The TOY run - Update #1

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