BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Last week the commissioner went on record claiming the 2019 Rookie of the Year was already locked up, predicting Dibble to win the award after only three appearances, and with so much still at stake this season – five or six regular season weeks remaining and two tournaments (Singles and Postseason).

Another promising rookie felt snubbed, and played with a vendetta in week 8.

Mike T. (aka, “Mike” or “Turley”) continues to improve each week and started to put it all together this week. His season KPM of 7.6 is roughly half of Dibble’s league leading 15.1, but Mike kicked asses and took names this week.

He posted a 10.0 KPM, his first time crossing the 10.0 threshold, and dominated the field with a 4-1 record. The highlight of his night was in Game 8 when he partnered with Paul and battled JV and Erik. Mike led his team to a convincing 21-8 victory and dominated the head-to-head match-up with JV, 43-30, including nailing a game-high 10 cornholes.

Through five rounds this game was tied, 8-8. But Mike unleashed his pent-up talent and broke the game open in rounds six and seven, scoring back-to-back 10-point rounds against JV. He went 10-6, 10-3 against JV during those rounds, the latter clinched the game for Mike and Paul, 21-8.

He was not only exceptional against JV, but his 43 gross points were easily the most of any player in the game (JV – 30, Paul – 16, and Erik – 15).

Mike’s back-to-back 10-point rounds, including the one to clinch the game, earn this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment.

Mike’s night was worth celebrating, which is exactly what he did with Justin and KP afterward. They Ubered to an undisclosed location, allegedly until 2 am. KP woke up Friday morning sharing a couch with Justin and his two dogs, wondering who shit in

his mouth.

BREAKING THROUGH

Speaking of Justin, he notched his first win of the 2019 season this week. In fairness to him, he was 0-2 coming into the night so we aren’t dealing with a big sample size. Nonetheless, the mental impact of having a donut in front of his name was clearly meaningful because after losing his first game of the night (Game 2) he announced to the group that he was still win-less on the season.

Justin actually started the night with a three game losing skid, including a choke in Game 3 (more on that later). He finally broke through with his first victory in Game 5, where he was the best player on the court – averaging 5.15 gross points per round, draining seven cornholes in just seven rounds, scoring 36 gross points (by comparison Paul – 23, Bushie – 20, and Coach Mike – 18), and shooting 79%.

He finished the night with an 11.6 KPM, 2-4 record, and 73% accuracy. Despite his 2-6 overall record for the year, Justin is seventh in the Power Rankings with an 11.2 KPM and third in the league in accuracy at 72% (Barker – 77%, Marco – 73%).

With individual numbers like that, more wins are sure to follow.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

In Game 3 Justin and Bushie partnered against Coach Mike and Galz. Justin, still win-less on the season, went gangbusters by draining five cornholes in the first four rounds, outscoring Coach during that span, 22-16.

Bushie was equally impressive in his head-to-head against Galz, hitting four cornholes and outscoring him 21-14 through four rounds. Justin and Bushie’s early dominance helped them grab a 17-4 lead.

Then their buttholes got tight. In the top of the fifth Justin missed an excellent opportunity to inch closer to victory, but only managed to tie Coach 4-4. In the bottom of the fifth Galz jumped on Bushie, 6-3, making the score 17-7.

The sixth round was more of the same, Justin failing to extend the lead (again tying Coach, 3-3) and Galz chipping away at his team’s deficit by outscoring Bushie, 4-3.

With the score 17-8 the bags were back to Justin with hopes to win the match. He was accurate, scoring three of four bags, but all of them were on the board which prevented him from blowing the game open. He outscored Coach 3-2, upping the lead to 18-8.

In the bottom of the seventh the sleeping giant awoke. Justin and Bushie were playing with fire all match – they were excellent in building the 17-4 lead. After developing that lead they had failed to close the game and dodged eight tosses from Galz without giving up an explosive round.

Their luck was about to change. Galz closed the gap to 18-13 after he bested Bushie 6-1 in the bottom of the seventh. In the top of the eighth Coach got the back-handed taint tickler going and outscored Justin 6-3 to tighten the score to 18-16.

Everyone, including the spectators, could feel the moment surge from Galz and Coach. Everyone, including Justin and Bushie, knew they had flirted with disaster far too long.

Galz put his foot on their throats in the bottom of the eighth, draining three straight cornholes while Bushie managed only five points with his four tosses. Galz held a 9-5 advantage, making the score 20-18, and had one toss left. Galz only needed one bag on the board to win the game. Now, Galz is a gambler, especially when there is a 12-point round on the line, and Justin and Bushie hoped he’d aggressively gamble and allow them to live another round.

Galz was still aggressive, yet smart when chasing the 12-point round. He didn’t throw a bag with tons of heat, risking a carom off the board. Instead, he threw a higher floater toward the middle of the board. The bag hit and stuck – enough to win the game in comeback fashion, 21-18.

The choke was only one game for Justin and Bushie, but it kept Justin win-less and seemed like there was nothing the poor guy could do to win a game.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Galz was excellent this week, going 6-0 with a 14.1 KPM and scoring 1.0 cornholes per round. He also had the killer instinct to lead his team to a comeback in the Game of the Night. He will be the #3 seed in the Singles Tournament, and his game is as strong as ever.
• JV was rolling this week, posting a 13.4 KPM and 4-2 record. It was one of his least accurate evenings of the season at 63% (still very good by league-wide standards), but he offset that with 0.89 cornholes per round. JV’s 10-point round was a thing of beauty, taking two bags into the hole on his third toss, setting up an opportunity for a 12-point round. But his fourth bag came to rest on the board and he settled for a 10-point round.
• Coach Mike continued his recent trend of strong play, going 4-2 with a 9.6 KPM. He shot 53% and scored 3.2 gross points per round.
• Bushie also fell just short of the 10.0 KPM threshold, coming in at 9.8 on 54% shooting. Despite the solid individual numbers, he couldn’t find the win column, going 0-5.
• Bushie’s night summed up the entire evening – competitively noncompetitive. We had seven of eight players at 9.1 KPM or better, which should be an indicator of a lot of parity. Instead, only two of the 12 games were within seven points and the closest game of the evening was the Game of the Night, which included a 17-4 score before Justin and Bushie choked the game away.