The heartbreaker
0.6172
points from the title
Came within 0.6172 points of the Grand Championship at Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) (Aug 24, 2024).
South Side Pit Men
South Side Pit Men is a competition barbecue team with 5 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2020 and 2024. Their best overall finish is 2nd of 36 at the Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) (2024), and they have finished Reserve Grand Champion twice. They finished #581 in the 2020 Master Series Team of the Year standings. Also listed in KCBS results as “Southside Pit Men”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1536
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 4
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
Jul 17, 2020
latest Aug 24, 2024 · 4.1 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
2 reserve
Category wins
3
5 podiums
Overall top-10s
2
40% of 5 contests
Best top-10 run
2
straight overall top-10s, still running
Avg finish
top 29%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
60%
contests with a top-10 call
Strongest meat
Brisket
avg 174.56 · weakest Chicken (167.40)
Road miles
457
across 5 mapped stops · furthest 191 mi
Schedule strength
42%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1556)
Purse competed for
$14K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 3 state-championship entries
Master avg
669.58 / 720
2 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
347.14 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 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)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 ↗ | Master | #581 (160 pts) | #756 (115 pts) | #657 (140 pts) | #706 (120 pts) | #324 (375 pts) |
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to South Side Pit Men, each with one reason worth a look.
South Side Pit Men has 4 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 78 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#2,053 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1537
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,056 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 100%
- Peak
- 1538
Their rating is built on 1 Grand Championship in 5 contests, alongside a 100% overall top-10 rate.
⚔ Compare careers#2,077 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 60%
- Peak
- 1536
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 7 years before South Side Pit Men's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,075 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1536
They were already cooking in 2013, 7 years before South Side Pit Men's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#2,068 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1536
Level with South Side Pit Men on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,054 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 50%
- Peak
- 1537
Careers of much the same size, 6 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 177.1428 | 161.6456 | 167.40 | top 45% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 176.5600 | 161.1200 | 169.84 | top 32% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 169.6800 | 165.6800 | 167.68 | top 66% |
| Brisket | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 176 | 173.1200 | 174.56 | top 20% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 2 | 0 | top 34% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 24% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) | 2 | 2 | 0 | top 5% | Aug 24, 2024 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2020
2 contests
Contests a season
1.3
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
IL
4 of 5 contests · 2 states in all
Contests visited
3
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
125
finished ahead 112 times, behind 41
Longest layoff
2 yrs
Aug 14, 2020 → Aug 20, 2022
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20243 milestones
- Career-best single call (Chicken)177.1428 Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Peak power rating (1536) Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY)
- Most recent contest Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY)
20223 milestones
- First overall top-10 Vine St. BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First overall podium Vine St. BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY)
- First Reserve Championship Vine St. BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY)
20204 milestones
- First call CIBBQ Red Devil Edition Day 1
- First category win (Brisket) CIBBQ Red Devil Edition Day 1
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score664.4456 CIBBQ Red Devil Edition Day 1
- Career-best overall score674.7200 Big Blue Barbecue
20191 milestone
- First tracked contest Route 66 Smoke Out
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +14.7 | Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) | Aug 24, 2024 |
| +14.6 | Vine St. BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) | Aug 20, 2022 |
| +7.2 | Big Blue Barbecue | Aug 14, 2020 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -0.2 | CIBBQ Red Devil Edition Day 1 | Jul 17, 2020 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 6% | 98.3% | 98.3% |
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 100% | top 5% | 94.6% | 94.6% |
| 2020 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 50% | top 54% | 93.7% | 93% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 24, 2024 | Vine St BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) Park Ridge, IL | 2 / 36 (353.7028) | 2 (177.1428) | 1 (176.5600) | — | — |
| Aug 20, 2022 | Vine St. BBQ Competition & Fest (BACKYARD ONLY) Park Ridge, IL | 2 / 41 (340.5716) | 3 (166.8572) | 1 (173.7144) | — | — |
| Aug 14, 2020 | Big Blue Barbecue 🏅 Shelbyville, IN | 22 / 50 (674.7200) | 40 (163.9428) | 21 (167.9772) | 24 (169.6800) | 18 (173.1200) |
| Jul 17, 2020 | CIBBQ Red Devil Edition Day 1 🏅 Eureka, IL | 19 / 30 (664.4456) | 26 (161.6456) | 24 (161.1200) | 25 (165.6800) | 1 (176) |
| May 3, 2019 | Route 66 Smoke Out 🏅 Dwight, IL | — | — | — | — | — |