Miss Kentucky Post-Game Analysis

As more than 3500 of you well know from following along with the live blog (I'm still amazed by that number), our own Miss Kentucky, Maria Montgomery, from Danville represented the Bluegrass State well with a fourth runner-up finish last night. And while it would certainly be good to celebrate the achievement, that's not what we actually do here in the Commonwealth. No, when we fall short of the final four in anything, we critique it to death and lament all the "what if" moments. Last night's pageant is no exception and I have determined to explain to our readers where Miss Kentucky ran afoul of the judges and relegated herself to hearing her name called first in the top five. While the question and answer part of the competition is generally my absolute favorite part of the show, it rarely factors into the final standings as evidenced by the time two years ago when a girl was asked to, "define integrity" and offered a definition that was completely and objectively wrong. She, of course, still went on to win the tiara. This fact notwithstanding, I actually believe that Miss Kentucky could have helped herself in the Q and A and been in the running for the top prize. Here's why: Miss Kentucky was asked, "What do you look for in a man?" by one the judges. Compared to the "What is your position on gay marriage?" and "What are your thoughts on the bailout?" questions, this was a relative softball. Miss Kentucky made the mistake of emphasizing the wrong two points: 1. Looks and 2. Being like her father. Emphasizing looks is, in and of itself, not a bad start as you seem disingenous if you don't acknowledge it. However, Miss Kentucky made the mistake of spending too much time here with her qualifiers, explaining to the judges, audience, etc. that, to a certain extent, everyone finds looks to be important in an effort to not seem shallow. She would have been well-advised to mention that intially, physical qualities draw us to those we are attracted to, but then she should have quickly shifted to two character traits with which you can never go wrong, be it on a beauty pageant, a date, or Elimidate: Honesty and a sense of humor. Is it true that these are two of the character traits Miss Kentucky is looking for in a man? Doesn't matter, she's trying to provide an answer with which everyone will be pleased. At the end of discussing these two traits, she can mention that these two traits are embodied by her father, if she is so inclined. Such an answer is heartwarming, appears genuine, and reduces the appearance of being shallow. Or, in other words, is beauty pageant gold. The crowd would eat it up as would the judges. Miss Kentucky possibly wins the thing, or at least moves herself up into fourth place, where we would gladly honor her with a banner. Few girls will get the chance to experience what Miss Kentucky did last night and we are certainly all very proud of her, but, like a ball bouncing on the rim at the final buzzer, the difference between winning and losing sometimes comes down to the smallest of margins. Also, Miss Tennessee had a horseface.