Orson,

Good piece on the draft except for one thing… In the “metrics” section you note that the combines work both ways. You say “First…” and then talk about how they move up people who kill it in workouts.

But then there is no “Second…” which is the section I imagine you were going to use to point out how good football players with bad measurable end up undervalued.

Can’t really put a “First” without having a “Second…”

Sorry for being a critic…

We have barbecue in North Carolina.

They have ribs in Memphis.

The put BBQ sauce on bad roast beef in Texas.

I don’t care what they do in Kansas City.

That is all….

Go ACC.

I think all the blog kids would like this sweet bid from the simpsons: “Hah Hah, Your medium is dying” in reference to print journalism."

http://www.rexblog.com/2008/01/07/17428/

Wow that’s ballsy in Calling out Tebow. I think you’re just angling for good Karma down the road, though.

He’s just got a long, loopy release right now. With the Fox Robots blitzing in on you, that’ll just get you killed up there.

If you “don’t care” what they do in Kansas City, then you haven’t tasted great BBQ, friend. Even the bad places are good. Having grown up in Kansas City, gone to college and now living in Texas, gone to law school in North Carolina, eaten on Beale street and at Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, I feel qualified to say that Carolina so-called BBQ sucks (runny vinegary sauce on pulled porked does not good BBQ make, unless it’s in Brunswick Stew). The ballyhoo’ed Texas BBQ also falls short most everywhere — runny sauce on meat.

However, if you are attending the Final 4 this year, I highly recommend a short side trip to Lockhart Texas and Kreuz Market (http://www.kreuzmarket.com/index.shtml) on Monday before the final game (closed Sundays). No sauce, just delicious, tender, seasoned, smoked meat that is (and this is sacrilege coming from a Kansas City native) maybe the best BBQ I have ever had. Ribs are way better than even Memphis or Dreamland. It’s served on brown paper by the pound, you just pick up the meat with your hands, let the juice run down your arm, and eat. “Forks are at the end of your arm.” I got the tip when I went to the 2004 Final 4, and now every time my husband and I are anywhere near Austin or San Antonio, we detour to Lockhart. Since they Fed Ex, it’s on my husband’s Christmas list every year (although it is better in person).

Carolina BBQ makes me want to gag.

Didn’t Freddie Mitchell also make the catch on that Monday Night game against Dallas where McNabb scrambled for like 15 seconds?

Not a particularly memorable catch, but a very memorable play. In fact, I thought that was the one you were going to mention when you said he had one memorable catch.

Lockhart is kickass but so is Salt Lick.

If you have to put sauce on your q, you don’t know how to season or cook.

Ga./Ala. barbecue : Carolina barbecue :: Duvel : O’Doul’s

I love it when people argue about stuff like which barbecue is better.

When it comes to BBQ, I don’t see region. I just see delicious meat. Nom nom nom.

North Carolina hog ass and rice is vinegar based. The 3 regional preferences of ‘cue meet in South Carolina, venegar from the Pee Dee and NC, Mustard from the Low Country, and tomato-based from the Upstate. Good f’ing eating. Beef is not barbecue. It’s beef. A barbecue is not where you go to your friend’s house who is gilling burgers or ribs. Barbecue is pork, smoked for several hours, tended to and sweated on by an older black gentleman named any of the following: Doc, Smokey, Mr. Sambone, One-Leg, or Smitty who was taught to cook by his Dad – who could tell if a pork shoulder or boston butt was done not by thumping it, but by asking it.

Somebody in Alabama is discussing barbecue?

Oh, please, you can’t be serious.

You don’t have the bona fides.

Some fat guy in Tuscaloosa cooks ribs and calls it Dreamland BBQ, good for him.

He makes a killing, good for him. He kills a great deal of people via heart disease, diabetic related deaths, etc etc etc…

good for him.

But, BARBECUE is in North Carolina. There is no comparison.

And, as someone who grew up in SC, SC Barbecue….

SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS.

You put mustard on your hot dog. You put mustard on your burger, or what Texans like to call barbecue, I guess…

but you don’t put mustard on your pig.

Dreamland isn’t even the best BBQ in Tuscaloosa, Coop, much less the gold standard for Alabama. Archibald’s makes Dreamland taste like shoe leather.

If you are ever down on the Gulf Coast try The Brick Pit in Mobile, AL and The Shed in Ocean Springs, MS… both better than Dreamland

I’ve been to Salt Lick as well – They have all you can eat, which is pretty much all you need to know. The locals will say that its the tourist place (Its still 30 mins outside Austin, but whatever) but I thought it was damn good.

You are right about the Kruez place. Have not been there but have read alllll about it, and its cousin, down in Lockhart. Do want to go badly though.
 
I am ignorant to the other types of Q out there and their virtues, but I especially enjoy the smoked sausage you can get with Texas barbecue, so I’m happy sticking to that area’s contribution to one of the few authentic American cuisines. I haven’t really frequented any of the other core barbecue areas like Memphis, KC, and Carolina, which I will admit, is entirely my fault.

I have wanted to get a smoker for a while now, but I live in apt, so it’d be a waste.

O –
Nice work, but you can’t talk draft-day disaster without prominently mentioning the Atl team.

Falcons: the Bear-Stearnes of risk analysis.

Some first-pick highlights from the past 20 years?

Aundray Bruce (#1 overall)

Steve Broussard

Bruce Pickens

Devin Bush

Michael Booker

M. Vick (#1)

T.J. Duckett…

I think I saw Mr. Pelican Pants had a link to an indoor smoker that you could use in an apartment. Maybe he’ll be along shortly.

Who said anything about Dreamland? (OK, I know somebody else did, but it wasn’t me.) Go to Daddy D’z on Memorial Avenue in Atlanta, I’ll take the Pepsi Challenge between that and the vinegar garnish you call “N.C. barbecue” any day of the week.

North Carolina, uh-huh, tell me another one. Stick to your strengths, i.e. basketball and tobacco.

those are clouds, not a tornado. You southerners are such pussies.

PS. the “Burnt ends” meal was invented in KC. nuff said, KC wins. Not to mention the New York strip is actually the exact same steak as the the KC strip, except that easterners stole the name.

Please…

Carolina barbecue, North OR South, sucks ass. Vinegar goes on fish and chips, mustard goes on dogs.

Texas…beef, for the last time, IS NOT BARBECUE.

Dreamland…meh. Overrated. Plus, I’ve been to the other one in Northport…who in the holy hell puts pickles on a barbeciue sandwich? Full Moon and Archibald’s are better.

Growing up in North Mississippi I have to hand it to Memphis, especially Rendevous. Plus, Memphis is the home of the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest…’nuff said.

However, I have to hand my personal trophy to Crossroads BBQ (RIP), a ramshackle shack on Toby Tubby Creek Road outside Oxford, Mississippi. No longer there, unfortunately…B’s comes close, but not quite.

Those in and around the metro ATL area would do well to check out a little place called A&J’s Tasty Pig in Snellville.

Best BBQ in north GA. I’d compare it to other places in NC, Memphis and such, but I’m a Georgia fan and therefore don’t travel much.

1. I grew up on A&J’s Tasty Pig in the 80s. Haven’t been there in years; glad it’s still going strong. Best BBQ in metro Atlanta for me is Sam and Dave’s.
   http://lostmountainbbq.com/

TCOAN is the only one of you talking a lick of sense. barbecue is awesome because of the fantastically broad categories of meats, sauces and techniques it encompasses, not because of one or the other someone might or might not prefer.

I’m waiting for the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man to arrive in that photo.

As an unbiased observer I would have to say KC>>Texas>>Southern>>>>>>>>NC. When the best thing about your bbq is the hush puppies that accompany it, your bbq sucks. That’s why Hansbrough is always running around bug-eyed with his mouth open—he can’t believe the shitty bbq he has to deal with.

#23:
There’s also Swallow at the Hollow in Roswell. Fucking amazing BBQ.

Johnny’s BBQ in Gainesville, GA.

F . . . . . T…. . . . .W!

Kleph’s right… it’s not like I’ve ever had any ‘cue I didn’t like.

Did Anthony Bourdain hit any hog ass joints when he highlighted South Carolina the other night, or was it just Civil War re-enacter food, Beaufort Stew, and shrimp & grits? I missed the start and ending of the episode.

Nice.

#24
Actually, I think the original A&J’s burned down a couple of years back, but they were able to relocate to a kind of shady looking, run down hole in the wall. It’s my experience that places with the best BBQ are usually a bit sketchy looking, though.

1. - Sam & Daves is excellent, my favorite. No sauce necessary. For fat drippin’ good eatin’, Fatt Matt’s on Piedmont is another winner.

Tim Te-blow

You better believe it!