BBQ judging was different back then....

When I started judging I got to know both my fellow judges and the cook teams. Usually on Friday nights I would wonder around the cook sites talking to teams and often as not sampling their Friday night supper. .This was great fun. This was how I got to be friends with folks like the Swifts, Bob Fite, Steve Blake, Byron, The Porkticioners (Don, Stick, and Dr. Chris), all the Weddingtons, the McWrights, Governor, Paradise Ridge,  the Tollens, JC, Pete, and so many others. I think interaction between judges and cook team is very important and good.

Then somebody changed the rules and now judges act like they are afraid to speak to cooks. In fact after cooking for eight years , I hardly know any new judges. They just run in their own pack.

Let me say this; Not once did I ever see or learn anything while visiting a cook that would allow me to identify their entry and show preferential treatment. Hell, I don't even think I could pick out my own entry out on a judging table.

If you want to see more unity and a healthier KCBS, this needs to go back to the old way.

a little explaination and where we are going next....

Well there is a pretty big gap between my beginnings in competition BBQ, when I quit posting two years ago and my latest post talking about our most reccent contest, the 24th Annual High on the Hog contest in Winchester Tn. What I pledge to do this year is keep this thing current of what we are doing now as well as slowely catch up most of what we have done in competition BBQ, the people we have met and the places we have been over the past ten or so years.

Next on our schedule of events is the very fine contest in Rome Ga. This will be a second year for this event and it is a good one. Great location and organizer, lots of community support. But I suppose what really makes it special to us is that we were fortunate enough to win Grand champion there last year, barely beating out Bubba-Que and Two Men and a Pig.

2011 season begins

Winchester Tennessee, High on the Hog BBQ contest, April 15 and 16, 2011

 

Team Top Chick

 

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals when it was checked by a violent gust of wind…."

 

What a beginning to a BBQ contest report? That is the way Team Top Chick began the 2011 season, participating in the 24^th annual High on the Hog BBQ contest, put on by the Civitan club of Winchester.

 

This event has long been a favorite of ours for many reasons. First the location is a beautiful city park on the lake. Then consider the contest itself just a part of a huge community event, complete with a carnival, beauty contest, music, and much more, usually attracting large crowds. Finally the unbeatable hospitality the good folks of Winchester show to the BBQ teams.

 

In fact everything was lovely except the weather. On Friday night much of the South East was hit with deadly tornadoes and damaging winds, while in Winchester the wind blew hard and the rain came down, we were spared the worst of it. Hats off to the EMA folks at the event that kept us informed and stood ready to evacuate us should the need arise.

 

Bad weather did not keep this contest from being a sell out with 54 of the finest BBQ teams in America including names like Lotta Bull, Butt Rub, Jiggy Piggy, Swiggin Pig and Do-Rag Que in attendance.

Being our first event of the year we were anxious to visit with all of our old friends but the weather was not conducive to our normal socializing.

Everyone was very excited to see we had a new sponsor in Moore's Marinade .

Despite the weather our cook was uneventful and we had confidence in all of our entries.

At the end of the day we were pleased to walk away from awards with Top Ten calls in both brisket and Ribs and a solid 16^th place overall finish out of the 54 outstanding teams competing.

We had a great time and won enough money to get home and buy some stuff for the next challenge.

We hope to see you all on the BBQ trail soon.

Being a Certified BBQ judge

Winchester Tn. was the first contest I would judge. Here I got to meet Fred and Linda Gould, two of the really great people in BBQ. Her I learned what a community BBQ contest was all about. Next I would judge Huntsville. I was obsessed with getting my 30 to become a master judge as quickly as possible. Later I would take judge training for MIM and the FBA. Back then It was nothing for me to drive five hours one way, judge a contest then drive home. Along the way I would meet many great people like Terrill Jones.

KCBS Judging School

I think I lost about a year after my first Demopolis contest. I kept getting the BBQ News paper, cooking at home, we went to the Decatur contest, the Jack, and Demopolis again, getting to know all of the a fore mentioned characters better. I had signed up for a KCBS judging school to be held in Huntsville Al. and taught by Ronnie Harwell.

What a great experience it was. Dr. Harwell does an excellent job of teaching the class and is an outstanding ambassador for KCBS. He told me about the BBQ Forum and I have been a regular ever since. As I remember Bobbie and Lee McWright, Blindog, Mark Delashaw,and Randy and Carol Bigler were involved. Mickey Williams, Bill Boggs were fellow students. I knew these were my kind of folks. As of March 16, 2002 I was a KCBS member and Certified Judge . Mickey and I were in a race to see who could make master judge first. He would beat me by a considerable amount, none the less, By July 30, 2004 at Lebanon I would get my Master Judge certificate. My 30th contest would actually be Winchester 2004 which was also my first contest to judge in 2002.

Now I was a rookie KCBS judge in search of a contest and Winchester was in my sights.

Demopolis Al

This was back when Demopolis was an MIM event. Demopolis in December is generally wet, cold or both. Here I continued my visit with Joe and Carlene of The National BBQ news. I subscribed to the paper and bought a book by Ric Browne. I also met BBQ luminaries Ron Harwell, David Roper and Rocky Danner. Great guys that greatly accelerated my BBQ education. For years, I thought it was a law that at least two of them had to be at any contest held.

More of how going to the Jack & meeting the Phelps changed my life.

Joe and Carlene were so nice to me. They told me about how they had ran a community news paper for many years, retired, got into competition BBQ, realized the need for a BBQ news paper and started the National BBQ News. Joe told me this great story about how they had bought an expensive off-set smoker, had a nice motor home, were set up at this contest, feeling smug and confident when this poor little guy showed up in a rusted out Pinto station wagon, drug out three Weber's and proceeded to kick their ass. This story would resonate with me in our future endeavors. They told me about an MIM competition in Demopolis coming up in December that I should go to. They also told me I should become a BBQ judge as a good way to get involved. Great advise to anyone wanting to get started.

Also at the Jack that year I met Robert Worsley and Bad Byron Chism of the world famous ButtRub Team. We bought some rub and stuff they were selling. Robert was very nice and Byron probably said something like "go away kid , you bother me". Seriously, both of those guys have gone on to become great friends.

Now I had been a backyard terror for many years, wearing out several ECBs, but I knew I had stepped into another dimension and couldn't wait for the next step.