About 2,500 people are expected to show up at the Oakland Coliseum ahead of the A's game against the Mariners this Saturday, for the 2nd annual Bay Area BBQ Championship. The charity fundraiser, which benefits foster youth, will feature both pro and amateur cook-offs, and a third category called People’s Choice.
“Big” Tom Pierce of Allied Storage Containers in Oakland is fielding a team called “Candy on a Bone.”
"There’s cash and there’s trophies," he says, "but the biggest prize is the bragging rights. [To] be able [to] walk around for a year knowing you're the king of the county."
This year, there’s a competition within the competition… between two Oakland firehouses. But don’t go making too much of it. Lieutenant James P. Troy - or “JP” - out of Oakland Fire Station 12 says the firefighters aren't bringing a lot of, you know, heat to the competition."You gotta understand that. We’re all on the same team."
Troy and his cohort, the Chinatown “Dragonslayers,” have reason to be a little cocky. Firefighters are famous for eating well, but the folks at Station 12 have taken it to a new level.