Ray
Professional BBQ Judges?
Saturday, 02 April 2011 12:34
About seven years ago while talking to an official of the Kansas City Barbeque Society I said that someday KCBS would need professional judges for their contests. After hearing me say this he said "it will never happen." The growth of prize money at contests had prompted my comment. As the prize money has continued to grow, it’s just a matter time before the judging comes under more and more scrutiny. I think the sponsors of these contests will require that the judging be beyond reproach. Also contestants will want and demand the best judging possible because of the large cash payouts for the winners of the contests.
Now don't get me wrong, I think KCBS is doing a good job training judges, but
from the input I am hearing it could be better. The certified judging
program that KCBS has put together seems to be very good, but there are
occasional problems. One of the main comments I am hearing is judges need
to be held more accountable for their scoring. In addition I think were already
at the point where things like celebrity judges, and pulling people off the
street to judge is not going to be good enough. I don't pretend to know
all the answers and have all the answers. I wrote this because I thought
it was the proper time to start thinking about actions to prevent trouble in the
future. A recent poll that we ran on The BBQ Forum
indicated that a lot of
people felt some of the judging certainly could be better.
Judging barbecue contest can never be perfect because it is being done by people and people are imperfect. Anyone who has ever watched a pro football game knows that their judges make mistakes and they are the "best of the best." However, the competency level of the professional football judges is good enough, coupled with instant replay to allow them to get by. It seems to me that barbecue judging problems could possibly be mitigated with a very high number of well trained judges at the contests. The "targeted percentage" of certified judges at each contest could be set with the aim of increasing this percentage each year.
If judges were compensated then there would be more control on them. If there was an organization that was set up just to provide professional judges at contests, I think it would be a good thing. I would consider a professional judge to be someone that was highly skilled and is being compensated for their efforts. If judges are compensated for their efforts then there would be certain standards that they could be held to, but that's difficult to do if they're not getting paid. For example someone should tracking the performance of all the judging results and compare them to the results of their peers in past contests. If this review process revealed that a judge was grading far differently than everybody else you could set that person down and have a conversation with them. There needs to be some control over the judge that consistency scores lower or higher than other judges. These are just examples of controls that probably should be looked at and I am sure there are others.
Just the increased presence of highly qualified professional judges would be a good influence on the judges that are not as qualified. An example of this, while different, was apparent at the last Pitmasters cable television series. This series featured three judges; one highly trained knowable person, a football player and a chef that knew a lot about cooking but apparently not that much about barbecue. The knowable one, Myron Mixon had a noticeable effect on the comments of the other two. This effect would also be seen in situations where there were a large number of professionals on a smaller group of lesser qualified judges. Contest promoters could lend credibility to their events by making know the percentage of professional judges that will be at their contests.
I understand that there probably are not sufficient funds to support something like professional judges at the present time. I have been told that sanctioning contests and judging is not a big profit center, but it could be. What if sanctioning contests and providing judges was spun off from KCBS as a for profit corporation? Properly managed by the right people I bet this could be turned into a profitable venture that would be good for all concerned. Over the years there have been proponents of making KCBS a for profit organization. I understand the reluctance of some to this "for profit" idea. But even the "neigh-sawyers" would have to admit that the organization could be run more efficiently as a corporation. I believe it is possible for a non-profit organization to spin off for profit ventures.
Anyway these ramblings of mine have probably placed me "in way over my head." I probably don't know what I am taking about but this has been rattling around in my head for years and I just wanted to throw it out there for discussion. If nothing else I hope this serves as a start for discussion and eventual improvements in the judging system. It's time for reformation in a system where sometimes people feel that it is a "crap shoot" as to who wins a contest.
Ray Basso
Why I started the Ray's Comments web page
Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 June 2009 18:55 Written by Ray Basso Tuesday, 09 June 2009 10:03
Why would I build a web site that it entitled "Ray's Sometimes Controversial Comments?" Well, I have wanted to do it for several years and I finally decided the time was right so here it is. Actually I started this web site in the year 2000 as a place on The BBQ Forum where I could say some of the thing I wanted to say.
I am and have been, the creator/moderator of The BBQ Forum, since 1995, the first and largest forum on the Internet about barbecue. As moderator I have always felt the I should remain in the background of the BBQ Forum. I never have thought that I should post a lot of messages to the forum and try to influence the content with my posts. I have always felt like I should just steer the forum and let the people who post on the forum decided the direction of the forum. There have been almost 800,000 messages posted to the forum and I have been kind of quiet. As a result I have been a bit frustrated because in reality I am quite an out spoken person.
Around the year 2000 I wrote a few articles that were linked to the BBQ Forum. A lot of people told me that the articles were interesting and that made me feel good. However, I soon became so busy that I had no time to write and so I discontinued the "Ray's Comments" section. So now nine years later I have decided to resurrect the the comments in the form of this web page. I am busier then I was when I stopped writing the comments, but I think and write a lot faster than I did back then. Maybe the fact that I quit drinking several years ago has something to do with my "enhanced writing skills." In the future I plan to write my comments and views on many subjects and publish them here on this web page. Now I must warn everyone that reads these comments that you might not like what you see written here at times. I plan to say what I feel (with some constraints) about a lot things.
I only hope that I am up the the challenge that I have given myself by starting all of this. I hope to entertain you and stimulate you and to expand your views and knowledge on the subjects that are of interest to me. In return I hope to grow with the feedback I receive from you there readers of my ramblings. I hope that I don't "come-off" and an all knowing smart ass. I will do my best to entertain you.
Water and other things
Survival
Last Updated on Monday, 12 September 2011 03:10 Written by Ray Sunday, 11 September 2011 02:30
Katadyn Pocket Water Microfileter
OK so maybe this is a little over the top. I know it may sound crazy for a lot of people $290 for 13,000 gallons of pure water, if you really need it and all you can do is drink out of a dirty lake. What the hell that's only, lets see, that's two cents a gallon. Maybe I am not so crazy after all.
I have just sealed this device up and hope I never need it. But if I do need it my family will be very happy I bought this thing. I also have a supply of this other stuff on this page so my water tastes good.
Pasta and BBQ
Written by Ray Sunday, 05 February 2012 03:31
Some of my relatives came directly from Italy so I should have known a lot about pasta. However, the fact is I just didn't know good pasta from bad pasta. So a little bit ago I started doing some research on pasta. In learned that the best pasta is made from the best grade of stone-ground duram flour from hard winter wheat and pure spring water. In Italy, spaghetti is generally cooked al dente, just fully cooked and still firm. I also learned that pasta needs to be air dried for a long time. Also in Italy the best pasta is extruded from brass dies that gives it unique properties.
So armed with that knowledge I started looking for a really good grade of pasta. I found it on amazon.com and bought some. It seems that they only sell the best in quantities of about four one pound package at time. So ,after two purchases I had eight pounds of pasta. My wife thought that was a bit too much but I assured her that dried pasta is good survival food and she knows that I am stock piling survival food and other items. We immediately found that buying this pasta was a good move. We both agreed that it was really good and we didn't want to eat any other brand except "Rustichella" brand in the future.
So we have been eating more meals centered around pasta. We have been trying different dishes like pasta salad, pasta with meat sauce and others. This week I decided that a great meal would be linguine, drizzled with olive oil, a bit of garlic fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and smoked ham. I shredded the ham and chopped it into about one inch pieces. Then I sprinkled the smoked ham on top of the pasta. I didn't use much smoked ham maybe two or three ounces for the two of us. I added bit of ground black pepper and a little Fleur de sol sea salt. I wish I had a picture to show you but it was so good we at it all. So guess what I am having next week. The same thing only this time I will use some smoked brisket and then some pulled pork.
Now if you try this be sure to use really good pasta and don't cook it to much, follow the directions on the package. It really makes a big difference.
Guns, Germs & Steel, The Moonlit Mind, Dark That Day After, Hunter A Thriller and The Leopard - December 2011
Written by Ray
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond A wildly acclaimed book that is mostly boring. It has its moments of greatness such as the account of Francisco Pizarro that is worth the price of the book. Mr. Diamond explains things turned out in most of the world. Some of his theories hold some water in my mind. But, if you believe in Karma and collective Karma then you finish the book thinking he doesn't know what he is talking about. He never mentions the concept of Karma so I guess he doesn't know about it. All well read individuals should read this book.
The Moonlit Mind by Dean Koontz A Kindle single that was too long in my mind. Entertaining, and I am sure Dean Koontz fans will like this book.
Dark That Day After All by all-Jason Mcintyre A Kindle single that was a Bit wierd.
Hunter A Thriller by Robert Bidinotto The first novel by this award winning investigative author. This is a really good book.
The Leopard by Jo Nesbo I have been a big fan of Jo Nesbo's books and I have read several of them. I wish I had never read this one. I am not going to read any more of his books and I am not going to read any more detective mysteries for a long time. It's time for me to read more non fiction books for a while. This was a good book I am just overload with this type of book.
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