BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – The offseason was long and arduous, a grueling 31 weeks without Thursday night debauchery. We all felt it, but the desire to unwind with the boys was evident as the 2019 season kicked off with week 1 at Bushie’s house.

Each player arrived in similar fashion –carrying an armful of beer with a smile on his face, eager to dap and hug the crew they’ve missed for seven months.

And then there was Steve-O, strolling up the driveway with a Moscow Mule in one hand, a six-pack in the other. He ushered past the group in the middle of a game, continuing toward Bushie’s deck. A few moments later, another random guy walks up the driveway.

KP thinks to himself, “Did Steve invite a friend to join LEG? If so, cool.”

As the stranger approached, KP welcomes him, “What’s up man, I’m Kurtis,” as he shakes hands.

“I’m Josh, nice to meet you,” the new guy says.

KP replied, “Welcome to cornhole. How do you know Steve?”

“Oh, I’m the Uber driver and I’m just here for the weed,” Josh announced, and continued inside to join the group.

Welcome to the 2019 LEG season!

ADVANCED ANALYTICS

LEG already has the most advanced cornhole analytics and statistics in the world, tracking each player’s toss accuracy, gross points scored per round, and cornhole rate per round (among many other stats). Those three statistics are used to derive a player’s KPM (think baseball’s WAR or slugging percentage), which is the measure of each player’s true power, regardless of wins and losses.

As the old saying goes, if you aren’t evolving, you’re dying. During the offseason, LEG analytics experts Erik Wolfe and Jeff Valantas developed a few new statistics that are implemented for the 2019 season.

LEG now tracks saves, chokes and comebacks for each player.

Save – defined as a player/team having a 10-point lead or greater during a match, and hangs on to win the match. An example, Erik’s team leads 17-5 and wins the match 21-14. This would result in a “save” for Erik and his partner.

Choke – defined as a player/team having a 10-point lead or greater during a match, and fails to win the match. An example, Erik’s team leads 17-5, but losses the match 21-19. This would result in a “choke” for Erik and his parter.

Comeback – defined as a player/team facing a 10-point deficit or greater during a match, and coming back to win the match. An example, Erik’s team trails 17-5 and comes back to win the match 21-19. This would result in a “comeback” for Erik and his partner. A “comeback” always corresponds to a “choke.”

The new metrics will allow us to monitor how players/teams handle leads and deficits under pressure.

ALREADY IN MIDSEASON FORM?

After more than seven months off, you’d expect some sluggish play in week 1. That wasn’t the case at all as everyone elevated their game. JV was the cream of the crop, already in championship form in an effort to prove he can win without Barker carrying him through a tournament.

JV was excellent, going 4-1 and posting an 11.5 KPM (best of the night) on what was likely his most accurate night of his career, shooting 69%. He scored two 10-point rounds, including one in the final game of the night against KP that helped change the complexion of the game. JV and Erik were down 12-3 to KP and Joe, and that’s when JV dropped a 10-pointer on KP to score 3 points (KP scored 7 points to limit the damage), making the score 12-6. But that propelled his squad to a 12-2 run, giving them a 15-14 lead that ultimately helped them win the match, 21-17.

Erik was throwing darts all night long, shooting 57% – easily the most accurate night of his career. His cornhole rate was extremely low (just 0.09 cornholes per round – 0.45 per round is considered average) and because of that his KPM (6.8) dipped to an unexpected level considering how accurate he was. But, shooting 57% is a damn good start because you can’t make cornholes without accuracy. Erik should be encouraged by his night.

This week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment (“MSM”) is also awarded to Erik for closing the aforementioned game against KP and Joe. The score was 19-17 and Erik secured the victory, 21-17. But it was how he did it – plugging the hole harder with 3 bags than JV’s thumb plugs a b-hole. A bit too much late-night moisture kept Erik from a 10-point round, with 3 bags hanging on the hole and his final bag safely on the front of the board. Great accuracy, a bit unlucky, and excellent defense against any comeback hopes Joe had.

Congratulations to Erik for the first MSM of 2019. He also finished the night 3-1. High KPM is nice, but the scoreboard still matters.

Steve-O came to play, hitting a ridiculous 0.68 cornholes per round and averaged 5 cornholes per game on his way to a 10.2 KPM and 3-0 record. It’s a great start to the 2019 campaign for Steve. How much credit should go to Josh the Uber driver? It will be intriguing to see if Steve can maintain this level of play throughout the year.

After a down year in 2018, Coach Mike looked like himself again in week 1. He had the back-handed taint tickler tickling the hole all night. He finished the night 2-2, but had one of the most impressive wins of the night when he partnered with Steve to take down JV and KP, 21-15. Coach won his head-to-head match-up with JV, 31-24, to lead his team to victory.

Coach shot 58% and averaged 0.47 cornholes per round and 3.2 gross points per round, finishing with a 9.7 KPM. This is the game Coach displayed in 2016 and 2017 that made all his opponents’ buttholes pucker every time he tossed a bag. He’s in a good place as the 2019 Preseason Kick-Off Tournament approaches.

Paul may have finished 0-2, but he was REALLY good this week. He shot a ridiculous 68% (just behind JV’s week-best, 69%) and averaged 3.2 gross points per round despite a low cornhole rate (0.24 cornholes per round). Similar to Erik, Paul suffered from lack of cornholes and finished with a 9.0 KPM, which is excellent, but lower than expected give his supreme accuracy. One of Paul’s losses was a heart breaker, which we’ll breakdown in the Game of the Night.

Staying with the accuracy theme, Joe had one of his most accurate nights ever at 40% and also had his highest KPM at 6.4. In the game mentioned earlier where Erik earned the MSM, Joe was solely responsible for the 12-3 lead he and KP possessed after five rounds. He outscored Erik head-to-head during that period, 18-8, contributing 10 of his team’s 12 points to that point. Unfortunately for Joe, he couldn’t keep Erik down and his partner (KP) struggled against red-hot JV.

Like Josh the Uber driver, Bushie was just here for the weed. He struggled to a 1-2 record on 34% shooting, 2.0 gross points per round and a 5.9 KPM.

KP struggled to find consistency, battling a limited throw because of his rough offseason. He still finished with an 11.4 KPM on 64% shooting and averaged 3.8 gross points per round. But the clutch killer instinct wasn’t there, and his opponents sensed the blood in the water, pouncing on him all night. KP went 2-3 for the night, all of his losses can be chalked up to his inability to handle his head-to-head match-ups.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Game 1 ended up being the best of the night, featuring Paul and KP against Bushie and JV, including the always entertaining head-to-head match-up of Paul vs. JV. The storied history of this match-up requires it’s own blog, but the one we’ll never forget is when JV over-trusted a fart in the middle of Paul’s throw (a savvy distraction technique) and shit himself. Go back to the 2017 Week 6 Recap if you want the full recap on that one.

Bushie and JV sprinted out of the gates, taking a commanding 13-3 lead, bringing a save opportunity into play. JV was incredible during that stretch, outscoring Paul 20-13, while Bushie got the best of KP, 12-9.

Paul was his team’s defibrillator, dropping two cornholes on JV to win the next round, 7-3, and jump starting the comeback. Over the next two rounds Paul and KP completely erased the 13-3 deficit and tied the game at 13. They then upped the lead to 19-13 and looked to clinch the comeback and hand Bushie and JV a choke.

However, the only thing JV chokes on is steak and a ball gag. He was determined not to blow a save opportunity – with no margin for error, he outscored Paul 10-3 in the final three rounds to lead his team to a 21-19 seesaw victory.

JV got the best of this head-to-head clash with his nemesis, Paul. He outscored Paul 48-41 and held the edge in total cornholes (7 to 3). Meanwhile, KP and Bushie were the junior varsity players with KP taking the head-to-head match-up with Bushie, 31-28 (each player dropped 4 cornholes).