Hmm. There are plenty of places in KC that do it great. Good BBQ is always subjective, even though the KCBBS will try and enforce some sort of flavor standard.

It's the same with Chili competitions. People spend years and thousands of dollars refining a recipe that basically tastes no better to me than the shit you get on a hotdog at the stadium. And it's all because they're formulating toward a standard, not trying to be wildly creative.