It is 9:20 p.m. at my piece of paradise. I wish that I was in Stillwater on this fine evening, but I have a couple of crappy jobs that currently keep me tied to home. My parents are in the stands tonight and I hope this game looks better in real life than it sounds on the radio. I may just have to slam my head in a sliding glass door if the pokes keep playing like this.
I don’t post much on facebook, but I did put a picture of some FFA jackets on there tonight. Tammy took a pic of Duke’s first FFA jacket from 2001 that my mom made for him. Duke wore “official” dress that night–black slacks, shoes, white shirt,FFA tie & FFA jacket and a DIAPER to the 2001 Waynoka FFA Banquet. He got carried around by a pile of good looking girls that night. I don’t think that he can top that night with his NEW jacket that came in today. Back in the late 90s and the first 5 years of the 2000s, I not only had the BEST FFA officers, I had the best looking officers.
Regardless, the Dragon Lady was a bit emotional comparing the two jackets with Duke Kelln embroidered on both jackets. Nonetheless, for those of us that respect the blue & gold, it is a Way Cool pic. Kind of like my favorite RATT song–Way Cool and Way Cool Junior. Some will get it, some won’t.
Speaking of facebook, I read a post titled “Is Facebook a Judge’s Worst Enemy?” It is a well written post by Rachel Cutrer of Ranch House Designs. She is by and of stock show people. I don’t know her personally, but have read her articles in Purple Circle and online for several years. It is a valid read for all interested in stock shows.
This article in particular grabbed my attention. It is well know that I am not a fan of the socially transmitted disease known as facebook, but I do understand it’s power. Thus the reason that I limit my posts on facebook. However, I have had thoughts for years concerning rating judges online.
Rewind back to 2007. Kela owned oklahomashowgoats.com. I had to police all of the message board crap back then. I hated it. I also hated watching judges play “Dirty Pool”. I told Milligan back then that it wouldn’t take much for me to start listing judges and the games of dirty pool that they were playing. He advised me to not start that list–publicly. But, I thought back then and I still do, that if judges had some fear of being called out, they would do a better job of keeping it fair.
Now, fast forward back to 2014. I now have an extensive list of judges that judge straight up and and another list of those that need to clean their pool table. One list is written neatly on high quality paper. The other is scribbled on toilet paper with brown crayon. I haven’t posted many names when it comes to the shit judges. We just stay home when they are judging. Let people play their games and call it good.
I’m not going to bash any judges on here–not tonight. But I will say names that I like showing to: Billy Zanolini, Chad Coburn, Marvin Ensor, Marty Gibbs, Bryan Kennedy & Brandon Morgan. Our goats have done well under these judges, but more importantly, we have been beat by these judges. And I agreed with them. I have no problem getting beat by a good animal. They are consistent in their type, kind and reasons. From class to class and show to show. Sure, I speak to some of these judges on occasion. But personally, my kids haven’t won much under these guys. Duke had a bronze at OYE under Zanolini, a division winner at Tulsa under Coburn, a res. grand at Phoenix under Ensor, a res. div. at OYE under Gibbs, a pair of res. divs at WW under Kennedy and he has yet to show to Morgan. Typical Kelln list–conistent, but not many grands. And these are the judges that I like. I felt like these cats lined up goats like they saw them. Not how they were instructed to. I’ll drive to show under these dudes. We’ll probably end up with a lavender colored banner at best. But we’ll be fine.
Yes, there are other judges that I like. I’ll always go show to Phil Stacy, Izzy Cardenas, Justin Stacy and others. Duke nor Kela won much at all under these guys, but I felt like they did a fair job. That’s all I want out of a judge. But then I do have a list of names that I won’t walk a goat across the road to show to them as I know that it is going to be an effed up pile of coat hangers that resemble an upside-down tacke box kind of deal. We’ll just stay home. We won’t even nominate a goat for that kind of deal. Somebody else can play that dirty table. We’re out!
I’m not your typical stock show parent. I fully understand that your “great” one can and WILL get beat. It’s part of it. I also like the “getting beat” effect as a teaching tool for a kid. However, I also know what a good one looks like, what a set of reasons should sound like and will admit that there is a chance of dirty pool going on behind the scenes. And likewise, if you get me to judge a show, feel free to discuss me on facebook. I won’t worry about how I placed things. I will place them EXACTLY as I see them. The only thing that ever clouds my judgement is a great showman working a common animal towards the top. I like a well-shown, well-presented animal.
And if these sideways judges keep playing “dirty pool”, I do know how to hit the “save post” button on here. I also understand the slander and libel rules. Judge ’em right. Judge ’em clean. As it should be.
P.S. Speaking of clean. I’m not a big Yankees fan. In fact, I like the Red Sox. But, I like a great one. Tip of the cap to the end of a career for Derek Jeter. Class act. I’m pretty sure that he writes his own scripts. Unreal.
