BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – The big news this week is that “Gramps” (Tony D’Ambrosi) played in a LEG event for the first time since his semifinal loss in the 2017 Postseason Tournament when he partnered with JV on “Sausage Factory.”

Speculation is Tony needed time away to work on his mental game after his devastatingly sudden end to the 2017 Postseason Tournament. If you ask Tony, he’ll do what any good father and poor sport would do…blame his kids’ soccer matches.

Whatever the excuse, Tony’s “break” appears to be just what the doctor ordered, as he returned with his big Italian dickcopter swinging on everyone. Tony’s 12.5 KPM was a warning shot to the entire league about what he has in store for the 2018 Postseason Tournament. He scored 4.1 gross points per round on 64% accuracy and 0.76 cornholes per round.

Scouting tip for the rest of the league, Tony is better from the left side of the board (at least on this night) so force him RIGHT!

Left Side – 13.3 KPM, 66% accuracy, 4.3 gross points per round, and 0.83 cornholes per round

Right Side – 10.4 KPM, 58% accuracy, 3.4 gross points per round, and 0.56 cornholes per round

Scouting tip #2 – Tony lost head-to-head battles against Galz (40-31 gross points) and Bushie (38-31 gross points), so if you are partners with Galz or Bushie and square off against Tony’s team, make those guys go head-to-head.

As great as Tony was, this night belonged to Galz. He was coming off a horrendous week 5 performance (by his standards) where he shot only 33% and recorded his lowest KPM of the season (9.1). On this night, he was locked in and the best he’s ever been.

Galz set a record for highest KPM at 14.7, which is absurd. He was 71% on his tosses, scored 4.7 gross points per round and drained an INSANE 0.95 cornholes per round! Yes folks, he essentially made one cornhole every round.

And if that wasn’t enough, he cawk punched everyone all night, going 8-1 overall, and tea bagged KP by sinking four straight cornholes in Game 3 to put his second 12-point round of the season on the board. Keep in mind, Galz has the only 12-point rounds of the 2018 season and matches Nick Winkler for most in LEG history with two (Nick recorded both of his 12-point rounds in week 14 of the 2017 campaign).

Galz was so good, it should surprise nobody that he earned this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment. In Game 3 he partnered with Marco and battled KP and JV. Galz was confident. Focused. Cocky. He wanted the head-to-head matchup with KP, who regularly gets the best of Galz (KP owns a 170-164 head-to-head gross points advantage on the season). KP granted the wish and was ready for business as usual…except, not this time. Galz outscored KP 26-14 for the game, which lasted only 3.5 rounds, and led his team to an impressive 21-1 victory. Galz closed the game with a 12-point round in the top of the fourth frame (outscored KP 12-4 in gross points) to propel his team from a 17-1 lead to a 21-1 celebration.

Galz’s 26-14 gross points advantage over KP in this game helped him to a 55-34 gross points advantage over KP on the night (Galz also got him 29-20 in Game 11), which significantly cut into KP’s head-to-head season gross points lead (now 170-164, was 136-109).

Congratulations to Galz for his dominating 12-point round and week 6 MSM!

The dynamic sibling duo of Janet and Ken joined LEG, and made their presence felt by going head-to-head in the Game of the Night. Janet partnered with Coach Mike, while Ken teamed with Bushie in Game 12. Bushie opened the scoring with a 10-point round, outscoring Coach Mike 10-1 to give his team an immediate 9-0 lead. Four frames later he posterized Coach Mike with another 10-point round, besting him 10-4, upping the lead to 17-7.

Down 17-7, cue Coach Mike, right? WRONG! Cue Janet against her brother! Throughout the next four rounds Janet crushed her brother to gain 7 net points (11-4 gross points advantage), while Coach Mike tried to find his back-handed taint tickler.

After Janet closed the deficit to 17-15 in the seventh frame, Bushie jumped all over Coach with a 6-4 gross advantage to make it 19-15. Once again, it was up to Janet to keep the game alive and she promptly drained a cornhole and added another bag on the board to claim a 2-0 net advantage over Ken (4-2 gross points) and tighten the game to 19-17.

In the bottom of the eighth frame Coach Mike discovered how to tickle Bushie juuuuuuust right – he drained a cornhole and landed two more bags on the board on his way to a 5-2 gross advantage and overcame an enormous, game-long deficit. Coach and Janet had faced deficits of 11-1 and 17-7, but now held a 20-19 lead.

The pressure was on Ken to avoid losing to his sister. He didn’t light the world on fire, but he did turn the keys over to Bushie one final time by outscoring his sister 1-0 to tie the game at 20.

Bushie vs. Coach, game tied at 20. What more could you ask for? If you’re Bushie, you could ask for a second chance. Coach swished a cornhole on his first toss to apply all the pressure on Bushie. Coach would only hit one more of his bags on the board, but it was enough to hold off Bushie 4-1 gross, and enjoy a 21-20 rallying win!

News and Notes:

• Galz – really, screw Galz and his great night.
• Gramps finally showed up, and played extremely well. In fact, he played so well that he now holds the #1 spot in the cumulative Power Rankings. Granted, he’s only played one week while his opponents have played several weeks. Everyone should not expect to see Tony again until the end of the season. He takes great pleasure in holding the #1 spot, even if all factors aren’t equal.
• Marco got back to his true form with an 11.6 KPM, 58% accuracy, 3.8 gross points per round, and two 10-point rounds. It’s still hard to understand how Marco didn’t make any noise in the 2017 Postseason Tournament, but he’s playing at an MVP level in 2018 and will be a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the year.
• KP somehow arrived at an 11.0 KPM, despite how he seemed to play very poorly. He went 4-4 on the night, and only hit on 61% of his throws (compared to above 70% for the season). KP is on a downward trend the last few weeks, but still managed to hang on to the #2 spot in the Power Rankings.
• Bushie played the best cornhole of his career, dropping THREE 10-point rounds on the night, recording a 10.5 KPM (his first ever KPM above 10) and going 4-2. Bushie scored on 45% of his throws, but hit 0.76 cornholes per round to demoralize his opponents and drive his KPM above 10.
• JV finally showed true championship form for an entire night. He locked in at 10.4 KPM, and was very accurate at 59%. He averaged 3.4 gross points per round and 0.54 cornholes per round. JV has been on a season-long struggle, and still only sits at #8 in the Power Rankings. More than half a season remains, but it appears JV is struggling to maintain his championship level after having won The Cup.
• Erik seemed to get back on track after having several down weeks. He played very well in week 1, but has been in a downward spiral since then. This week, he found his game again, hitting on 54% of his throws, scoring 3.0 gross points per round, snagging 5 foot snags, and posting an 8.9 KPM. Erik sits at #2 overall in cumulative foot snags with 16, chasing Adam and his league-leading 24.
• Paul had a very good night, scoring 53% of the time (one of his most accurate nights ever), averaging 3.0 gross points per round and 0.46 cornholes per round while producing a 9.1 KPM. Paul sits at #14 in the Power Rankings, but the league shouldn’t forget he was in the semifinals of the 2018 Preseason Kick-Off as Bushie’s partner. The league is filled with talent, and Paul sitting at #14 in evidence of that.

Speaking of deep talent in the league, after six weeks we have six players who own a cumulative KPM at 10 or greater. Nine other players have KPMs ranging from 7.0 to 9.8, which gives us 15 players above 7.0 KPM. The league is thriving, players are excelling and the rest of the 2018 season should be extremely competitive. Everyone is jockeying for prime position in the 2018 Postseason Tournament Draft Lottery, and with the deep talent pool The Cup is up for everyone’s grabs.