Sorry John if you took this the wrong way. Was just saying I would rather be a good chef than a good pitmaster. I love great BBQ but the current crop of television shows imho does not show great cooking skills. If all I had to do was cook the same thing over and over again by a set of standards applied by a set of judges that even the pittmasters say are, and I must agree, dont know what their doing, where is the challenge? As much as we would all like to think, cooking bbq is not a skill reserved for the gifted. It's been done for thousands of years. In this day and age a couple of google searches and the ability to read will get you half way there. Add a decent cooker and you can put out some good Q. In my opinion comp bbq is way over rated. A great chef can cook great BBQ...a great pitmaster can ONLY cook great BBQ.
No offense taken. The judging I was referring to (and was discussed on Greg's show) is KCBS judging. I don't know how the conversation shifted to television judging, but they don't use KCBS standards/rules. Frankly, all of the BBQ Pitmasters seasons except season one have sucked royally. Sure, I watch them, but man it's a train wreck.
I agree that competition barbecue is overrated, but it's also very difficult to do well.
John