Competition & Event Schedule '06

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December 8-9: 2nd Annual Beefcember Fest, Starke FL (Final FBA of '06)
5th Ribs, 6th Pork, 10th Brisket, 4th Overall
Cold! Caught myself on fire twice! Finished 4th Overall in the FBA for the year!
Well, I was hoping to score well enough to wrap up the season in 3rd place overall in the FBA, but I didn't quite make it. My friend Mark of Smoke & Spice scored better in 2 categories than I did, so I ended up 4th overall for the year. This means I met one of my goals for the year, which was to earn an invitation to the Best of the Best in Douglas GA for '07 :) I'm still working towards my other goal, which has been to win a qualifying event for the American Royal Invitational.

November 17-18: Pig Jam, Plant City FL (KCBS FL Qualifier)
2nd Ribs, 14th Overall
I would have bet the house that I would have walked in 3 categories. Glad no one took me up on it! I was very excited to get the call in ribs, especially considering the teams that were there competing. I just wish I could have followed it with a couple of more calls. My beautiful Swamp Babes & Woody stayed very busy selling our barbecue & corn all day (10/4). As always, I am very thankful to them for all of their hard work. You guys are the best!!

November 10-11: Great Key Largo BBQ, Key Largo FL (KCBS State Championship)
4th Chicken, 5th Ribs, 8th Brisket, 5th Overall
Boy this one has grown from last year. They paired it up with the Plant City event to entice some northern teams to come down & cook 2 in a row. Some of the out of state teams they drew this year were Fast Eddy's, Wild Bunch Butt Burners, Smokers Wild, Music City Pig Pals, Mad Hogs & an Englishman, Jerry King Midland TX, & Smokin Triggers. Most of the cooks from The BBQ Showdown on TV were entered, so it has definitely moved up a notch.
Of course Jane & her crew did an excellent job as always, & the Friday night dinner was great. I was happy with my scores overall, but am still disappointed with my pork. One of theses days...

November 3-4: National BBQ Festival, Douglas GA
I was invited to cook with The Dixie Boys for the Best of the Best Invitational contest, & Big Pig Inc for the Smokin on the Square Open . We (TDB) took a 6th in Ribs, a 6th in Pork, & a 7th in Whole Hog, giving us a 9th overall amongst the best bbq teams in the country. Thank You TDB for letting me join you in the BOTB; I always learn a lot cooking with you.
For the Open, my good friend Buddy of Big Pig Inc invited me to come join him & our friend Scott (South Pork) to cook the Open. Scott would cook the chicken, Buddy the pork, & me the brisket, with everyone pitching in for all 3. I was originally supposed to cook pork, but I had been bombing in it so much lately that Buddy volunteered to do it & moved me to brisket. I thought each of our entries were spot-on, & would have bet $$ for 3 calls. As it turned out, the judges didn't agree, but we did manage to pull off a 1st place in brisket! That along with our solid scores in chicken & pork was enough to put us at 4th overall out of 70 teams, & an automatic invite to the Best of the Best for next year! Thanks so much to Buddy & Scott for letting me be a part of it!


Getting ready to inject the hog	Pickin the hog for turn-in	Big Pig Inc & 1st place Brisket bell (Scott, Buddy, me)

October 27-28: 3rd Annual Pig at the Park Kissimmee, FL (FBA)
3rd Chicken, 6th Ribs, 1st Brisket, RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION!
Lot's of wind & rain Friday night, but things cleared up nicely for Saturday. I won my first 1st place in Brisket, which was very cool! And I hadn't even made it back to my seat before they called us as RESERVE GRAND CHAMPIONS! Wooo-hooo! The Swamp Babes & Woody were there to help me sell our bbq for this Sat/Sun vending event. Sales were not that great, but when you have the Swamp Babes/Woody, a RGC, and Molly Hatchet playing live, it just didn't matter.

October 20-21: Brooksville Blazin' Butts-n-Briskets Brooksville, FL (FBA)
6th Chicken, 9th Pork, 2nd Brisket, 5th Overall
It was a beautiful setting for this small but nice contest. Needless to say, I was very happy with my brisket score. I missed beating Kevin in brisket by 0.00002 of a point. Maybe next time! I was happy to see Tammy & Woody, who came out to join me for awards. Thanks guys!

October 18: Senior Q Luncheon with Roosevelt Academy & The Groves
(Lunch for 185)

September 30 - October 1: HomeBBQ.com Cooking School, Dothan AL
I decided to pull the trigger & invest some time & $$ into furthering my education with barbecue. I think I made a good decision, & time will tell. Regardless if I cook better or not, I had one heckuva time with the whole "class" that was up there. Great friends, great fun. AND a Gators victory over AL :)


Kevin discussing ribs.	Dan is concentrating & Ms. Diane hams it up.	Walt & his delicious low-country boil.	Chow time!	Forrest made biscuits in his Dutch oven.	Class picture of friends from the NBBQN Forums

September 1-4: FBA Funcook, Crystal River FL
5th Chicken, 4th Ribs, 9th Pork, 6th Brisket; 6th overall/14 teams
My cooking was mediocre at best, but the highlight of my weekend was being elected to the Florida BBQ Association's Board of Directors! Results of the elections were announced Saturday morning, so my weekend was complete at that point. The contest was a Saturday/Sunday one, & a VERY eventful one at that. Here's a short list of things that happened: 1) passenger falls out of golf cart, goes to hospital 2) tree branch falls on van, dents roof & breaks windshield 3) cook trailer floods 4) Baby D cooks on his own 5) cook trailer next to me nearly burns down from grease fire 6) TDB wins RGC. Following are a few pictures.


Crash survivor- Ouch!	Almost a trailer fire next door...	Think the judges will notice?

August 19: Vending at Winter Haven Bike Fest
Rain, rain, & more rain. The bright spot was having our friends Jim & Laurie come join us, and having many swim friends drop by during the rain breaks to say hello! Thanks for your help breaking down, Jim, & as always, Thanks & Luv to the Swamp Babes :P

July 28-29: Above the Best BBQ Festival, Ft. Rucker AL (KCBS)
17th Ribs, 5th Pork, 17th overall/67 teams
This one was just too big to pass up! $50,000 in prize money, and most of the best teams in the country: Lotta Bull BBQ, The Woodhouse Grill, Head Country II, Bill & the Dixie Chicks, Pellet Envy, Buttrub.com, HomeBBQ.com, Whoop-de-Que, Smokin' Trigg, Jacks Old South, Music City "Slab" Pals just to name a few. I was hoping just to get my name called with this bunch, & I did! It was a lot of fun to find out where I stacked up against the teams I watch on the Food Network. I had side bets with my friend Foy (Barbecue Crew) for each category & overall. I got called 5th in pork & knew I had him beat, then he was called 4th in pork - sonofab$%&*! We split on the cats, but I won overall, so I made $5 off him 8^). But the big story was my friend Gary from Muchee's Smokehouse. He & his brother were cooking their first KCBS contest - they usually cook FBA - & they took 1st in pork, 1st in brisket, & RGC overall! Now THAT'S a weekend! An $8k weekend, to be exact. Congratulations guys!!

This picture shows how
close I ended up being
to the stage. It was LOUD!

July 14-15: Greenwood Festival of Discovery, Greenwood SC (KCBS State Championship)
3rd People's Choice, 8th Chicken, 6th Pork, 16th overall/41 teams
Another hot one! As usual, the best part of the weekend was meeting up with my friends Mike, Vicky, & their son Michael. They arrived early Friday morning, & helped from then through Sunday morning! They are awesome friends, & I just wish that I could score as well in the 4 categories as they do with our People's Choice. I cooked what I felt to be my best ribs of the year, but they only garnered an 18th place from the judges. Tough group! thanks again to Mike, Vicky, & Michael for all of their help :^)

June 23-24: Smokin in the Wiregrass Tri-State Barbecue Festival & Concert, Dothan AL (FBA)
7th place chicken, 10th overall/37 teams
Hot, hot, hot. 100+ degrees during the day made this one an endurance test. But besides that part of it, I had a good time. Was set up next to my friend Buddy of Big Pig Inc and we had a good time. Got to have another steak dinner courtesy of the Barbecue Crew which was awesome as usual. I was disappointed in my scores, especially brisket. Wish I could have landed on the table with judges 16-21. They produced 3 of the 1st places, and the majority of all the top 10 scores. Maybe next time :^). I've slipped to 5th overall in the FBA. Sure wish I could put together a consistent string of contest cooks. More practice!

June 16-17: Blueberries & BBQ, Callahan (FBA)
4th place Ribs, 4th in Pork, 6th overall out of 35 teams
I was happy to get back on track somewhat. I thought for sure my chicken was a top 5; it ended up 10th. Pork was nice surprise though :^) This put me in 4th place overall in the FBA rankings, 3rd overall in ribs.
Had fun being neighbors with the Barbecue Crew!

June 2-3: St. Mary's Governor's Cup, St. Mary's GA (FBA/GA State Championship)
No calls, GA still hates me. Nice setting, good contest, lots of fun. Dropped to 5th place in the FBA overall rankings. Just can't score worth a darn in GA...

May 12-13, 2006 Smoke 'n Blues BBQ St. Cloud, FL (FBA)
1st in Ribs, 8th overall
I thought I had cooked real good in St. Cloud, but I guess not ;^). I was very excited about the 1st place in Ribs. That has put me up to 3rd place overall in the Team of the Year standings, and 2nd place overall in the Rib category. It's going to be hard to keep or improve on these standings, as there are lots of great teams all with the same goals in mind. Five more FBA contests to go!

May 5-6: Quincyfest BBQ Cookoff, Quincy (FBA)
6th in Chicken, 2nd in Ribs, 4th in Pork, 3rd in Brisket GRAND CHAMPION!!
Woo-hoooo! My first GC as a "pro". I was totally shocked when they called my name, & I still can't get this silly grin off my face. This brought me up to a solid 5th place for the FBA Team of the Year standings. Hopefully I can continue to improve in St. Cloud.

GC at Quincy!

April 27: Pork Fest BBQ Fundraiser for Roosevelt Academy
We raised over $1300 for the school :^)

April 14-15: Barnesville BBQ Cookoff, Barnesville GA (FBA)
5th in Chicken, bombed on the rest!
For some reason my BBQ never scores too well in GA. But fortunately, I had a really fun time & met some new cook teams. The people of Barnesville were very nice & hospitable which helped a lot. Did I mention it was a 7.5 hour drive? Each way??

March 31 - April 1: Hog Wild, Pig Crazy, Lake City (FBA)
6th in Chicken, 1st in Ribs, 7th in Brisket, Reserve Grand Champion (2nd Overall) out of 40 teams
Woo-hoooo! Two "firsts" for me at this cookoff: my first "1st Place" in a sanctioned contest, & my first Reserve Grand Champion in a sanctioned contest! What great feeling that is :) Wish the Swamp Babes could have been there, but maybe next time. Now to see if I can ever repeat it again...

March 17-18: Bluegrass & BBQ, Auburndale (FBA)
    2nd in Chicken, 6th in Ribs, 5th in Pork, 3rd Overall
   This had the potential to be an awesome contest, with live bluegrass paired up with BBQ. Unfortunately, the organizer dropped the ball in my opinion. But that's another story.
    Third overall is my highest ever finish for a professional contest. I felt I had cooked pretty darn good & was glad to see that the judges agreed with me for the most part. My friends Kevin & Clara of HomeBBQ.com had a tremendous contest, taking 1st place in each category. This was a first for the FBA. But the best part of the weekend for me was when Amy & Jenna (my 6 year old) showed up for the awards, & Jenna went up on stage with me to get the trophies. She was as excited as I was, & I'll always remember it. Having family there to share the good times is the best.

March 10-11: Pig on the Pond, Clermont, (FBA)
10th in Ribs, 15th Overall
Tammy & Robin gave up their Saturday to come sell BBQ with me. Are those great friends or what? I know I say it a lot, but it's true: I love these gals! They were bustin' it from 10am till about 5pm without a break. When the dust had finally settled, they sold 8 bushels of corn, 2 cases of butts, a case of ribs, & some brisket. I wish I could have matched their efforts with my turn-ins. A 10th in Ribs was my only call. Slipped to 7th in FBA points. I'm hoping to turn this train wreck around next weekend in Auburndale, which will make 9 straight weekends of barbecuing. Whew.

March 3-4: Top of the Lake BBQ Affair, Okeechobee (FBA)
7th in Chicken, 9th Ribs, 12th Overall
I'm not sure why, but I'm definitely slipping. I think I'm doing everything the same or better, but the judges don't agree. Dropped to a tie for 6th overall in the FBA.

February 25: Mardi Gras Fundraiser for Roosevelt Academy, Lake Wales
We were able to raise just over $1,000 to donate to Roosevelt Academy. We sold 2 cases of butts, and about 3 bushels of corn. We stayed busy all day & sold out of meat by quittin' time. Lots of fun as always, & love the Swamp Babes! :)


Nice crowds all day	Swamp Babes workin for some beads	Look at the size of that gator!

February 18: Staff Party for 300, (4 meats, 4 sides) Ft. Lauderdale
The party was great, we got lots of compliments, & we've already been asked back for next year. Everyone worked their butts off, but still managed to have fun. The Swamp Babes were awesome as always. Special thanks to Mark & Matt for helping out!


Dinner anyone?	Tammy with a gosling.	Swamp Babes ready for action, sporting their new shirts.	Mark & Matt were a big help. Wake up Matt.	Amy shatters the record!	Urban Cowgirl, Tammy.

February 10-11: Smoke on the Water (vending), Winter Haven (FBA)
11th Overall out of 35 teams; 4th in Ribs, 4th in Pork
Last week my chicken came in 2nd. This week I thought I cooked it even better, but it came in 26th. Go figure. I'm now tied for 3rd in the FBA Team standings. The Swamp Babes sold 3 cases of corn almost a case of ribs, and 5 butts. As always, they worked very hard. We got to hear and see Skinny McGee & His Mayhem Makers - these guys are great! If you ever get a chance to see them live, do it. Lots of fun. They are the official band of Swamp Boys BBQ.


Swamp Babes at Awards	Us with Skinny McGee & His Mayhem Makers	We tied The Dixie Boys in categories, but won the overall. TDB is signing my winnings. :)

February 3-4: Grillin' & Chillin' on Main (vending), Wauchula (FBA)
7th Overall out of 24 teams; 2nd Place Chicken, 4th Place Ribs
Talk about some bad weather! It rained from the time I arrived on Friday until 2pm on Saturday. Then of course there was the 20-30mph wind gusts. Not fun. But scoring in chicken & ribs sure made everything better. Swamp Boys BBQ are currently tied for 2nd place in the FBA Team of the Year standings. It's still very early on, but we're off to a good start.

January 27-28: Lakeland Pig Fest (KCBS Qualifier)
23rd Overall out of 58 teams
Man, this contest just gets bigger and bigger. The police estimated the crowds at around 30,000, with more than 50,000 for the total on Saturday. My Swamp Krewe sold 2 cases of butts, a case of ribs, & 5 bushels of corn. They were humpin' it the whole day, and really worked their tails off. We had a lot of repeat customers come hunt us down - from last year as well as from earlier in the day. That's always a good feeling when people make it a point to come get your food. And speaking of the Krewe, my good friends from SC (Vicky, Mike & son Michael) drove down for the weekend and were a tremendous help. Swamp Babes Tammy & Robin, along with Tammy's husband Kevin, & our friend Bob, teamed up with our SC Krewe and they all made an awesome team. I was sorry I couldn't produce a call for the team, but it wasn't for lack of trying. There were just A LOT of great teams there, & some day I plan on being up there with them :) Thanks again to my Swamp Babes & the whole Krewe. You guys are the best!!


The hardest working Krewe at the Fest	The Krewe after awards & a hard day	Our group picture from The BBQ Forum

January 21: Winter Haven Bike Fest
Sold out a case of butts and a case of chicken.

January 6-7: Central FL BBQ Fest, Sebring FL (FBA Qualifier)
   4th Overall out of 45 teams; 3rd place Pork
    What a great way to start the new season! I tied my previous high finish, but with a tougher & larger group of competitors. As usual, this was a very cold event. Got down to 36* at night, so I was kinda cold sleeping next to my smoker. Saturday was beautiful though, & I even managed to vend & sell out, as well as compete. A local fella named Jim gave me a hand for a while & I appreciated it. I did miss my Swamp Babes though...