By Amy Overbey, MABA Board Member, the Princess of Poultry, and Co-Pitmaster of Team Meat Coma

WHO IS ON THE TEAM AND WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

My team consists of myself, my father Jerry Dyer, my mother Mary Dyer and my boyfriend Duane Underwood.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING?

As a team, we have been competing over 15 years.  However, I only took over as pitmaster at the beginning of the 2017 season.

My father and some of his friends cooked in a couple of the first few Memphis in May contests back when MIM first started.  My father was a US Marine, and the contest was hurting for teams back then and asked the Marines to put together a team and participate.  We didn’t do anything for years after that, then there was a contest in Fredericksburg over 15 years ago.  Dad remembered how much fun he had when he had done the MIM contests so he wanted to try to do it again.  We’ve been doing it ever since.

HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH YOUR TEAM NAME/LOGO?

Dad is a retired Marine, and one of his favorite Marines in history was MAJ “Pappy” Boyington who commanded the Black Sheep Squadron, who were also known as the ‘Flying Misfits’.  So we are the Smokin’ Misfits.  ????

WHAT SMOKER(S) DO YOU COOK ON?

We use a WSM for chicken and a Southern Q for everything else

IF YOU COULD ADD A 5TH CATEGORY, AND IT CAN BE ANYTHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE AND WHY?

I would make desserts an official category.  I’ve always been good at those.  Doing them on the smokers could be a challenge, though…

WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO COOK (CAN BE A FAVORITE COMP, BUT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE, CAN BE ANYWHERE)?

My favorite comp is the Covington Cork & Pork in Covington, VA.  It’s a bit of a drive, but they treat the teams better than any other contest I’ve cooked recently.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BEVERAGE AT A COMPETITION?

Absolute favorite ‘go-to’ mixed drink has to be an Orange Crush.  Sometimes that’s too much trouble, though, so I always make sure I’ve got some Peach or Grape ‘Lime-a-rita’ drinks in the cooler.  And of course, I would never survive Saturdays without my Monster Rehabs.

ANY COMPETITION SUPERSTITIONS OR SOMETHING YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT AT A COMPETITION?

We really only have one superstition, and that has to do with the way we cook our chicken.  It’s a secret, though.  ????

Last year I had to be injured for us to do well at a comp (broken bones, car accident, walked face first into the RV slide), and Dad threatened to injure me at every comp just to be sure (I’m fairly certain he was kidding).  Thankfully we moved on from that this year (although our scores were bad enough at the beginning of the season that I was starting to fear for my safety  ????)

WHAT IS YOUR GO TO FOOD AFTER A COMPETITION?

Anything but BBQ!!  Seriously, if the vendors have any good fair-type food I’ll get some of that, but really anything that isn’t BBQ and that I didn’t have to cook.

IF YOU WEREN’T COMPETING ALL WEEKEND, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING INSTEAD?

Probably reading and spending time with my animals.  I’ve got 4 cats and 2 big dogs that miss me when I’m gone.