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3rd Annual
Stagecoach BBQ Championships
April 24-25, 2009
Indio, CA
Click on any image to
see a larger version
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Stagecoach is an event unlike
any other. It is a massive, multi-day country music
festival held on an endless polo field in the middle of the
Southern California desert. To one side, there is a
BBQ competition -- to be precise, three BBQ
competitions. On Saturday, a KCBS contest and an IBCA
contest were held simultaneously, and cooks had no sooner
finished that Ironman day then they had to turn around and
start all over again for the following day.
To up the ante just a bit, some veryfine national talent had
been imported. Ronnie Wade of Blazen BBQ, former world
champion and a name that makes all of Texas quake in its
collective boots; Scottie Johnson of
cancersuckschicago.com, another former world champion and a
ferocious competitor cutting a swath across the country with
the goal of cooking (and winning) in every state.
And then there were the Davises. If you've watched the
Versus BBQ Championship Series on the Food Network or DVD,
you've seen Mike Davis. He's the big guy with the
white mustache whose eyes give away absolutely
nothing. He's a man who knows what he's doing, and
watching him scares me. In other words, we had no
shortage of "real-world" talent to keep us honest
-- and a little intimidated.
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The wind was brisk as the
camps got set up, and never let up for a minute from Friday
all through midday Sunday.
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Night fell, the wind kept
blowing, and Reba McEntire sang to me as I trimmed
chicken. VQ did his thing, hooking up the Stokers and
working out the incredibly complicated cook schedule for the
next morning.
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The double turn-in schedule
was BRUTAL -- at one point we had three turn-ins for two
different organizations within a 30-minute window. A number
of teams missed one or more turn-ins. The wind didn't help
-- we only had one hand each to do things, the other one was
always occupied trying to keep something from blowing away!
The wind took a pan of food across the table (lucky save). I
didn't have the lucky save for a KCBS box, though -- it
flipped right over and its garnish completely blew apart. I
nearly cried. There's nothing you can do but slam together
another one while you're supposed to be doing something
else, and just not think about how it's not as lovely as the
first one while you're scrambling to catch up.
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Once the insanity of entries
was over, we had a chance to take a breath, look around, and
see the sights that let you know you could be nowhere else
but Stagecoach.
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Genius-inspired marketing
pieces were applied with a firm slapping motion.
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I found a moment to slip away
to the petting zoo. Wouldn't that be the best souvenir
EVER?!
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The day wore on, and it was
time to go to the awards ceremony. IBCA contests are
called out by ticket numbers -- it's like the longest and
most nerve-wracking bingo game ever. When all the
tickets have been called and claimed, then the tabulations
begin. And when it was all said and
done, some little team from Arizona was standing up there.
GRAND
CHAMPIONS!
Then it all started again as
names were called for KCBS categories. As team after
team was called, the tension built. We'd been
reasonably satisfied with our entries, but there was a limit
-- wasn't there? It seemed like too much to
ask, but our name was called again.
GRAND
CHAMPIONS!
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We'd managed to
take down two GCs in two different contests in the same day.
We were the very proud new owners of matching his-and-hers
BATs (Big-Ass Trophies).
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So now all I
can think is: Now we've got five qualifying
events for the Jack, out of the seven that will gain us
automatic entry. Where are we going to scrape up two
more???!!!
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Results
Saturday KCBS: 1st Chicken, 7th Pork, 4th Brisket
52 Teams
GRAND
CHAMPIONS
Results Saturday IBCA:
3rd Chicken, 6th Ribs, 1st Brisket
59 Teams
GRAND
CHAMPIONS
Results Sunday
KCBS: 10th Chicken, 6th Pork, 3rd Brisket
50 Teams, 5th Overall
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