KCBS Team of the Year: 5th in Pork

The 2008 BBQ season was, in a word, amazing.  I got to cook with my friend Andy Groneman and my friend and brother in law Randy Hinck.  So many memorable moments.  Randy and I tore up the Great American BBQ contest placing in Chicken, Ribs, and Pork (4th) in the invitational and brisket (11th) and pork (1st) in the Open out of 225 teams.  Randy and I finished 6th in our first ever Invitational and 9th in the Open.  My grandfather passed away the day before the GAB, so it was an emotional weekend all the way around.
Andy and I cooked six contests together this year scoring two Grand Championships, two Reserve Grand Championships, another top 5 finish, and 1st place pork at the American Royal Invitational.  Andy went on to place Reserve Grand Champion (2nd overall) out of 500 teams at the American Royal Open as his team, Smoke on Wheels.

All of our collective efforts this year earned our team, Pork Pullin Plowboys, our first ever KCBS Team of the Year award.  The top 10 contests finishes by a team are scored and compared against all teams in the country.  Bonus points are given based on the number of teams competing at each contest.  There were approximately 4200 unique teams scored this year.  Here are the top 10 finishes that got us into the top five in the country for the pork category.

1st Place - Great American BBQ Contest - Kansas City, KS
1st Place - Sugar Creek, MO
2nd Place - Pleasant Hill, MO
2nd Place - BBQLossal - Part of the World Pork Expo - Des Moines, IA
2nd Place - River City Roundup - Omaha, NE
3rd Place - Garden City, MO
5th Place - Blue Springs, MO
5th Place - Burlington, KS
6th Place - Excelsior Springs, MO
13th Place - American Royal Open - Kansas City, MO

Our team finished 27th overall, 35th in Brisket, 36th in Chicken (Go Andy!), and 47th in Ribs.  Audrey and I traveled to Nashville, TN to receive the TOY award presented at the KCBS annual banquet.