CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – Welcome to Clawson, JV! That’s right, JV is a new homeowner and broke in the new neighborhood by hosting week five.

To nobody’s surprise, this momentous week turned up 12 players, feeling more like a Postseason Tournament than a mid-season Thursday night.

Cars lined Hudson Street, perhaps more action than the block has ever seen. Bitches lookin’ at us strange, but you know we don’t care. Step up in this motherfucker just a-swangin’ our hair.

Player after player carrying booze as they stroll down the sidewalk, Coach Mike with so much indo to smoke, and Galz with a pocket full of rubbers and his homeboys did too.

This is a Thursday nobody wanted to miss.

DON’T CALL IT A COMEBACK

Actually, that’s exactly what you should call it – Bushie and Nick squared off against Coach Mike and KP in Game 7, and it didn’t take long for things to get out of hand.

In the top of the first inning Bushie dropped a three-bagger on Coach Mike, outscoring him 10-3 to create a 7-0 lead for his team.

Bushie and Nick had pushed their lead to 13-0 after three innings thanks to seven total cornholes during that stretch, compared to just two cornholes from Coach Mike and KP.

The lead stretched to 16-0 after the top of the fourth inning when Bushie drained another cornhole and outscored Coach by three points.

Ol’ Aunt Millie Mike looked primed for yet another bun run. KP began fluffing himself, anticipating his second bun run of the 2020 season as Aunt Millie’s partner.

In the bottom of the fourth, things started to shift the other direction. Down 16-0, KP knew it was now or never – not to get back in the game, but to simply score one point and erase the possibility of a bun run.

KP sank cornholes on his first two tosses, while Nick managed only one bag on the board. While this early 6-1 advantage for KP looked promising toward negating a bun run, Nick can never be discounted because of his big round ability.

To ensure no bun run, KP needed another cornhole in at least one of his final two tosses. He heaved the third bag toward the hole, and it landed perfectly in the middle of the board before sliding into the hole!

He couldn’t finish the inning with a 12-pointer, instead settling for a 10-point round. But Nick, deflated after losing an opportunity to bun run his opponents, managed only two points in the round.

Suddenly, the match was 16-8 after KP’s big fourth inning. Coach Mike cut the deficit to 16-11 in the top of the fifth, but Nick inched his team closer to victory when he upped the score to 18-11 in the bottom of the fifth.

Coach Mike was excellent in the sixth inning, scoring all four of his tosses, including one cornhole. But Bushie held steady and limited Coach to only one point in the round. The game was 18-12, with bags back to Nick and KP.

Momentum and confidence are interesting influences on the brain. Just two innings earlier Nick and Bushie had it all, which was instrumental in helping them build a 16-0 lead. But now Coach and KP were in the midst of a 12-2 run and had tons of confidence, fueled by KP’s 10-point fourth inning.

The underdogs drew closer in the bottom of the sixth after KP knocked in three more cornholes and another 10-point round, this time besting Nick 10-5. The scoring streak now at 17-2, and deficit down to 18-17.

Coach Mike gave his team a 19-18 lead in the top of the seventh after his back-handed taint tickler found the hole, giving him a 5-3 win in the inning.

Ok, enough is enough. Nick is a closer. A killer. The Kobe Bryant of LEG. The bun run talk was fun, and this little run by Coach and KP was cute. But this is where he steps in to win the game. Right?

Wrong! In the bottom of the seventh, KP posted his third 10-pointer in the last four innings, this time beating Nick 10-6 to complete the comeback!

What a game! What a comeback by Coach and KP! To recap, the game consisted of a 16-0 run to start the game by Bushie and Nick, and ended with a 21-2 run by Coach and KP to win the game.

Interestingly, three of the four players in this match were also involved in last week’s comeback game. KP was on the positive end of the comeback in both weeks, Nick on the choking end both weeks, and Coach Mike split the difference going 1-1.

ZOINKS SCOOB!

Throughout his career, Paul has chased a 10.0 KPM. Whether on a weekly basis, or his season average, that threshold has been elusive for Paul.

In fact, he didn’t have an individual week crossing the 10.0 barrier until Week 5 in 2019, and then he strung together three consecutive weeks by doing it again in Weeks 6 and 7.

That three week stretch in 2019 helped him climb to a 9.6 KPM for the season, falling just shy of his 10.0 goal. But that 2019 campaign was a significant upgrade from his 2018 and 2017 seasons when he finished at 8.2 and 7.1, respectively.

He started the 2020 season with three consecutive weeks below 10.0 (9.8, 9.2, and 7.1), before posting his career-high week last week (11.3). This week, he backed that up with an 11.1 KPM to drive his season average to 9.9…once again, on the cusp!

But this week was different for Paul. He was an animal, shooting 71% on his way to a 6-1 record and ridiculous +7.6 scoring differential across his seven games. His only loss was in the first game of the night when he partnered with Erik to battle Bushie and Dibble. Paul went head-to-head with Dibble, and helped his team climb out of an early 8-0 hole before losing 21-18.

During the comeback Paul dropped a 10-2 round on Dibble, and ultimately was narrowly outscored head-to-head in the match, 37-34 and 5-4 in cornholes.

After that Game 1 loss, Paul ripped off six straight victories to close his night. The highlight during that stretch, among many highlights for him, was when he and Jimmy partnered to beat Erik and KP in Game 16, 21-20. Paul had a game-high seven cornholes and averaged 4.4 gross points per round.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Many of you may be wondering how Coach Mike and KP’s epic comeback isn’t the Game of the Night. Well, that’s because there was also an ultra-competitive match featuring Coach Mike and Erik against Turley and Jimmy in Game 15.

Coach was excellent initially, outscoring Turley 12-7 through the first three innings while leading his team to a 10-1 advantage.

In the fourth inning Turley cut into the lead, making it 10-6 after he drained two cornholes during an 8-3 inning. It looked to be the spark Turley and Jimmy needed, but Coach used that spark to ignite his joint and serve an 8-3 inning right back to Turley.

After five innings, Coach and Erik had a 17-6 lead. But Turley’s eight gross points in the fourth inning gave him rhythm, and the left-hander wanted no more taint tickling! He bombed seven total cornholes through innings 6 – 8, and outscored Coach 6-2, 5-2, and 7-2 during that period.

Turley scored 12 of his teams 13 net points during a 13-3 run, cutting the score to 20-19 in favor of Coach and Erik.

In a match down to the wire, the focus was on a rookie. Jimmy, in just his second week playing, had an opportunity to make a statement by clinching the game against Erik, who has been playing at a much higher level in 2020.

Erik gave Jimmy a chance, scoring just two points in the top of the ninth inning. Unfortunately Jimmy caved under the pressure and scored only one point. Erik’s 2-1 advantage was enough to win the game, 21-19, narrowly avoiding squandering an early 10-1 lead.

Turley led all scorers with 36 gross points and six cornholes.

QUICK STUDY

Jimmy was understandably bummed from failing to rise to the occasion at the end of the Game of the Night. But in the very next game (Game 16) he found himself in familiar territory.

This time, he and Paul were tied, 20-20, against KP and Erik. The bags were in Jimmy’s hands, again with an opportunity to win the game for his squad. KP was his head-to-head foe this time. The lessons from the prior game paid off quickly, as Jimmy was composed against KP and scored three of his four tosses, including a cornhole. He was up 5-4 and KP had one bag remaining – a bag on the board extends the game, while a cornhole wins it for Erik and KP.

KP launched, attempting an airmail, and missed. Jimmy played the inning perfectly and won the game for his team, 21-20!

It was Jimmy’s only victory of the night. He finished 1-4, but had losses of 21-19 (Game 15), 21-16 (Game 17), and 21-20 (Game 19). He made a major statement executing in a tense moment against KP. Jimmy’s potential is there – he shot 56% this week. He just needs to keep building the foundation of his skill set, and this week he added another layer.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

Week 5 had so many key moments to choose from, but ultimately this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment goes to Galz. In Game 5 he partnered with Dibble against Barker and Nick. Galz scored a game-high 48 points and nine cornholes, the last of which occurred in the top of the 11^th inning against Barker and clinched a 21-19 victory in this heavyweight, 11 round fight.

Galz was sensational in this game, and all night. He shot 69%, scored 0.90 cornholes per round, and posted a 14.2 KPM. He added two 10-point rounds to his resume, ironically losing both games he scored a 10-point round.

NEWS AND NOTES

With 12 players and 20 games played, it’s hard to address all the great moments and great players this week. But we’ll do our best to cover those that haven’t already been discussed.

• We know KP helped his team comeback from a 16-0 deficit, his second consecutive week coming back to win when down 10+ points. He was exceptional all night, going 7-2, producing a week-high KPM (14.9) while shooting 74%, and scoring a ridiculous seven 10-point rounds this week. One of his major moments took place in Game 12 with his team down 18-14, he won the game by closing out Dibble, 8-0. Last week he earned the MSM when his team was down 19-14 and he closed out Dibble, 12-5, to win the game.
• Barker was on fire, shooting 71% for the night. He was slow to make cornholes out of the gates, but rebounded nicely to finish the night making 0.45 per round and posted an 11.0 KPM. Barker is dangerous, as if we didn’t know by his two LEG titles. Scoring an 11.0 KPM and shooting 71%, yet *only* sinking 0.45 cornholes per round – if that cornhole number goes up, everyone is in deep trouble.
• Bushie continues his upward trend, scoring two 10-point rounds (tied with Nick for second-most this week) and earning a 10.1 KPM thanks to 61% shooting.
• Nick was just 3-4 overall, but his 75% accuracy is stupid-good this week. He added 0.84 cornholes per round, two 10-point rounds, and a 14.3 KPM.
• Despite being distracted from hosting and cooking, JV still shot 74% this week and posted an 11.9 KPM. His 2-4 record may be underwhelming, but the party he threw certainly was not.

This will be the first of many events JV hosts in Clawson. His neighbors may have been peering through the curtains wondering what circus rolled into town, but Hudson Street is a permanent stop of the LEG tour.

La di da di, we likes to party. We don’t cause trouble, we don’t bother nobody.