Vince RnQ
is Blowin Smoke!
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2007
- Location
- Phoenix, AZ
I would like to thank Steve Alvarez for reaching out to me via phone to discuss the story I shared in post #94 above. He reiterated what he has written in post #96 and we discussed the interaction I had with the group of CBJs while I was in Reno.
While I firmly believe that Steve and his colleagues had no intention of discouraging the Judges at their event from writing comment cards, I shared my opinion (and those of the CJBs I spoke to in Reno) that any discussion of writing only comment cards that would be important to a team could serve no purpose but discourage the practice.
I am confident that Steve understood this opinion and could see how his request could have been misinterpreted.
I have no doubt that the vast majority of people involved in competition barbeque, from the teams to the CBJs to the Contest Reps, are passionate about the sport and that they bring their best efforts forward in their respective areas of action. One thing that Steve and I also discussed is that we all have a responsibility to speak up about the things we see, both positive and negative. This includes everything from the best of the best, the things we enjoy the most, to the most unpleasant of topics such as the problems we feel exist in the sport today.
Competition barbeque belongs to us, all of us. It is not the sole property of a board of directors, a sanctioning body, the Judges, Reps or Cooks. It belongs to us all and we all have an obligation to make it the best it can be. We need to compliment and support the good things and we need to work to improve the things that need to be fixed. We also need to hold ourselves and each other accountable, even if it means having difficult or unpleasant discussions.
If you want it to be better, work to make it so. Don't expect that someone else is going to do it for you.
While I firmly believe that Steve and his colleagues had no intention of discouraging the Judges at their event from writing comment cards, I shared my opinion (and those of the CJBs I spoke to in Reno) that any discussion of writing only comment cards that would be important to a team could serve no purpose but discourage the practice.
I am confident that Steve understood this opinion and could see how his request could have been misinterpreted.
I have no doubt that the vast majority of people involved in competition barbeque, from the teams to the CBJs to the Contest Reps, are passionate about the sport and that they bring their best efforts forward in their respective areas of action. One thing that Steve and I also discussed is that we all have a responsibility to speak up about the things we see, both positive and negative. This includes everything from the best of the best, the things we enjoy the most, to the most unpleasant of topics such as the problems we feel exist in the sport today.
Competition barbeque belongs to us, all of us. It is not the sole property of a board of directors, a sanctioning body, the Judges, Reps or Cooks. It belongs to us all and we all have an obligation to make it the best it can be. We need to compliment and support the good things and we need to work to improve the things that need to be fixed. We also need to hold ourselves and each other accountable, even if it means having difficult or unpleasant discussions.
If you want it to be better, work to make it so. Don't expect that someone else is going to do it for you.
