Pit Bulls "Up In Smoke" attends the event in true "bull style" with the hopes of pulling off at least a top "6" placement to move on to the Sam's Club BBQ Regionals, however, we instead received what has become not-so-lovingly known as "the kiss of death" as stated by our good friend and Championship Winner, Bubba Lattimer of Bubba-Q.

Looking back on the event, the meats, the cook, the overall flavor profiles, and the presentation of our turn-in boxes for the BBQ judges, we say with certainty that there is nothing we could have or would have done differently.  PitMaster, Danny Coogle, was confident in our overall cook – the meats were spot-on in flavor, tenderness, taste, and presentation – it was a great cook for Pit Bulls "Up In Smoke" BBQ Team.  From beginning to end, things ran like clock-work for all four bbq categories – chicken, ribs, butts, and brisket.  Perhaps we had a bit too much confidence in the cook, but that is neither here nor there now.  You just know when your cooks are good and when they are bad.  So, often times, we find ourselves in a state of shock when the score sheets get delivered – but it is all part of the game and we all take it in stride.

While we had a fantastic time catching up with all our friends and enjoying some interesting and enlightening conversation throughout the weekend, our overall finish was not so great this time.  Pit Bulls "Up In Smoke" ended up finishing 15th overall at the event with a 4th Place call in Pork and a 3rd Place call in the Tyson "Best Wings on the Planet" category.  Hey, who knows, perhaps you will see our Luau Hawaiian Chicken Wing Recipe in Tyson packaging next year…you never know!  They were asking for something different in the wings category and that was exactly what we gave them.  Our recipe will be submitted to Tyson for them to test against other winning recipes in their test kitchen.

In the Professional Barbecue Competition world, we have all come to learn that what we consider to be a perfect cook, one in which you truly can't think of anything you would have done differenty, you often find that "kiss of death" plants one big smackeroo on you.  We approach this aspect of competition as "humbling" and with the mindset that you certainly can't win them all.

The hardest part of contests with placements such as these is that you will make yourself go crazy looking at the score sheets again and again and again trying to figure out the mentality of those certain judges that scored you low, but we all know coming to a definite conclusion as to the problem the judge(s) felt was worthy of a low score will drive any true PitMaster in sane.  Bottom line…you gotta let it go and look forward to the next competition.  We all take a beating from time to time, but one thing remains true, you will see us all out there the following week shooting for those top scores we are used to seeing.

In closing, we won't bemoving on to the regionals, but that's okay.  We have many other contests in store and a great deal of support from the BBQ community of fellow brethren.  We all want to see the other do well.  This contest just wasn't in the cards for us this week but there is always next week.  We are very sorry to our Sponsors who look forward to us producing every week.  We are in full gear and as always plan on kicking some bbq "butt" next weekend in Tryon, NC.

In closing, we do want to congratulate the following top "6" Finishers at the Sam's Club Qualifier Event who will be moving on to the Regional (which you can also find online at http://www.pitbullsupinsmoke.com/bbq-competition-stats.html ), they are:

1.  Que'n, Stew'n & Brew'n - 682.2860
2.  Curly Tails - 682.2856
3.  Mrs. T's BBQ - 678.8572
4.  The Pit Crew - 677.1426
5.  Bub-Ba-Q - 673.1430
6.  Nada Lotta Q - 672.5710

We look forward to conquering next year's Sam's Club Event in Marietta, GA.  Stay tuned and a special thanks to all our followers and a special extension of thanks to our marketing "Guru", George Tingley of BizWire that is working us through this new phase of our marketing campaing for Pit Bulls "Up In Smoke" BBQ Team.  Exciting times folks.  Exciting times!