BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – First of all, I’d like to welcome Stephen Koinis to the distribution list, and also welcome back Chris King. Chris has been serving a suspension for violation of the league’s substance abuse policy, which is impressive given the amount of substance abuse allowed by this league. Anyway, his suspension is over and he’s eligible to play again.

Those of you who read the weekly recaps know JV is on thin ice after his last two weeks, which included shitting his pants and hitting KP in the head with a beer can during his fit of rage. We all expected strike three this week, but it didn’t happen. In fact, JV partially redeemed himself by cooking some incredible ribs for the entire group. Nice work JV!

Now back to the week 8 recap. This week’s story is all about Adam Rymill. Sure, Adam’s 4-6 record seems unimpressive compared to others, but when you dive deeper into the advanced metrics you’ll see Adam was on the cusp of a very good night. He was 53% accurate, averaged 2.8 gross points per round, and flashed his versatility with 4 foot snags on his was to a KPM of 8.5. If not for a low cornholes per round (0.32) Adam would’ve had a KPM near 9.

Adam showed his “clutchness” in Game 13 when he teamed with Bushie in a 21-11 loss to JV and Coach Mike. Yes, it was a blowout loss, but he was head-to-head against Coach Mike and in round 9 the game was on the line, 20-9. Coach Mike applied serious pressure by going 4-4 on his throws, and Adam responded by going 4-4 to extend the game. The deficit was ultimately too much to overcome, but this was another major moment of growth for Adam.

Adam is another perfect example demonstrating the value of the KPM. His 4-6 record was worse than Jack (4-3), but his KPM was higher than Jack’s (8.5 vs. 8.4, respectively). Adam also started 1-5 before finishing the night winning 3 of his last 4 games.

The Game of the Night was easy this week since most of the games were blowouts. In Game 4 JV and Bushie faced off against Coach Mike and Adam. This game had 23 total cornholes, with Bushie pacing the group with 7. JV and Bushie appeared to blow this one open in the middle rounds, going on a 15-5 run to turn a 1-1 tie into a 16-6 lead. JV was outstanding during the run, outscoring Adam 9-3 in their head-to-head match up.

Adam and Coach Mike kept battling, but still found themselves in a 19-11 hole late in the game. That’s when both players took their play to another level. In one round they flipped a 19-11 deficit to a 20-19 lead with Adam outscoring JV 6-1 and Coach Mike getting the better of Bushie 5-1. JV and Bushie were shaken, and clearly on the ropes after the momentum swing.

In the next round Adam and JV drew even, 2-2, before turning it over to Bushie and Coach Mike. Could Coach Mike close it out against his good friend? Not this time. Bushie nailed 3 of his 4 throws to earn a +2 advantage and he won the game 21-20.

Game 5 also had some crazy fireworks, despite the 21-10 final score. In round 5 Jack came to life with 3 cornholes on his way to a 9-1 advantage over Mario. Bushie (Jack’s partner) followed that up with 3 additional cornholes and a 10 point round in his half of round 5. If not for JV sinking 2 cornholes of his own to offset Bushie’s 10 points, this one could’ve been over. That’s 8 total cornholes in one round, which might be a record. Bushie and Jack turned a 5-4 deficit into a 14-5 lead, ultimately won going away, 21-10.

This week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment (“MSM”) goes to JV, who in Game 2 used a 10 point round (including 3 cornholes) to win the game, and ended Game 2 with the most cornholes (7), gross points (33) and foot snags (2). If you’re wondering what the hell the Mushroom Stamp Moment is, it’s when one player exudes his dominance by slapping his proverbial dick on the rest of the players’ proverbial faces. JV did that in this game, and becomes the first ever recipient of the MSM.

News & Notes:

• JV was the KPM leader on the night at 10.2, marking the first week ever where KP was not the leader in KPM. JV hit 60% accuracy and was the leader in gross points per round at 3.3, and also added 5 more foot snags to his season-leading total (23). He finished the night 7-1 and has moved to #2 in the Power Rankings.
• Coach Mike was a stud this week. He was only slightly behind JV for top KPM, finishing at 9.8. He once again held top honors for most cornholes with 36 total, and also had a season high accuracy at 59%. His overall record of 6-4 doesn’t reflect how good he was this week.
• Jack recorded his season high KPM at 8.4 and topped the 50% mark for accuracy. Jack pushed his season record above the .500 mark with a 4-3 record this week.
• Bushie is the strangest case of the week. He tied Adam with a respectable KPM at 8.5, and tied Coach Mike for the weekly lead in total cornholes at 36. All other metrics were also near average, yet he finished the week 2-8, losing his last 7 games of the night.
• Mario continues to fight through moments of inconsistency, but he shows his value in cornholes. He was on pace with Adam and Jack for cornholes per game and per round, was better than KP in both of those categories, yet his accuracy (37%) brought him down. He finished 2-5 on the night with a KPM of 6.6. If Mario can get the accuracy into the mid-40% range, he’s going to make a move to the middle of the pack.
• It was another rough week for KP, finishing 5-3 overall. He dropped one spot in the Power Rankings from #2 to #3. But more concerning is the cornhole issue he has. Week 8 was a season low cornholes per game (1.8) and cornholes per round (0.19). At one point, KP had a 0.15 cornholes per round. Guys, that’s a ridiculous 1 cornhole every 28 throws. ONE CORNHOLE EVERY TWENTY-SEVEN THROWS! As a result, he had his lowest KPM of the year at 8.7, despite another accurate night (65%).

The unbalanced schedule created a night where JV and KP did not face off against one another, otherwise things could’ve been uglier for KP.

One last item of note is regarding the KPM. Previously you may recall the KPM formula was as follows:

• 50% weighting given to gross points per round
• 20% weighting given to cornholes per round
• 20% weighting given to accuracy
• 10% weighting given to net point differential

JV and I realized our formula was flawed and the net point differential was actually comprising more than 10%. So, we’ve modified the KPM to exclude net point differential, and the other three factors now drive the KPM. The prior week KPMs changed slightly, but not the overall result of who had top KPM, lowest KPM, etc. We’ve also established a baseline for the KPM, which is below. This should give you an idea of where you will stand based on performance in each individual category.