I read through this thread and found all of your comments very interesting since I plan on taking a judging class in Nov. and then I'll be one of those "green" judges trying to learn the ropes. I do quite a bit of BBQ at home on my BGE but have not competed or really have a burning desire to compete due more to cost and time considerations. As a result, I see judging as a way to experience the competitive BBQ world and to give back to those who have inspired me and learned from.
I have also been a teacher for 30+ years which I think gives me an interesting perspective on the grading of BBQ. One of the consistent veins of this discussion is the thought that judges who do not compete themselves have a difficulty appreciating the "blood, sweat and tears" that goes into a competition box. Teachers hear this same argument but it goes something like this - "I should get an "A" because I worked REALLY hard on this project, assignment, test, etc." While I will acknowledge their work ethic, I base my score on what I components feel a paper or project should have. When I taught an advanced placement class, I had to grade papers based on a set criteria. The scores that students got were based on how well they knew the content as well as being able to perform to AP standards on the essays. It had very little to do with how hard they worked during the year. Bringing this back to BBQ, judging shouldn't reflect how much sleep you got the night before, that you had a poor cut of meat or that you have $400 in entry fees and meat costs. Quality is quality and that is what should be judged.
That being said, I can assure you that BBQ judges are not the only ones that can give scores that wildly vary or are inflated. Teachers who grade AP tests are trained similarly and spend at least a day reviewing so you don't get a wide variance in scoring. Two things those make this different from BBQ judging, first, the graders have a very strict rubric that they have to follow. If their scores are way off, the table leader will have a discussion with them and if need be, they will be dismissed. There is just too much riding on these test to allow incompetence or personal prejudices to influences scores. The problem though is that the students are all writing the same essay. Compare that to a BBQ contest where a person's' chicken can be different even though it was cooked by the same person for the same time period. Maybe a stronger and more consistent rubric is in order - I don't know since I haven't judged but it is a thought. Also, it is my understanding that judges aren't paid (but they can eat well!). With the number of judges in a contest with wide ranges of experience, its probably amazing that the scores are consistent as they are.
Being a newbie at all this, I look forward to the day that I judge my first contest and hope that I'm not the jerk judge that we all dread. I would also like to help a team so that I can learn firsthand what it takes to cook competitive BBQ.
Good luck to you all and happy BBQ'ing.
We drove home scratching our heads. Those scores look almost identical to some of our scores from Pueblo :doh:
