We weren’t terrible. We just weren’t great. And in competition BBQ, the middle of the pack is a discouraging place to live. We knew we needed a class, YouTube just wasn’t cutting it. So, we went all in and signed up for a class from Brad Leighninger, 4-time KCBS Team of the Year and recent contestant on Food Network’s BBQ Brawl.

2026 is already proving to be a doozy! This New Years Eve was a lot different from anything John and I have ever experienced…come to find out John had dangerously high blood sugar levels! Neither one of us have much experience with diabetes, but boy oh boy have we gotten an education in this last month.

We had decided in 2018 that it was finally time to compete in the Big Blue BBQ in Marysville, Kansas — John’s hometown. If we were going to do this, we were going to do it right. That meant cooking on something big enough to handle all four meats. So naturally, we decided to build a smoker…