BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – In the Singles Tournament Preview we highlighted the handicap system that was to be deployed for this tournament, and talked about how it could deliver some Cinderella run(s) in the tournament.

In fact, the handicap system worked exactly how it was designed – to level the playing field and create an environment where every match was up for grabs.

We saw countless upsets – 13 of the 35 matches resulted in the lower (worse) seed winning! Sure, the handicap contributed to some of those upsets, but credit needs to be given to the players who pulled the stunners because many of those instances were the result of really good play.

Don’t worry, we’ll get to the Cinderella stories in a bit.

SEED SWAPPING

Per usual, LEG tournaments always have a twist. Since the seeding was pre-determined based on Power Rankings, there was no need for round robin games. Yet, nobody really wants to jump into triple elimination tournament play cold and sober.

So, the commissioner implemented a one-game warm-up to allow players an opportunity to knock the rust off and consume some liquid confidence. The twist? The lower seeded player got to pick a higher seeded opponent, and if the lower seeded player won the warm-up contest then the two players flipped seeds. The warm-up games were straight up, no handicap allowed.

It started with #12 seed Steve-O picking his opponent, and he opted with #5 seed JV – strange because they were slated to play in the first round anyway. My hunch is Steve-O did this to mind-fuck JV out the gates.

• #11 Jack then picked #4 Galz
• #10 Coach Mike picked #2 Dibble
• #9 Paul picked #6 Erik
• #8 Bushie picked #1 Nick
• #7 Turley picked #3 KP

Clearly nobody wanted a piece of Nick, since four players passed on the opportunity to take the #1 seed from him. I can’t say I blame them, and props to Bushie for having big enough balls to take on the challenge.

After all warm-up games were completed, only one “upset” occurred, resulting in a seed swap – #12 Steve-O beat #5 JV, 21-6.

CINDERELLA STORIES

Steve-O parlayed his warm-up game upset into an incredible tournament run. He stole the #5 seed from JV and immediately turned around to whip his ass again, 21-2, in the first round.

Steve-O advanced to the second round against #4 Galz, jumping out to a big early lead before Galz slowly chipped away at the deficit. Steve-O held him off, beating him 21-16 to advance to the third round.

His reward in the third round? #1 seed Nick. At this point the edibles were kicking in and Steve-O had nerves of steel. He dominated Nick, 21-14, taking down his third straight victim. Don’t look now but Steve-O punched his ticket to the quarterfinals in the Winners’ Bracket.

He faced #3 KP, who was fresh off a tense upset win of his own over #2 Dibble, 21-15. Steve-O started with an 11-0 lead because of the handicap against KP. I’m not mentioning this as an excuse, but rather to offer the full picture to help explain what came next.

Steve-O kicked the match off with an opening bag cornhole. KP followed with a first bag miss.

Steve-O applied even more pressure when his second toss found the hole for three points. KP’s second bag landed on the board, holding on the back-right edge of the board for dear life.

Steve-O drained a cornhole on his third bag, giving him a 9-1 advantage in the inning. The pressure was visible on KP’s face and his shoulders slumped. His third bag landed on the board, but was essentially dead as it rested on the front left of the board.

Without missing a beat, Steve-O launched his final green Game Changer and it landed in the center of the board before sliding into the hole for a four-bagger!

LET ME REMIND YOU…this was the first fucking inning! Steve-O dropped a 12-point round right away, not even allowing KP the chance to get a feel for the match.

Steve-O led the inning, 12-2, and the game, 21-0. KP had one bag remaining and needed at least one point to extend the match. His final toss started at the center of the board, but slowly cut to the right. It needed to hang on! The bag hit the right side of the board, tumbled over his cliff-hanging second bag, and fell to the ground.

Final first inning score – 12-2, good enough for a 21-0 win. Steve-O handed KP a first inning bun run in the goddam quarterfinals of the Winners’ Bracket!

Click the link (volume up) for the closing moments of Steve-O’s 21-0 win. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X6huwRjCdw&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=KurtisPeters

Steve-O marched to the Winners’ Bracket semifinals.

Let’s pause here and pick up on a few more Cinderella stories.

Jack significantly outperformed his #11 seed. He lost his first round match to #6 Erik, 21-9. But he rallied with an impressive 21-17 victory in the Losers’ Bracket against #4 Galz (yes, that’s consecutive losses to start the tournament for Galz).

Up next was a huge match against #8 Bushie. Unfortunately for Jack, Bushie’s edibles were also kicking in and his laser focus helped him catch fire. Bushie beat Jack fairly easily, 21-14, and Jack was on the verge of elimination.

In the Double Losers’ Bracket Jack ripped off two consecutive wins to keep his hopes alive, beating JV (21-9) and Erik (21-14). An elimination match with Dibble awaited him.

Sadly, Jack’s slipper no longer fit. Dibble eliminated Jack, 21-14. But Jack ended his day 3-3 with a sixth-place finish, and wins over #4 Galz, #5 JV (well, #12 JV after the seed swap), and #6 Erik. That’s an exception tournament for the #11 seed.

Bushie crushed #9 Paul in the opening round, 21-5, before losing to #1 Nick in the second round, 21-10.

As we just mentioned, he won a big Losers’ Bracket match against Jack, 21-14, which advanced him to play #2 Dibble. Bushie was amped for this match, as these two have a nice rivalry going. Bushie couldn’t miss, and Dibble didn’t handle the adversity well. Bushie rolled Dibble like an avalanche, 21-7, and celebrated his victory like a kid who got the perfect gift from Santa Claus.

Click the link below for video of Bushie’s victory (volume up). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neEVqJL3VHs&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=KurtisPeters

When you get this far into the tournament, the road most definitely isn’t easy. Bushie didn’t have much time to celebrate his win over Dibble because next on the docket was #1 Nick.

This was a hell of a match, tied 19-19 late in the game. Bushie sank a cornhole and added two on the board for five gross points. But that wasn’t enough to overcome two cornholes and two more bags on the board for Nick. Nick’s 8-5 win in the inning gave him a 21-19 Losers’ Bracket victory. Bushie hung tough, but Nick’s championship mettle was the difference in this one.

Bushie found himself in the Double Losers’ Bracket and had another date with #2 Dibble after Dibble survived the match with Jack, 21-14.

Dibble wasn’t ready to go home, and certainly not at the hands of Bushie again. Though it was a nip and tuck match, Dibble pulled away for a comfortable 21-15 victory to advance to the quarterfinals.

Bushie’s tournament was over with a 4-3 record. He was dominant in wins over #9 Paul (21-5) and #10 Coach Mike (21-10), while also picking up one of the best wins of the tournament in his 21-7 victory over #2 Dibble. He finished in fifth place, three spots ahead of his #8 seed. Overall, a solid 2020 Singles Tournament for Bushie.

BIG MEN

This was a Singles Tournament to forget for #9 Paul and #4 Galz…partially because they combined for a 2-6 record – Paul lost to #8 Bushie (21-5), #7 Turley (21-8), and #12 JV (21-14), while Galz lost to #5 Steve-O (21-16), #11 Jack (21-17), and #2 Dibble in an elimination match (21-18). To Galz’s credit, he did stave off elimination by beating #10 Coach Mike (21-11) and #7 Turley (21-12).

It was a disappointing tournament for both, but the real fun was these two thought they were “big men” and could party hard. Throughout the day these two could often be heard saying, “Paul, we’re big men, let’s have another,” or “Galz, I’m a big man, give me more.”

They were a riot, especially when they were glued to their tailgate chairs shortly after elimination, unable to stand.

Better days are ahead for these guys. Frankly, Galz deserved an “off” tournament after runner-up finishes in the 2018 and 2019 Singles Tournaments.

YOU ALREADY FINISHED?

Paul and Galz weren’t the only players with a short stay in the tournament. Coach Mike went 0-3 and wasn’t competitive, losing 21-5 to #7 Turley, 21-10 to #8 Bushie, and 21-11 to #4 Galz. However, it was Coach Mike’s wedding anniversary so he bounced early to enjoy dinner and an evening with his wife. Something tells me Coach Mike was the real winner on this day.

JV continued his trend of poor Singles Tournaments with a 1-3 record, losing his #5 seed to #12 Steve-O in the seed swap round, then losing again to Steve-O (21-2), #6 Erik (21-6) and #11 Jack (21-9). He did eliminate his arch nemesis, Paul (21-14), but that was little consolation for the #5 seed finishing in 10^th place.

Turley had been playing extremely well leading up to the Singles Tournament, and appeared to get things started on the right foot with a 21-5 first round victory over #10 Coach Mike.

He hung tough with #2 Dibble in the second round before finally losing, 21-16. A 21-8 Losers’ Bracket win over Paul reinstated some good vibes, but then the train came off the tracks.

In a key Losers’ Bracket match with #6 Erik, Turley was bun run (21-0). Neither player had a handicap in this match since both were essentially even in the Power Rankings coming into the tournament (#6 seed Erik and #7 seed Turley, both with a 10.8 KPM), making the bun run even more embarrassing for Turley.

After dressing himself, Turley lost to Galz in an elimination match, 21-12. He finished the day 2-3, which was quite disappointing considering he has the game to contend for a Singles title.

Erik finished the tournament 3-3, so it’s hard to consider him an underperformer. He won his opening round match against #11 Jack, 21-9, before losing a tough match to #3 KP, 21-17.

In the Losers’ Bracket he dominated #12/#5 JV, 21-6, and then handed #7 Turley the bun run. At this point, he was in good shape and playing well.

Erik was throttled in his next Losers’ Bracket match against Nick, 21-9. In fact, Erik received a 9-0 handicapped start, which means Nick beat him 21-0 without the handicap. Erik is an honorable man and respects the rules of the game. So, he dropped his drawers and joined the naked parade around the yard with KP and Turley, both of whom had just been dealt bun runs moments later (KP by Steve-O and Turley by Erik).

Erik then continued the theme of players losing the match immediately following a bun run when he lost in the Double Losers’ Bracket to #11 Jack, 21-14. No disrespect to Jack because he played great, as we outlined earlier. But this was a match Erik should have won, especially considering he beat Jack earlier, 21-9.

The way Erik ended his tournament leaves a bad taste in his mouth, but his seventh-place finish is just about on par with his #6 seed.

THE DEFENDING CHAMP

Dibble has had an incredible 2020 season, coming into the Singles Tournament as the #2 seed and narrowly missing out on the #1 spot.

He’s the 2019 Singles Tournament Champion and arrived in Beverly Hills hoping to retain The Belt.

After a first round bye thanks to his #2 seed, he held off pesky #7 Turley, 21-16, in the second round. KP then sent him to the Losers’ Bracket, beating Dibble 21-15.

Next was the disappointing Losers’ Bracket loss to Bushie, 21-7, sending Dibble limping to the Double Losers’ Bracket after just three games.

Impressively, Dibble was determined not to go away quietly. With his back against the wall, he ripped off wins over #4 Galz (21-18), #11 Jack (21-14) and #8 Bushie in a rematch (21-15).

In the quarterfinals he squared off with #3 KP, and like how he handled Bushie, he looked to avenge another earlier loss to KP.

KP was reeling a bit, coming off a 21-0 loss to Steve-O and a 21-8 thrashing from Nick. Dibble was licking his chops, hoping to hang a third straight “L” on KP.

KP started fast and never looked back. He used a 12-point round to clinch the game, beating Dibble, 21-12, to advance to the semifinals.

Dibble was frustrated because he was hungry for more, and felt he could have won a semifinal match against Steve-O had he beaten KP. Instead, he was done and couldn’t quite defend his title.

JUST THE THREE OF US

Let’s quickly take inventory of the 12 players, making sure we check off those we’ve recapped.

• #12 (formerly #5) JV
• #11 Jack
• #10 Coach
• #9 Paul
• #8 Bushie
• #7 Turley
• #6 Erik
• #5 (formerly #12) Steve-O
• #4 Galz
• #2 Dibble

We’ve lightly touched on #1 Nick and #3 KP, and #5 Steve-O story is about to continue.

We left off with Steve-O beating Nick, 21-14, and KP, 21-0, to advance to the semifinals in the Winners’ Bracket.

Nick recovered nicely after his loss, trouncing #6 Erik, 21-9, and then surviving #8 Bushie, 21-19, in the Losers’ Bracket. That set the stage for a key match with #3 KP, the winner advancing to play Steve-O in a rematch game.

Nick left no doubt who the better player was in this showdown. He put his foot on KP’s neck early and kept stomping until he choked him out, 21-8.

Nick knew he couldn’t give Steve-O any momentum in their rematch. Steve-O was accurate, but couldn’t hit a cornhole to save his life. Meanwhile, Nick was red hot and continuously posted 4+ point innings. Nick won relatively easily, 21-14.

Since that was Steve-O’s first loss of the tournament he fell to the Losers’ Bracket and immediately faced Nick again, this time with a trip to the championship on the line. Each player had beaten the other with ease in their previous two matches. So, it was no surprise that the rubber match was an absolute war.

Steve-O’s accuracy continued and he began finding the hole again. He had taken a 19-17 lead late into the match before Nick surged with three cornholes in one inning. Steve-O had managed four points to offset Nick’s cornholes, but he needed a cornhole on his final toss to keep the game alive (Nick up 9-4, and those 5 gross points would give him a 21-19 win).

Steve-O didn’t have any magic left in his bag. He missed the board on his final toss and lost the game. Nick advanced to the championship, while Steve-O fell to the Double Losers’ Bracket to play KP, who had just eliminated Dibble, 21-12.

Steve-O had the highlight of the tournament in his only other match with KP, giving him a bun run after one inning. But KP was determined not to get embarrassed again.

KP survived the first inning this time around, and then made quick work of Steve-O, winning 21-12 and advancing to the championship against Nick.

Steve-O was eliminated, but a semifinal appearance and four straight upset victories to start the tournament over #12 (formerly #5) JV, #4 Galz, #1 Nick and #3 KP might be more impressive than Nick or KP winning the title. That was a hell of a run by the #12 seed (before seed swapping), and his only losses were to #1 Nick (twice) and #3 KP.

EVERYTHING AT STAKE

Nick arrived in the championship with one loss, while KP had two losses. Nick easily won the only match between the two earlier in the tournament, 21-8.

In the history of LEG, no player or team has ever won a championship coming from the Double Losers’ Bracket. So not only did KP have no room for error (a loss eliminated him), but he had history against him and an opponent who is arguably the best player in LEG history.

As KP walked to the beer fridge with Nick to reload a championship beverage, he reminded himself – “you can’t win two if you don’t win one first.” He cracked a Two-Hearted and collected himself.

Game 1 of the championship was a rollercoaster. Both players had shining moments with 8, 9 and 10-point innings. Both players also struggled with bouts of inaccuracy where they had innings of 1, 2 and 3 points. Strangely, the highs and lows for each player happened at the same time, so nobody pulled away on the scoreboard.

Late in Game 1 KP had an 18-16 lead and the final throw of the inning. A cornhole would win the match, sending the championship to one final game.

Say what you want about KP, but he has shown an uncanny ability to perform in clutch moments during the 2020 season. He seemed to draw on that experience with his final bag as he tossed a gem that found the hole with ease.

21-16! Game 1 went to KP.

The 2020 Singles Tournament was down to a winner-takes-all match.

Nick’s frustration from Game 1 carried over, as did KP’s focus and momentum from draining a game-winning cornhole.

The game was never that close, though Nick can drop a 12-point round at any moment to totally flip a match. KP played the perfect chess match, balancing defending against huge innings while also capitalizing on his own scoring opportunities.

On this day he found a way to solve the puzzle against Nick, beating him in Game 2, 21-13, to earn the 2020 Singles Tournament Championship!

It was KP’s first Singles Tournament Championship and second LEG title overall (he partnered with Bushie to win the 2019 Postseason Tournament).

Meanwhile, Nick fell just shy of capturing his second Singles Tournament Championship.

Salute to all 12 players for creating the most competitive Singles Tournament to date, and congratulations to your 2020 Singles Tournament Champion, KP!

BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Buckingham Avenue is set to host its first ever major tournament tomorrow. The crisp September air brought about tranquility for the tournament crew as they diligently continued preparations throughout the eve of the 2020 Singles Tournament.

Yet, that beautiful and serene site will turn to chaos in less than 24 hours. Let’s dive into the 2020 Singles Tournament preview and discuss three things to watch for, two questions and one prediction.

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. This is the third annual installment of the Singles Tournament, and historically we haven’t had many upsets in this tournament. But history isn’t always the best indicator of things to come. There are some intriguing first round match-ups that could be ripe for upsets.
   • #5 JV vs. #12 Steve-O – JV is a dynamite tournament player, but that’s in a doubles format. He struggles to get the engine going in Singles Tournaments, and Steve-O has been spectacular in his last two tournaments (albeit, in doubles format). Steve-O hasn’t played a regular season event yet, so he was given the lowest seed based on the combination of not having any 2020 data and consulting his KPM from the prior few years. Despite honest attempts to rank Steve-O, he is likely under-seeded and that could cause trouble for JV.
   • #7 Turley vs. #10 Coach Mike – through 10 weeks of the 2020 season I would’ve picked Turley to win this match every day and twice on Sunday. But a month-long hiatus and new pancake toss upon return has given Coach the jolt he needs for the stretch run of the season. Be careful with this one because Coach Mike has been a different player the last two weeks.
   • “Party of Five” – no, not the show with buttermilk biscuits Jennifer Love Hewitt and Lacey Chabert…though I wish they were part of LEG…I’m talking about the cluster of players who are separated by 0.6 KPM points.
     • #6 Erik – 10.8
     • #7 Turley – 10.8 (he lost out on the #6 seed by hundredths of a point)
     • #8 Bushie – 10.6
     • #9 Paul – 10.5
     • #10 Coach Mike – 10.2

Not speaking to a specific match-up, but in general these guys could create havoc and flip this entire tournament on its head, especially given the handicap system that will be in place (more on that later). Don’t be surprised to see at least two of the players from this group make a deep run.

2. Two former champions reside at #1 and #2 (Nick and Dibble, respectively), and the runner-up to both of those champions sits at #4 (Galz). It will be very interesting to see what these guys do on Saturday. The championship matches between Galz and Nick in 2018 and Galz and Dibble in 2019 were epic battles. But every player has improved since those title bouts, and this marks the first time all three have participated in the same Singles Tournament. All of them are super close in cumulative head-to-head scoring this season:
   • Nick vs. Galz – Nick holds the edge, 364 – 349
   • Nick vs. Dibble – Nick narrowly holds the edge, 177 – 176
   • Galz vs. Dibble – Galz holds the edge, 293 – 282

As you can see, not much separates them in a head-to-head format this season. Only one can be the top dog. These guys will go head-to-head, it’s just a matter of when. Matches between these players will be events that cause all other games to pause so that every player can watch.

3. Watch out for #6 Erik. Erik has to get through #11 Jack in the first round, but if he does, a second round date with #3 KP awaits him. KP should be on upset alert right meeeeoooow. Erik has been a boss lately, recording KPMs of 13.3, 11.0, 16.1, 9.7 (a bit of a down week), 11.5, and 13.2 in weeks 7 – 12, respectively. This last half of the season he’s elevated his game, including beating up on some of the top ranked players. Combine that with the confidence he should carryover from the 2020 Preseason Kick-Off, where he finished runner-up and was voted to the all-tournament team, and he has the makings of a Cinderella run.

TWO QUESTIONS

1. How much will the handicap system impact the tournament outcome? This year a handicap system was developed by KP, JV, Erik and Nick with the goal of leveling the playing field as much as possible.

All 12 players voted on the option of a handicap system, or modifying the triple elimination tournament to be double elimination for the top four players (Nick, Dibble, Galz and KP) while all other players continued under triple elimination.

The handicap system won, 8-3-1, with the “1” being Steve-O saying neither approach mattered to him. As if we couldn’t see that answer coming…

So, that’s when KP, JV, Erik and Nick went to work devising a formula that produced sensible handicaps. Different methods were tested, including using player differentials in gross points per round and player differentials in KPM. Ultimately, the different methods produced almost the same exact results, which told the foursome they were either really smart and nailed the concept, or they were all really dumb.

The detailed handicap calculation and outcome will be available Saturday for each respective head-to-head match-up.

The handicap is critical against seeds #1 – #4, where Jack, for example, begins with an 11-0 lead if/when he plays any of the top four seeds. But, the handicap still applies against the entire field, so when Jack plays Paul, as another example, he will start with a 4-0 lead. It will be interesting to see how the higher seeds will handle the stress and adversity of starting in the hole before any bags are thrown.

The handicap could be a game changer, and if it does deliver Cinderella stories, the foursome who created the methodology will look even more genius.

2. Will one of the championship participants emerge from the Winner’s Bracket? More often than not, one player or team goes undefeated during tournament play and solidifies their spot in the title match with an unblemished record. This creates an incredibly difficult task for the title match challenger because they are saddled with two losses and have to beat their undefeated opponent three times to earn a championship.

It’s one of the most intriguing aspects of any tournament because the drama of the title match is directly linked to how difficult the odds are to overcome for the player/team coming from the Double Loser’s Bracket.

My guess is that nobody goes unscathed before reaching the championship and we will see a title match between a player from the Loser’s Bracket (i.e., someone with one loss) and a player from the Double Loser’s Bracket (i.e., someone with two losses). If that happens, we could have a championship match for the record books.

ONE PREDICTION

I can’t let myself off the hook without making a prediction of who wins the tournament. I can’t help but feel influence from outside forces as I ponder my prediction. Tonight I watched the #1 seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks, go down 0-3 in the conference semifinals to the Miami Heat. I also watched the #1 seed in the Western Conference, the LA Lakers, get blasted in their Game 1 match-up with the Houston Rockets.

Needless to say, things are wild right now, and being the favorite doesn’t mean much. The Bucks are done. The Lakers have time to bounce back, and certainly a four game series favors them, just like a triple elimination favors the top few guys.

Yet, I’m finding myself leaning toward a chaotic tournament. I think Nick and Dibble play well, but I think several other guys do as well and become road blocks for them to claim a championship. After being a bridesmaid twice, this feels like it’s Galz’s time to strap-on the belt. He wants it badly, though it’s not clear to me if he wants it for pride and bragging rights, or if it would go well with his collection of leather and BDSM toys.

Regardless his reasons for desiring the belt so badly, I predict Galz becomes just the second guy to hold a title in both the singles and doubles format, joining Nick.

CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – Week 12 represented a last minute tune-up, and opportunity to jockey for seeding position heading into the 2020 Singles Tournament.

Several seeds were up for grabs, including the battle for the #1 seed between Dibble and Nick. Coming into this week Dibble held down the #1 spot with a 15.9 KPM, while Nick was nipping at his heels with a 15.8.

Nick played out of his mind, again, with a 17.9 KPM this week to drive his season KPM to 16.0! He finished 4-1 on the night with 71% accuracy. He drained two 10-point rounds and a 12-point round (more on that later), and outscored every head-to-head opponent, including besting KP in their three head-to-head match-ups, 112-86.

Add all of it up and the output is a #1 seed for Nick in the Singles Tournament.

Dibble had a great week as well, scoring a 15.1 KPM and going 3-3 overall despite starting his night with two close losses (21-19 and 21-16). But, it wasn’t enough to hold off Nick in the race for #1. Dibble slipped to a 15.8 KPM and will hold the #2 seed for the Singles Tournament.

The other seeding battles of interest were in the middle of the Power Rankings where #8 – #12 were separated by fractions of points. Coming into this week the Power Rankings for that group were as follows:
• #8 Turley – 10.7
• #9 Erik – 10.6
• #10 Bushie – 10.6
• #11 Paul – 10.6
• #12 Coach Mike – 10.2

Bushie benefited by staying home this week, and held on to his #10 seed.

Paul had been playing very well, but struggled this week with just an 8.6 KPM. He hit rock bottom in the last game of the night (Game 12) when he scored just one gross point in three rounds, easily becoming the worst single-game performance of the season (KP previously held that honor). Barker outscored him that game, 17-1, and Paul’s saving grace was the fact that Galz was his partner and outscored Dibble, 25-19, to prevent any chance of a bun run.

In fairness to Paul, he had a lot on his mind and was extremely stressed with his home buying process. Despite the bad week, Paul held his #11 seed because of the cushion he had on Coach Mike and the fact that Coach managed to post a 10.0 KPM. He likely needed something near 12.0 to overthrow Paul in the seeding.

The real battle was with Turley and Erik, with both players making a strong push for the #8 spot. Turley registered an 11.7 KPM and outscored Barker and JV in head-to-head matches on his way to a 2-1 record.

Turley’s lone head-to-head loss of the night was in Game 5 when he went against Erik. Turley’s team won the game, 21-17, but Turley couldn’t keep pace with Erik, losing 38-29 (including 10-7 in cornholes).

That one game was a critical piece to the #8 vs. #9 puzzle and fueled Erik’s run to a 13.2 KPM, which was good enough to leapfrog Turley for the #8 spot. Erik finishes at #8 with a 10.8 KPM and Turley finishes just fractions behind at #9 with a 10.8 KPM.

RAISING THE BAR

The league is always competitive, but this week had a different aura about it with the Singles Tournament on the horizon.

Twelve total games were played this week, and six of those were decided by five points or fewer.
• Game 1 – 21-19
• Game 2 – 21-16
• Game 3 – 21-17
• Game 5 – 21-17
• Game 9 – 21-17
• Game 11 – 21-16

Add on three more games of 21-14, 21-12, and 21-12, and that leaves only three games decided by 10 or more points this week.

The other aspect that stood out in week 12 can be summed up in one word – resiliency.

Of course we just outlined the theme of close games, but many of those games involved big runs when a team was down by a large deficit. The amount of grit and fight everyone showed was impressive, refusing to throw in the towel when faced with adversity.

Some of the highlights include:
• Game 1 – Erik and Galz jumped out to a 9-0 lead over Dibble and Coach Mike. In one inning Dibble and Coach totally erased the deficit and took a 10-9 lead, ultimately building a 15-10 lead. I won’t give away anymore on this game because we dive into the details of it in the “Game of the Night” section.
• Game 2 – A back-and-forth affair through five innings when the game was tied at 10-10. Then in the sixth inning KP gave his team (partnered with Coach Mike) an 18-10 lead, only to have Dibble (partnered with Galz) rally in the bottom of the sixth to close it to 18-16. KP and Coach were able to win 21-16, but Dibble and Galz got off the mat to avoid a 10-count.
• Game 3 – Coach Mike and Galz built an early 10-1 lead over Bob and Nick. But Bob and Nick chiseled away at the deficit and took a 17-15 lead after the eighth inning. Coach and Galz rallied to win, 21-17, scoring six net points in the ninth inning.
• Game 5 – Turley and Barker raced to an 11-5 lead over Erik and Paul, then Erik dropped a 7-0 fourth inning on Turley that triggered a 10-0 run for his team. Once Erik and Paul took a 15-11 lead, Barker and Turley responded with a 10-2 run to end the game, spearheaded by nine points from Barker and capped by Turley’s 5-4 win over Erik in the seventh inning.
• Game 7 – Nick and Dibble dominated this game early, taking a 12-3 advantage thanks to Nick kicking KP’s ass. JV and KP climbed back to within 12-11, but ultimately Nick and Dibble had too much firepower and pulled away to win 21-12.
• Game 11 – A common theme played out again in this game – Nick kicking KP’s ass. Nick started the game with a 7-0 first inning win and JV piled on with five more points against Turley in the first inning to make it 12-0. Turley and KP got off the ropes and produced a 16-5 run to get back in the game, trailing just 17-16 after six innings. But in the seventh inning JV and Nick put the game away, winning 21-16.
• Game 12 – Galz jumped on Dibble in the top of the first inning, 10-0, to give his team a commanding lead. In the bottom of the first, Barker outscored Paul, 8-0, to close he and Dibble’s deficit to 10-8. Those eight points from Barker sparked a 21-4 run and his squad won the game, 21-14. Technically this was a choke by Galz and Paul because they had a 10-0 lead and failed to win. But our formula and the statistics don’t recognize it that way because the 10 point lead happened after half an inning (the formula and stats only recognize it when it occurs after a full inning). Choke or not, it showed some serious intestinal fortitude from Barker and Dibble to rebound from a 10-0 deficit out of the gates.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

This week’s Game of the Night was Game 1, which pitted Erik and Galz against Dibble and Coach Mike. As we mentioned earlier, Erik and Galz jumped out to an early 9-0 lead thanks to Erik scoring four points against Dibble and Galz scoring five points against Coach.

Fortunes changed in the fourth inning when Dibble kicked off the inning with an 8-0 win against Erik, followed by Coach Mike sinking a cornhole to win the bottom of the fourth inning, 5-3. The 10-point burst gave them a 10-9 lead, but it didn’t end there. In the fifth inning Dibble drained three cornholes (missing his fourth bag for a 12-point round) against Erik and scored five more points to up the lead to 15-9.

After such a strong beginning, Erik and Galz were reeling. Galz gave his team one point in the bottom of the fifth to make it 15-10, but Dibble had just scored 13 points against Erik in the last two innings so the odds didn’t look good that Galz would see the bags again.

Erik calmed his nerves a bit when he sank a cornhole on his first toss of the sixth inning. He breathed a sigh of relief when Dibble missed the board on his first toss. Erik drilled another cornhole on his next toss, followed by a bag on the board from Dibble.

Erik’s confidently fired his third bag on the board to take a 7-1 lead, but Dibble made a much-needed cornhole on his third toss to cut the inning deficit to 7-4. Erik launched his final bag, hoping for a 10-point statement round. He missed long, but the bigger takeaway was his focus had returned.

Dibble’s final bag also missed (his was short of the board), which gave Erik three points in the inning (7-4). The score was now 15-13, advantage to Dibble and Coach.

Galz was excited to have the bags back in his hands and added four more points to his team’s total to take a 17-15 lead.

In the top of the seventh inning Dibble was perfect, hitting a cornhole and three bags on the board, on his way to a 6-4 inning win and tied the game at 17-17.

In the bottom of the seventh, Galz hit a late airmail to win the inning, 5-3, giving his team a 19-17 lead.

In the top of the eighth inning Erik appeared to feel the pressure of closing a game against Dibble. He scored only two of his four bags, and both were on the board. Luckily for Erik, Dibble also only scored two of his four bags, though one was a cornhole. Dibble’s 4-2 inning win tied the game, again, at 19-19.

Galz and Coach exchanged first-bag cornholes in the bottom of the eighth inning, and then the pile-up began. Galz started the traffic jam in front of the hole, layering his final three bags at the edge of the hole so that Coach Mike had no clear shot. Coach continued to play aggressively, trying to draw his bags around the wall and into the hole. He missed twice and his final bag rammed into the wall. He managed four points, but Galz had six perfectly executed points, good for two net points and a victory.

Each team had big runs, then traded blows in a knife fight before Galz and Erik prevailed, 21-19.

Dibble led all scorers with 44 points and 12 cornholes, besting Erik’s 34 points and nine cornholes in their head-to-head match-up. At the other end of the court Galz scored 37 points on 10 cornholes and Coach Mike had 25 points and four cornholes.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

The week 12 Mushroom Stamp Moment came in Game 4 when Nick blew open a relatively close game. After four innings Nick and Turley held a slight edge over JV and Barker, 11-9. In the top of the fifth inning Turley drained two cornholes and outscored Barker, 8-4, to give his team a 15-9 lead.

Turley then phoned to the bullpen and asked for the closer to take the mound. Enter Nick.

First bag – cornhole!

Second bag – cornhole!

Third bag – perfectly placed in the center just short of the hole, half the bag hanging in the hole.

JV threw his third bag and it somehow sneaked in the side door, avoiding taking Nick’s hanging bag with it. He gave himself hope after Nick’s early barrage of cornholes.

Nick had to throw an airmail on his final bag if he had any hope of dragging his dingleberry bag in for a 12-point round because JV placed a few nice blockers preventing an easy push shot.

As you can likely predict, Nick threw a dart that clipped the hanging bag and dragged it into the hole while his fourth bag airmailed into the hole for 12 points! His four-bagger was beautiful, and the 12-5 inning win was enough to clinch the game, 21-9.

Nick scored 32 points and made nine cornholes in just six innings. His airmail to score 12 points is easily this week’s MSM. Congrats Nick!

NEWS AND NOTES
• Galz sank his fifth 12-point round of the season (second to only KP, who has eight) and added three more 10-point rounds on his way to a 17.8 KPM and 4-2 record. He narrowly missed out on a week-high KPM thanks to Nick posting a 17.9. Given both players were like mirror images of each other this week, it’s fitting that Nick and Galz tied their week 12 head-to-head match-up, 46-46. Galz shot 67% and knocked in 1.43 cornholes per round, which was the best cornhole rate of the week. Galz will enter the Singles Tournament as the #4 seed.
• Barker went 3-2 with a 12.6 KPM while shooting 56%. His 0.88 cornholes per round this week continues to represent progress for Barker, but his usual accuracy was down this week. There is nothing wrong with shooting 56%, but that’s about 10-15% lower than what we’d expect from Barker. Once he puts the high cornhole rate together with 70% accuracy (and trust me, he will), he’s going to be extremely difficult to beat. Barker won’t play in the Singles Tournament, but he’d have been the #5 seed had he played.
• Bob was 0-3 with a 7.9 KPM, while shooting 42%. He had excellent opportunities for wins in games 3 and 9 this week, but fell just short in each (lost 21-17 in both). Bob will also miss the Singles Tournament because of his late start to his rookie season.
• JV had a bit of an off week with his 9.8 KPM, though he did have a 2-2 record. JV’s season KPM is still very good (11.9), but he’s battling through a bit of slump at the moment. He hasn’t found much success in the Singles Tournament because he thrives more in a partner environment. Nonetheless, he will be the #5 seed and is always dangerous if he can break through this slump.
• Finally, KP stumbled to a 1-4 record despite a 16.5 KPM on 65% shooting, 1.28 cornholes per round, and three 10-point rounds. KP will be the #3 seed in the Singles Tournament.