It shouldn't have made me laugh, but it did. Not because of the chili judge, but because of Texas. Live there awhile, and you meet the most incredible people - they're the Other Southern. They really do pop a beer and look for the tornado when the sirens go off. They really do eat chili that is so far gone past hot it doesn't taste like anything anymore, and they do it with a bland face. And they really are an absolutely lethal combination of down-home and card-shark (no matter what the subject). I think what does it is the blowtorch heat - so hot you find yourself laughing at it in the few seconds of consciousness you have left before you're vaporized.
I’ve liked everyone I’ve ever known from Texas, they have an attitude.