Well week #1 is in the books and there were some very interesting developments in the hunt for the KCBS TOY - nearly all of them bad for the Canoe Crew :)
I'll start with the one piece of good news from the weekend! We weren't drawn to compete at the Jack Daniels World BBQ Championships! How is this good news you say? Well, nearly everyone else in the Top 10 of the current KCBS TOY standing was drawn (notable exception being our friends @ Big Tz Q Cru). This means that while the rest of the top 5 are competing in a contest worth exactly 0 KCBS TOY points we will be competing in a contest worth 300 to the winner. It's a small consolation and I'm likely spinning it a little to make myself feel better about my horsecrap luck, but hey ya gotta do what ya gotta do sometimes.
As for our results this weekend we had a solid cook in Warrens Wisconsin and thought we had a shot at the Grand Championship. In the end it wasn't meant to be as Mike and Beth from QUAU lapped the field and won three categories in route to a twelve point margin GC. We ended up third by less than .5 point - not that it really mattered from a points standpoint as 2nd wouldn't have improved our points but the Reserve Grand Champion check sure would have been nice! We've missed $2000 in additional prize money the last two weeks by a combined one point. That is BBQ though, and we've been on the right side of those narrow margins many times - it just sticks in your mind when you're on the wrong side two weeks in a row. In the end, a net ZERO improvement in the overall Team of the Year rankings for TippyCanoe BBQ Crew.
A quick glance at the KCBS event results reveal that's not the case for several other teams in the top ten. Most notably was another Grand Championship by the current KCBS TOY leader 3 EYZ BBQ - this GC was worth 297 points and with a 3rd place finish to drop it widens their lead to 54 points. We managed to stay in 2nd but three teams behind us narrowed the gap with solid finishes. QUAU's victory in Warrens pushed them up to 6th place, Big Tz Q Cru ended up Reserve Grand Champion in Omaha NE and will move to 5th, and Little Pig Town won Quapaw OK and moved up to 4th place. That all adds up to create a big lead for 3 EYZ BBQ and a jam packed 2-5 with only 31 points separating us from #5 Big Tz Q Cru. Big Tz also scored a perfect 180 in brisket this weekend to put a stranglehold on the #1 brisket ranking. There is no doubt Ryan in the best brisket cook in the Country! Congrats my friend!
Week #2 of the "RUN" is fast approaching and we have yet to commit to any event, however, it appears as though we will be headed to Blue Springs Missouri if we can make it in time. I'll keep you posted!
Joe
Monday, September 3, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
It's alive...
It's been far too long since I've updated this blog, but I decided tonight that it might be kind of fun to use this space to talk about the final months of this season. When the 2012 season began we went in with the goal to finish in the top 5 of the Kansas City Barbecue Society Team of the Year ( KCBS TOY) overall rankings. A quick glance at the current standings reveal some good news and some bad news as we head into the stretch run. The good news is that we currently sit at #2 in the nation - the bad news is there is a long way to go and the race is very tight. There are seven teams within 100 points of the lead and several teams on that list would jump to the lead with one Grand Championship. I hope to use this blog over the next few months to share our experiences as we push to stay in the top 5. The rankings can be found at www.kcbs.us
It all starts again this weekend as we head to our 21st contest of the year in Warrens, Wisconsin at the Smokin' in the Bog's BBQ Championships. To be honest, I'm not real sure where the road takes us from there. I've studied the KCBS calendar and have an idea in my head, however, we will likely be making those determinations on a weekly basis. The KCBS TOY point system is structured as such to reward teams for scoring well at bigger contests giving "maximum" points for contests with 50 or more teams. It is likely that after this weekend that will be our game - make the drive to get to the 50 team contests. I haven't looked much past September yet but can assure you if we have a shot at the Team of the Year title, travel and the schedule will get crazy :) It's going to be a wild ride and I hope to have some time to share a little of it here along the way. Wish us luck!
Good luck to everyone in "The Jack" draw tomorrow. It's a special day in the bbq world as the folks at Jack Daniel's conduct a drawing to determine which Grand Champions deserve the opportunity to cook in their World Championship event (not how I would do it if it were my contest, but its not my contest so I'll save that story for another day). We have 6 "chances" across four states (California, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota) but overall our odds are low and I expect we used up our draw luck in 2011! I hope your bung gets pulled!!!
It all starts again this weekend as we head to our 21st contest of the year in Warrens, Wisconsin at the Smokin' in the Bog's BBQ Championships. To be honest, I'm not real sure where the road takes us from there. I've studied the KCBS calendar and have an idea in my head, however, we will likely be making those determinations on a weekly basis. The KCBS TOY point system is structured as such to reward teams for scoring well at bigger contests giving "maximum" points for contests with 50 or more teams. It is likely that after this weekend that will be our game - make the drive to get to the 50 team contests. I haven't looked much past September yet but can assure you if we have a shot at the Team of the Year title, travel and the schedule will get crazy :) It's going to be a wild ride and I hope to have some time to share a little of it here along the way. Wish us luck!
Good luck to everyone in "The Jack" draw tomorrow. It's a special day in the bbq world as the folks at Jack Daniel's conduct a drawing to determine which Grand Champions deserve the opportunity to cook in their World Championship event (not how I would do it if it were my contest, but its not my contest so I'll save that story for another day). We have 6 "chances" across four states (California, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota) but overall our odds are low and I expect we used up our draw luck in 2011! I hope your bung gets pulled!!!
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