I am loving the civility of this conversation and appreciate all the suggestions to fix a problem that is has gone neglected for years. I was reading another thread from 2011 that was discussing this same issue back when the BN won the first time. The final solution suggested in that thread was to "Brew Better Beer." 5 Years later and the BN dominating all 5 years while placing last in Gambrinus, I doubt anyone would agree that solution works considering this has simply become a numbers game.
IMHO, the boos expressed at the banquet were less out the BN and more about the AHA's inaction in addressing this issue. Like everyone else has stated, I don't blame the BN for working within the rules, I blame the AHA for not doing their job to ensure fairness for EVERY AHA member. Even long standing members of the BN were addressing this issue with me, one even went so far as to say "throwing sh*t against the wall to see what sticks" is not what the true intent of this contest should be.
I think the core issue that needs to be address is what the AHA defines as a club. I know there has been a discussion about not disenfranchising any person, despite their club of choice but again, what defines a club. I'm in ASH and our final round Gold Medal came from a member who was a former Zealot. Granted, he did not have to join our club when he moved into town and probably could have entered as a Zealot if he wanted to, but his new home was in Arizona so he joined the local club. ASH also has many former members who are now with QUAFF since they moved to San Diego. BN members (and other National Internet clubs) do not have to deal with this, while local terrestrial clubs gain and lose members due to locale changes.
I know there is the argument that many BN members are too far from a local club to participate but in my mind, that is just an excuse for the majority of those folks. There was a time when none of our clubs existed. It took a bunch of like-minded people to organize and establish a local club. Well maybe you don't like your local club? Many cities have multiple clubs, in fact I know people who belong to a local club but still claim the BN in comps. Too busy to attend meetings? Many clubs like mine have started recording their meetings, in fact we even started live streaming our meetings for those who cannot attend. So while I get that there are many reasons people choose not to organize locally, those excuses really don't tell the whole story. I too do not want to detract from the good the BN has done for the community, but nothing is more effective than a local grass root effort from boots on the ground.
I too felt quite puzzled as to why they were given the mic at the banquet to accept their award when the other winners were not. Yeah I suppose that could have been just something Justin chose to do on his own and the AHA didn’t want to cause a scene, but maybe it’s because they were producing a show. I mean its great publicity for the For-Profit BN. So is the BN a club or a business/sponsor? We really have no way of answering that as the AHA has continuously failed to fully address what defines a club. I do have to question where the line is drawn. I once worked for a company that was a sponsor of American Idol which meant myself, my family, and any personal close friends were ineligible to try out for the competition. Is there a point where a sponsor becomes too intertwined to the host organization to ensure fairness and neutrality?
So how do we fix it (or does the AHA want to fix it)? Lots of good suggestions in this thread. I really like the separating clubs into chapters based on local and also like the final round points being worth more that first round. I also like using an algorithm to balance out the number of entries to number of points. Not sure if those fix the problem, but they are action rather than inaction. Not too keen on the idea of separating based on club size, but that might be more based on the fact that I am in a larger club and would still get our butts kicked by the BN. Of course maybe segmenting it based on total club entries rather than total club members might work, especially for those larger clubs who have very few members compete. As suggested, adding a national or Internet club category might help, but then again the BN would still dominate its category. Oh and while I love the idea of an ASH-ZEALOTS-QUAFF- SPHBC-ETC super competition club (mostly because I love hanging out with all of you), that just seems silly that we have to resort to those tactics because the AHA won’t address this issue (plus I heard it was actually tried before and the AHA squashed it claiming it was “against the spirit of the competition.”) Another idea I have floated is requiring NHC entries to have placed in another AHA sanctioned competition throughout the before they are eligible to enter the NHC comp, but that might require more resources than available.
At the end of the day, it is not our problem to fix as we do not have the authority to do so. Where we do have control is in our elected Governing Board. If we choose to not hold them accountable (and by accountable I mean bringing this issue to their attention, including suggestions on how to fix it), then it will never change. If they won’t speak for their members, then maybe they do not best represent their regions and need to be replaced by people who better understand their constituents.
Apologies for the novel, but I love this community and don’t want to see it splinter over something so frivolous.
CHEERS!
Topic: I like the Brewing Network, but.... (Read 44894 times)
