We're Backkkk.....

Back in 2009, we launched this blog to chronicle our initial journey the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue Competition - aka "The Jack.". Billed as the "World Championship of Barbecue", this epicurean "Superbowl" is held in the sleepy little hollow of Lynchburg, TN (pop.361) the 4th Saturday in October each year. It just so happens that Lynchburg is also home to the world renowned Jack Daniels distillery - the primary sponsor and namesake behind this culinary extravaganza.

Each year, tens of thousands of competition BBQ teams from across the United States (and around the world) spend countless hours and weekends competing in sanctioned BBQ events. These teams vie not only for Grand Championships & serious prize money (sometimes as much as $100K) - but perhaps even more importantly, they are all hoping by the end of the "BBQ season" to grab one of the 60 highly coveted spots to cook against an elite group of teams for the title of "world's best" (the "Jack" is by invitation only).

We competed in the 2009 Jack, and finished in the "middle of the pack" - an accomplishment we were certainly proud of. And after more or less taking the year off in 2010, "Hoochie-Que" is ramping up to make another run at a coveted invitation to the Jack in 2011.

So, after over a year of "neglect", we are "dusting off" this little ol' blog to once again share with family, friends, and other BBQ cooks/fans our experiences as we start our journey hopefully towards another invitation to the "Jack" in October 2011.

Also - and especially if you are new to this blog - make certain to read back through the "Blog Archive" to re-visit our experiences and trip to the Jack back in 2009! Some pretty good writing, memories & photos if I do say so myself!

Thanks - and we hope to see you in Lynchburg on October!

"Hoochie"
March 26, 2011

Friday, October 09, 2009

2 Weeks & Counting...

Well, it is getting to be "crunch time", as "The Jack" takes center stage two weeks from today (Oct. 23-24). In light of all that has been going on in our lives in the past couple of weeks, I feel like I am a little "behind" in terms of my practice and preparation at this point in time - but what else is new?! In my 4 years of competing, I never have felt that I have walked into a competition as fully prepared as I would have liked. In fact, more often than not I am the guy pulling into a competition at "dark-thirty" and scrambling to get things set-up while the other teams are already well into their cookin', story-tellin', and occasional whiskey-drinkin'! I have done a fair amount of cooking for some groups over the past few weeks, so it is not like my pit/"skills" have been idle... And I will be doing a full "test run" tonight, and then another later this next week - so we should be in good shape before heading to Lynchburg.

Besides - as I mentioned a couple of posts back, I know I am already a "Grand Champion". So while I normally might have been getting most "anxious" right about now, I am instead feeling rather "at peace" with things. Not a "laissez-faire" state of mind - just one at peace...

4 comments:

Alec and Emily said...

Good Luck Dr. Mike!

Dr. Michael Knight said...

Thanks, Emily & Alec!!!

Jeff Pierce said...

Good Luck Mike!!!

Dr. Michael Knight said...

Thanks, Jeff!!! I promise I will call you after we get back... Haven't forgotten...