KCBS judging: Taste AND (or is it OR?) Tenderness

Ok, I really need to take the judging course. Since I started competing, I've been wrestling with a particular scoring issue and want to know how this works. Maybe somebody who's taken the course, and has judged a bit can help me out.

let me explain in detail:

this weekend I cooked 2 racks of ribs that were prepared the exact same way. I tasted both and they tasted exactly the same. Of course there were tenderness differences between the racks and across the racks. I selected 6 of the best looking and, what I thought to be the best tender ribs I could. I thought three were bordering on overdone and three were bordering on underdone.

here's my score:
8 6 5
6 5 6
7 7 5
8 9 8
8 8 9
8 8 9

and a comment:
"took bite and meat came off length of bone over cooked" scores: 8 6 5

Here's my analysis (ok, I know we shouldn't read too much into how judges score, but I don't compete much so I have to get as much out of my results as I can):

other than judge 3, the scores for taste and tenderness are clearly linked. If they liked one, they liked both (and the opposite). The comment card has a middling taste score of 6 and a complaint about tenderness (if anything the judge needed to justify their 6 for taste when there were 8's and 9's at the same table, not the 5 for tenderness).

It seems to be a trend that I've observed through out my time competing. Turn in a tough brisket or mushy pork and see crummy taste score.

I realize taste and tenderness are psychologically linked but why have separate judging criteria if the judges are unwilling to separate them? Taste is weighted higher, so why aren't judges judging taste BEFORE tenderness. Decide if you like the flavor, then worry about the tenderness.

I read a really good comment on another board about how tenderness is really the challenge. Taste can easily replicated by teams who use the same rubs and injects, but tenderness is what we spend all night working on. They suggested that taste and tenderness should be weighted the same. I'm guessing it wouldn't matter because taste seems inseparable for tenderness in most judges' heads

J, I am a KCBS CBJ. Your post suggest to me that you felt 3/6 ribs were slightly over done and 3/6 ribs slightly underdone. I believe the tenderness scores reflect that. It is has been my experience as a BBQ competitor that it may be best to choose the center 6 ribs from the same rack to achieve consistent scores.
I can not explain the taste scores except to agree with you that each entry is commonly judged as a total package, presentation, taste and tenderness and one slip on any of those can affect in the mind of the judge the others. There is also the BIG difference in the ability to judge taste. I believe this is why the KCBS does not address taste in the judging class, other to to say that the taste of the product should be dominated by the meat flavor.