CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – Dibble’s wife was gracious enough to host this crew of flunkies we like to call LEG. It was the first time LEG played at Dibble’s pad, let’s hope it wasn’t the last because it was a hell of a night.

Since joining the league mid-season in 2019, Dibble has been very excited about cornhole. He looks forward to Thursday’s so much that he bailed on his Thursday night horseshoe league. He also shares that excitement with several of his friends, which has seemed to create some skepticism of how great LEG really is.

Last fall he told his friend Brad all about the league. A few of the LEG members later met Brad, and agreed he should come out to play some time. Then during the off-season the disrespect started. On several occasions Dibble talked about how legit Brad was, and I have no reason to believe he’s not a good player. But, Dibble also shared that Brad was talking shit – presumably about how he’s better than “us” and he’d come in and kick all our asses.

That’s a nice thought, especially considering he’d never seen any of us play. It’s also cute because he’s been invited to play several times, and not only did he not play, but he didn’t even respond to the invitations. Talk shit, then hide in the corner when invited to prove how legit you are? Disrespect.

I give you that background because it ties into this week. A few of Dibble’s horseshoe league friends stopped by the house to see what all the buzz was about. “Why did he quit horseshoes for cornhole?” they thought.

So, Ray and Wiggles got a taste of LEG. Wiggles is a solid player and Ray had a very good night, shooting 72% and posting a 14.5 KPM on his way to a 4-2 record. But we later learned that Ray also had some disrespect for the league, saying early in the night that he didn’t think “these guys were very good.”

Hey, he started the night 2-0, with head-to-head wins over KP and Galz. He should feel good about that. But what was he watching? In his first victory he partnered with Wiggles to beat KP and Coach Mike, 21-16. The head-to-head against KP was 68 gross points to 63 gross points and 15 cornholes to 13 cornholes, both in favor of Ray (the game went 12 rounds). Tip of the cap to Ray, he was excellent. But if those numbers don’t garner respect for your opponent, I don’t know what will.

At the end of the night, the numbers don’t lie. Ray’s head-to-head nightly totals against some of the top players went like this:

• Nick – 39 – 20 in Nick’s favor
• Galz – 67 – 60 in Galz’s favor
• KP – 68 – 63 in Ray’s favor (the two never faced head-to-head after the first battle)
• Ray didn’t play JV or Dibble head-to-head

The good news is Ray changed his mind by the end of the night, admitting to Dibble that there are a lot of good players and he had fun playing with us. The better news is that Ray is a great guy, and we also had fun playing with him, welcoming him into the league.

But what is it with outsiders disrespecting the league? Even Dibble came in last year with guns blazing. He had some early success by winning the Singles Tournament, and thought he was going to dominate everyone and everything moving forward. He has been served several doses of reality since then – he’s not the only good player in this league. In fact, there are many, and everyone is capable of winning/losing a match against anyone else. That’s part of why this is fun. The other reason it’s fun is because we all RESPECT one another, and while we are certainly competitive, we don’t sacrifice sportsmanship at the expense of competitiveness. LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. Don’t forget it, and if you don’t know what we’re about, come educate yourself before you judge us.

NEED MORE EVIDENCE?

I really don’t need to say another word justifying that the guys in this league can play. In fact, I didn’t need to write the 667 words in the opening of this recap either. Everyone who matters knows the truth. But here is another reminder of how good we are – every single player this week produced a KPM of 10.0 or higher and shot at least 60%.

• Dibble – 16.2 and 83% accuracy
• KP – 15.5 and 77% accuracy
• Nick – 14.8 and 80% accuracy
• Galz – 14.7 and 75% accuracy
• Ray – 14.5 and 72% accuracy
• JV – 11.7 and 65% accuracy
• Paul – 11.3 and 69% accuracy
• Coach Mike – 11.0 and 60% (I see you, Coach! Atta boy!)
• Erik – 10.0 and 67% accuracy

Those are some damn good bags!

GAME OF THE NIGHT

The Game of the Night pitted KP and Nick versus Dibble and Galz in Game 9. This was one of the most intense games of the season, not only because it was back and forth, but because of how huge the momentum swings were.

Dibble and Galz jumped out to a 9-3 lead after four innings, led by an excellent second inning from Galz where he outscored Nick, 7-1.

KP and Nick erased the deficit and tied the game in the fifth inning when KP posted a 10-6 round against Dibble, and Nick bested Galz in the bottom half of the inning, 7-5.

Nick stayed hot in the sixth inning and pushed his team’s lead to 14-11 after draining two cornholes on the way to an 8-3 advantage. Over the course of the fifth and sixth innings, KP and Nick produced an 11-2 to get back in the game, and take the lead.

Galz and Dibble weren’t done, as they chipped away over the next few rounds to tie the game, again, 14-14.

In the top of the ninth inning Dibble returned the 10-point round against KP, swishing three cornholes to win the round 10-6 and give his team a critical 18-14 lead. Smelling blood in the water, Galz tried to clinch the win for his team in the bottom of the ninth inning.

He had a 5-3 advantage on Nick, each with one bag remaining. Galz had two options to win the game:

• Throw one on the board for a 6-3 advantage and hope Nick misses his last bag
• Throw one in the hole for an 8-3 advantage, creating a situation where the game is over unless Nick also makes cornhole on his final bag

If you know Galz, and we all do, he goes for the kill shot 10000000% of the time. He’s in maximum overdrive on the aggressiveness, and will never change. That’s part of what makes him so great – the aggressiveness and belief he can make any shot in any situation.

Galz fired his final toss and it ricocheted off one of Nick’s blockers, missing the board completely. Nick chose to fight another day and placed his final bag on the board, limiting the damage to a 5-4 advantage for Galz.

In the top of the tenth inning, the score was 19-14 in favor of Dibble and Galz, and Dibble had the honors to throw first. With a clean board, Dibble sank his first bag and applied tons of pressure on KP.

KP’s first toss nuzzled right up to the front of the hole, a perfect blocker to throw Dibble’s eye off. Dibble’s approach to his second toss appeared to be a push shot where he took KP’s blocker in the hole along with his own. However, he threw wide of the hole and the extra steam attempting to hit a push shot carried the bag off the back of the board.

KP’s second toss was perfectly executed, but dragged his first bag to the hole and the two bags combined to plug the hole. “How didn’t those two go down?” KP begged to the sideline. JV, keeping score, shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, acknowledging the great shot and unfortunate result.

Dibble’s third bag was on the board for a point, just short of the hole.

KP needed some heroics. He was down 4-2 in the round, and his team 19-14 for the game. His first two bags were on the hole, but not in, so he trusted the positive feelings he had to execute another shot. He threw his third bag high, going for the airmail to take three bags down. As soon as it released his hand, it looked good.

The bag landed perfectly on top of the two plugged bags, and with enough force to take all three bags into the hole! What a shot! An airmail for nine points!

The players on the sidelines were excited, sensing how big of a shot KP just hit. Suddenly Dibble faced a 9-4 deficit (and a 19-19 game) with each player having one bag remaining.

Dibble’s fourth bag was just under the hole and to the right, creating a slight lane between his third and fourth bags – a lane that KP felt good about hitting. Let’s face it, at this point KP felt like the hole was the ocean, and anything he threw was going in.

KP once again trusted his rhythm, and focused on the lane between Dibble’s bags. He fired a low heater that plowed throw Dibble’s bags and slid into the hole!

A 12-point round for KP! “FUCK YEAH!” he screamed. Then he paused for a few seconds before the realization hit – “That’s game! It was 19-14 before this round, right?” a rhetorical question to set-up what was coming next. “Yeah, it was 19-14, and then my round was 12-5, good for seven points. Add those seven points to our 14, and that’s game! 21-19!”

Dibble and Galz couldn’t believe it. Nick was still doing the math in his head as KP fist bumped JV and others on the sideline.

What a game. What a 12-point walk-off by KP.

As you might expect, KP’s walk-off 12-point round is this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment. It’s hard to top a 12-point round, but even harder to top THIS 12-point round. JV admitted, “that round, and that game, might have been one of the best I’ve ever seen. That was amazing.”

FIRST CHOKE OF THE SEASON

The first choke of the season occurred in Game 4, which featured KP and Paul against Nick and Coach Mike. For those who need a reminder, in 2019 we defined new metrics – save, choke and comeback. For more detailed information, the 2019 Week 1 recap is linked. But in short, if a team possesses a 10+ point lead in a match and failed to win the match, they receive a “choke,” while the team who came back to win the match receives a “comeback.”

https://legcornhole.com/2019/05/03/2019-week-1-recap/

Nick and Coach raced out to a 17-6 advantage (note, that’s an 11 point lead), and were absolutely dominating. During that stretch Nick crushed KP, outscoring him 17-7, while Paul did his best to keep pace with Coach, losing that battle, 9-8.

Just when it seemed like it was over, Paul and KP came alive…well, mostly Paul, but KP decided to actually stop getting butt-fucked so hard by Nick.

Paul led his team on a 13-1 run over three innings to give his team a 19-18 lead, thanks to rounds of: 7-4, 1-1, and an enormous 8-1 round.

KP held steady and owned a 17-15 advantage over Nick during that same stretch.

After exchanging blows in the seventh inning, the game was tied, 20-20. In the top of the eighth, KP drained two cornholes en route to a 7-4 advantage to complete the comeback and hand Nick and Coach Mike a “choke.”

This game was strongly considered for Game of the Night, but just couldn’t stack up with the drama involved with Game 9.

NEWS AND NOTES

• We’ve already talked about KP’s 12-point round, but he added five 10-point rounds to his resume this week. As outstanding as he was, which included a 15.5 KPM and 77% accuracy, he still finished with a 3-4 record. Think about that for a moment – it should tell you (AGAIN) just how good this league is.
• Despite ribbing Ray in the intro of this recap, he had a nice week, posting three 10-point rounds on his way to a 14.5 KPM and 4-2 record.
• Erik was really good in an abbreviated evening, shooting 67% and posting a 10.0 KPM during his three games (1-2 record). He also outscored JV head-to-head this week, 36-27.
• Dibble took advantage of the home court, registering a 16.5 KPM while going 4-1 – the only loss coming during the Game of the Night. He also scored two 10-point rounds this week.
• Paul had one of the best weeks of his career, shooting 69%, posting an 11.3 KPM, leading his team to a major comeback in Game 4, and going 3-3 overall during an exceptionally competitive week.

Overall, the competition was fierce and every single guy produced at a high level, which was summarized in the opening when each player’s KPM and accuracy were outlined. This week, every LEG player deserves a standing ovation for representing the legitimacy of the league.