The heartbreaker
2.9372
points from the title
Came within 2.9372 points of the Grand Championship at Barbeque on the Bow Festival (Aug 30, 2025).
Grilling with Short
Grilling with Short is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2025 and 2026. Their best overall finish is 2nd of 38 at the Barbeque on the Bow Festival (2025), and they have finished Reserve Grand Champion once. They are ranked #4790 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1467
peak 1504 · rated over 6 contests
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
Jul 26, 2025
latest Sep 4, 2026 · 1.1 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
1 reserve
Category wins
1
1 podium
Overall top-10s
1
17% of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 73%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
33%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±14.64
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 164.93 · weakest Pork Ribs (158.91)
Road miles
374
across 6 mapped stops · furthest 120 mi
Schedule strength
26%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1535)
Purse competed for
$15K
listed at 1 contest — purses, not winnings
Master avg
642.27 / 720
5 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
332.48 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Grilling with Short, each with one reason worth a look.
135 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#4,817 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1467
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,792 of the rated field
- Contests
- 8
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 25%
- Peak
- 1467
Level with Grilling with Short on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,776 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1468
Their last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Grilling with Short's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,800 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1467
They were already cooking in 2019, 6 years before Grilling with Short's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#4,811 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1467
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 7 years before Grilling with Short's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,804 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1467
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 8 years before Grilling with Short's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire BBQ | 6 | 3 | 3 | 50% | ⚔ compare |
| KillerbunnyBBQ | 6 | 2 | 4 | 33% | ⚔ compare |
| Bottle Hill BBQ | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17% | ⚔ compare |
| EFFIN'EH GRAY'S | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17% | ⚔ compare |
| Hogparts School of Smokecraft and Brew'ery | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17% | ⚔ compare |
| No Measurements BBQ | 6 | 1 | 5 | 17% | ⚔ compare |
| ROKER Q | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| Syndicate BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| YOU NEED A BBQ | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
| MOTLEY QUE | 5 | 1 | 4 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 171.9772 | 159.3484 | 164.93 | top 60% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 163.3944 | 153.6688 | 158.91 | top 75% |
| Pork | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.2744 | 154.2744 | 160.88 | top 80% |
| Brisket | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168.5256 | 149.6456 | 159.28 | top 77% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 2 | 0 | top 94% |
| Medium (20–39) | 4 | 0 | top 63% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbeque on the Bow Festival | 2 | 2 | 0 | top 34% | Sep 4, 2026 |
| The Didsbury Double (Didsbury Lions BBQ) (Day 2) | 2 | 16 | 0 | top 94% | Jul 25, 2026 |
More numbers
Contests a season
3
across 2 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AB
6 of 6 contests
Contests visited
4
2 of them more than once
Opponents faced
60
finished ahead 58 times, behind 102
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20262 milestones
- Career-best overall score662.6856 Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- Most recent contest Barbeque on the Bow Festival
20259 milestones
- First tracked contest Didsbury Lions BBQ
- First call Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- First category win (Chicken) Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- First overall top-10 Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- First overall podium Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- First Reserve Championship Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score332.4800 Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- Career-best single call (Chicken)171.9772 Barbeque on the Bow Festival
- Peak power rating (1504) Barbeque on the Bow Festival
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +15.3 | Barbeque on the Bow Festival | Aug 30, 2025 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -14.7 | The Didsbury Double (Didsbury Lions BBQ) (Day 1) | Jul 24, 2026 |
| -11.4 | Didsbury Lions BBQ | Jul 26, 2025 |
| -10.8 | Smoke in the Valley | Sep 27, 2025 |
| -10.3 | The Didsbury Double (Didsbury Lions BBQ) (Day 2) | Jul 25, 2026 |
| -0.9 | Barbeque on the Bow Festival | Sep 4, 2026 |
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33% | top 84% | 92% | 89.1% |
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 33% | top 62% | 92.4% | 90.4% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 4, 2026 | Barbeque on the Bow Festival Calgary, AB | 21 / 33 (662.6856) | 24 (165.0972) | 24 (163.3944) | 25 (165.6684) | 16 (168.5256) |
| Jul 25, 2026 | The Didsbury Double (Didsbury Lions BBQ) (Day 2) Didsbury, AB | 16 / 18 (644.3884) | 7 (169.1428) | 14 (161.6800) | 16 (157.0628) | 16 (156.5028) |
| Jul 24, 2026 | The Didsbury Double (Didsbury Lions BBQ) (Day 1) Didsbury, AB | 18 / 18 (616.9372) | 17 (159.3484) | 17 (153.6688) | 16 (154.2744) | 18 (149.6456) |
| Sep 27, 2025 | Smoke in the Valley Edmonton, AB | 21 / 23 (645.0972) | 16 (164) | 23 (157.1316) | 19 (161.1084) | 15 (162.8572) |
| Aug 30, 2025 | Barbeque on the Bow Festival Calgary, AB | 2 / 38 (332.4800) | 1 (171.9772) | 6 (160.5028) | — | — |
| Jul 26, 2025 | Didsbury Lions BBQ Didsbury, AB | 29 / 32 (642.2404) | 27 (160.0116) | 29 (157.1088) | 20 (166.2744) | 27 (158.8456) |