights. Its and experience everyone here should try at least once.

but through all that, there is still the core event.. Competition BBQ for BIG bucks and BIGGER prestige. Cooking this weekend with DrBBQ gave us allot of time to chat up our sport.. and in his words, EVERY PRIZE YOU GET AT THE ROYAL, IS A BIG DEAL. This is truly the Grand daddy of KCBS BBQ events. I followed up one one of the questions our members asked.. "winning which event has more prestige, the open or invitational".. The consensus, BOTH are EQUAL... BOTH ARE HUGE.. and both winners accomplished something HUGE..

So to...

Mark and Becky, Bubba and Jeff, Wayne and Jeff_in_KC(form (Mokan meatheads), ScottyD, Steve(I smell Smoke), Fredbird from Team Q, and Chris from IQue, Scott from Cancersucks, Crapshoot, the guys at porkcrastinators and 2 fat bikers....you guys all ROCK!! And on behalf of The Brethren, its OUR honor to have you among us(hopefully sharing your secrets). I really hope I didn't miss any of the walks...and all the competitors at the AR all earn the respect of just successfully getting things turned in,...especially when you have to do it during the worlds biggest party.

Cooking with Ray was awesome.. it like hanging with BBQ rockstars.... the constant flow of people just wanting to touch his shirt was fun to watch.. now we just gotta find out how to get BBQ groupies. The team was DrB, Me, Jorge, Jappledog and her hubby Steve. There was plenty of time to wander around and try to hunt down all our members that were there, but when the specified times came, our team was front and center and getting our jobs done. I again send out a big THANKS to Ray for the opportunity to not only experience the American Royal, but cook on his team, get our jobs done and learn a lot from BBQ royalty. Anyone can cook a contest, but to cook at the royal, and not freak out.. well thats an accomplishment. Ray was doing his thing, talking to anyone that came by and the whole time and we always relaxed and in control regardless of the 70k people around us.. if it was me, i would be barricaded behind concrete dividers. I believe we finished 21 out of 110 at the invitational and 50 out of 500+ at the open.

Yup.. theres more. Some highlights..

Hanging out in the kitchen Ray, out of the blue, tells me we are next to Joe Davidson...

Who's that?

he says.... "ya know OKLAHOMA JOE? hes the guys that makes the line of pits?"..

Chit.. Oklahoma Joe?!!! He designed the first Bandera. RAY... we were "The Bandera Brethren"..that pit is our cornerstone. After a goofy brethren history lesson.. he takes me over and snaps some pics of me and the guy, who in a way if it wasn't for him, we may not be here. Yup.. i was giddy.. (I'm easy to amuse).




I lost a Brethren hat.. that sux. it was the first one i had.. from long ago.. lucky sweat stains and all..

the Maytag repair man DOES exist.. and he likes BBQ, in fact.. He even cooks it.. but he can't fix broken cookshacks or fast eddys.

putting a sign on a chair that says "We feed Naked Woman" does not necessarily yield great results.

Holding up plates with '10' printed in big numbers on them when ever some 20 something female walks by...... DOES..

That being said.... jay spicebag still does the reach around.. in fact i think he has been practicing.


snapping some pics with Mark and Becky, in front of their Brethren Banner and with the GC Trophy was truly a highlight.. (You know how I am with our pig )

HoDeDo and his bud Gator.... What can I say? Tap another keg! Gator is a trip and i think he and Dave Klose were separated at birth.

Walking around trying to find all of us was quite the hikes.... i think i got to most, only porkcrasintors were MIA every time I went over there... And skip was hiding in the trailer.. next time i peek thru the window, but we finally caught up..

the DARK SIDE.... SCARY!!! and i went in daylight.. its really odd the way the entire 'feel' changes when you go to that side of the lots. don't know what it was, but it honestly was somewhat surreal over there.... never did go back at night until after everyone left...

Heres advice.. take the phone away from Andy and Plowboy after 1AM. They have this thing about letting a Grey goose make fone calls for them.. at least thats who they blamed the 2am fone calls on.

and most important.. thanks to everyone who was there... for making 4 days something to type longs posts about and tell my family about for 2 days so far. More and more experience come to minds and at this point they're sick of hearing them..

i didn't take allot of pics, but heres what was in the camera.

Now.. time for another Salad for dinner.

[Jeff_in_KC]

Great recap of the Royal, Phil! Good to see you and Jorge again too! But hell, I don't belong in that list of people you listed with calls or championships. I'm just a blind dog that found the proverbial bone on Sunday. Congrats to everyone! What a fun weekend!

[Yakfishingfool]

Can't wait to hear the details Phil. Scott

[bbqjoe]

Nice recap boss!
And now for the rest of the story....................Please!

[tonto1117]

Whoa.....jealous mod. Looks like you had a blast and made it home to tell the story. Call me crazy, but allready starting to plan on going to next years. Sounds like somthing everyone should experience at least once.

Great picks poobah, and what a story about who you were next too!!!!

[Dustaway]

man what a recap thanks boss

[HoDeDo]

Thanks for sharing Phil. Since I was "Livin' on the Darkside" - it was great to get your view from the Green Egg tent.

Thanks to you and Jorge for taking the time on Sunday night to hang for a while and shoot the breeze. I'm sure you could have found something better to do, like go to bed before you had to fly out!!! Bobby (Gator) really enjoyed meeting you guys as well.

[HoDeDo]

Oh - I believe you did miss a couple calls from Eric and Greg - "Ribs 4 U". (Ole' E and PaolaGreg)

[G$]

Sounds like a BLAST.

[motley que]

ok, am i the only one who noticed our fearless leader lost his cap. maybe and just maybe that means that there is a chance for us followers of all thing pig to get our own?

the recap and pics were nice, but the thought of getting a hat rules

[SloppyQ]

Phil, you put that together perfectly. I will assume you had a great time. I have had the opportunity to cook/compete/party with most of who you mentioned and I will have to say they are best of friends (you know who you are) Gator included (the mold was broken when he was sired) but to be able to join this bunch at the Royal had to be extra special. To top it off with Mark and Becky, Bubba and Jeff winning the highest of honors and to be members of this forum had to make it something of an unforgetable experience. Glad you enjoyed the trip, come back soon.

[Plowboy]

I saw Phil immediately after the Invitational awards when Great Grills won. He was as emotional as I've ever seen him. He kept saying, "They're one of us! I damn near cried!"

Told Randy after the Open when Bubba and Jeff won that Phil's gotta be down there going absolutely nuts. Two Brethren teams and two Grands... poetry.

[motley que]

Originally Posted by Plowboy

I saw Phil immediately after the Invitational awards when Great Grills won. He was as emotional as I've ever seen him. He kept saying, "They're one of us! I damn near cried!"

Told Randy after the Open when Bubba and Jeff won that Phil's gotta be down there going absolutely nuts. Two Brethren teams and two Grands... poetry.

amen to all of that. wife didnt understand how pumped i was when i read the results. she was like "you never even met these people." just cause you never met in person doesnt mean you wouldnt wish the best and feel good when a brother does well.

asperations to live up to

[Ron_L]

Originally Posted by BBQchef33

I lost a Brethren hat.. that sux. it was the first one i had.. from long ago.. lucky sweat stains and all..

Wait... You gave Oklahoma Joe a sweaty cap?

Originally Posted by BBQchef33

Walking around trying to find all of us was quite the hikes.... i think i got to most, only porkcrasintors were MIA every time I went over there...

That's our Porkcrastinators! WTG, Seth!


Thanks for the recap and the pics!

[bbqbull]

Boss, A plus report.

I talked to Phil and Jorge on Sunday. Did not realize they were cooking in the open class.

I heard more damned yelling in the background, hard to hear Phil on his phone.
Talked to Jorge for a bit, noise got much worse.

Not sure about the rest of you but I would have a very difficult time trying to function in that kind of atmosphere.

Then Jorge told me it was turn in time.........Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Sorry guys I didnt have a clue.

Im sure it would be a Once in a Lifetime expeirence attending that huge event.