Royal thoughts...(kinda long)

allsmokenofire · Posted: Oct 09 2006 Post subject: Royal thoughts...(kinda long)

Had a heck of a weekend in KC for the American Royal. Doing 2 contests back to back is tough. Doing 2 contests back to back against the best teams in the country is even tougher. When it was all said and done though, I had a blast!

Cooked the Invitational on Thur./Fri. against 84 championship-winning teams. Had some success in chicken(21st) and ribs(5th) and some failures in pork(60th) and brisket(63rd). Overall I finished 31st, which I thought was decent, especially when I looked at some of the teams I beat. Getting a call in ribs in front of that crowd was a thrill. Russ(SmokinOkie) was there to help taste and critique, adjust, and tweak, and his input was extremely helpful and much appreciated.

After a quick clean up and a short nap, it was time to start the open contest on Friday night as F. N. Goode BBQ Co. with Russ. Firday night is also party night at the Royal and Russ and I were fortunate(not) enough to have the previous years winner of "Party of the Year" next to us. Evil or Very Mad

We prepped meat amidst the racket and started cooking briskets and butts Friday night. The chaos finally subsided around 1 a.m. A second night of tending fire and sleeping off and on was wearing pretty thin, but we turned out what we thought was some very good food.

I quickly learned that the open is as much crapshoot as it is cook-off. A total of 476 teams competed in the open, with almost 500 judges seated. Our chicken placed 206th, which was disappointing because we both thought it was pretty dang good. Our ribs placed 159th and they were every bit as good as my 5th place ribs from the previous day. We finally got close with pork(37th), but then missed again with brisket(288th). The scoring was very tight, with only fractions of a point separating teams. I felt like our chicken and ribs should have scored better, but I knew I had screwed up our brisket so that score was expected.

Christy and I had a blast competing with Russ and Twila, even though it was a lot of hard work. I had some great support also from some good friends of mine who came up from Tulsa and spent the weekend helping to clean and run boxes for us. I had a chance to meet Old Dave(Ribs and Bibs) Saturday morning taking the 9:30 shot Very Happy

It was also nice to see Patrick(Sa-Mokin) and his wife, and also to meet Tom (Roo B Q'N) and his wife, although I wish I would have had more time to visit.

All in all, it was a great experience and I'm glad I got to share it with friends. I HIGHLY recommend the experience to anyone considering competing in the Open or having the opportunity to do the Invitational. I hope to have some pics to post soon. Finally, thanks to all of the well-wishers from here on the forum. It's really nice to have the support from a group of folks that share a common interest in BBQ.
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Mike
Team Enoserv

Ranucci's Big Butt · Posted: Oct 09 2006 Post subject:

Congrats Mike, sounds like a lot of fun and a lot of work.
No pics?
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Alex

Ranucci's Big Butt BBQ
www.ranuccis.com
www.bigbuttbbq.com

Alien BBQ · Posted: Oct 10 2006 Post subject:

Congrats on your placing. We always knew you could cook!
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeloberry

dabaslab · BBQ Pro Joined: 06 Oct 2005 Posts: 515

I know you were completely worn out doing the two contests back to back. But I also know the 5th place call in ribs made it all worth you while. I am glad you had a good time and congrats!!
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Son Seekers BBQ Team

G's BBQ · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 13 Sep 2006 Posts: 1641 Location: NV

Congrats on the 5th place showing....Well done!!!!!!!!!!

3970010 · Posted: Oct 10 2006 Post subject:

Shoot 5th place calling on the ribs? Thats something to be proud about.

mding38926 · Posted: Oct 10 2006 Post subject:

Sounds like a great experience.................congrats again mike
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Dinger

Rocket J · Joined: 14 Oct 2006 Posts: 1

To the "open competition is a crapshoot" I can only say amen! congrats on your Invitational showing.

roxy · Posted: Oct 14 2006 Post subject:

We got to see about coaxing ya up here for the Canadian open next year Mike. Its a long drive for sure, but your welcome to pitch your tent next to us any time dude..

We sure could use some American talent in tent city.
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Chargriller Akorn
WSM
LIAR #100
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Do not rely on a rabbits foot for luck, it did not work out too well for the rabbit...