CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – Far too often the league superstars dominate the headlines. Make no mistake, guys like Nick, Dibble, Galz, Barker, and JV have earned their accolades throughout the last six years. But, those “rising tides” have lifted all the “boats,” and this week several other players deserve some ink because of their stellar performance.

AN ODE TO THE “LITTLE GUYS”

Bushie, Turley and Bob might not be considered “superstars,” but all three are blossoming early in the 2021 season. Evidence of a breakout was obvious in the 2020 season for those paying attention, particularly toward the end of the year – Turley and Bushie joined Erik on the short list of players vying for 2020 Most Improved Player (I vow to start an official vote for that honor in 2021), while Bob finished his rookie campaign with more 12-point rounds than Dibble (two vs. one, respectively) in significantly fewer games (32 vs. 49, respectively).

Bushie was en fuego this week, scoring 69% of his tosses and averaging 6.0 gross points per round thanks to his 1.61 cornholes per round. If you hide the name associated with those statistics and polled the audience about who’s stats they were, 99% of the votes would go to Nick, Dibble or Galz.

Bushie held firm in head-to-head match-ups with Nick and Galz, scoring 16 cornholes and 60 gross points in the two games combined, while Nick and Galz combined for 17 cornholes and 72 gross points in those games against Bushie. However, in Game 11 he put the entire league on notice with a dazzling array of shots. Bushie led Galz to a 21 – 16 victory over Bob and Dibble, where he scored 22/24 tosses (91.7% accuracy), including 13 of his 22 scoring bags resulting in cornholes (averaging 2.2 cornholes per round). His scoring in the six round match went like this: 7 –> 10 –> 7 –> 6 –> 10 –> 8, resulting in an average of 8 gross points per round. Add it all up and his KPM in Game 11 was 26.0, which is a single-game LEG record!

For the week, Bushie finished with a 19.5 KPM and jumped from #7 to #4 in the Power Rankings.

Turley didn’t reach Bushie’s level this week, nonetheless, he was still explosive. Turley set a LEG record of his own, a single week high for accuracy – shooting 88% for the night (4 games). His 14.8 KPM was excellent, and could have been even better if not for his 0.71 cornholes per round (which is still great, but he came into the night averaging 1.35 per round).

Most importantly, Turley is a winner. He finished 4 – 0 for the second consecutive week, running his overall season record to 8 – 0…the next highest winning percentage in the league is 64%. Turley single-handedly carried KP to two wins over the 2020 Postseason Tournament Champions, Nick and Barker, in games of 21 – 14 and 21 – 19.

Finally, Bob drained two 10-point rounds while posting a 13.1 KPM this week. He played six games and stepped up to the plate facing the best of the best in every game.

• Hung tough with Turley in Game 1, losing the head-to-head, 38 – 31, including 9 – 7 in cornholes
• Dibble throttled him in Game 2, outscoring Bob 38 – 21 thanks to a 10 – 3 cornhole advantage
• Bob outscored Galz head-to-head in Game 4, 15 – 13
• Hung tough with Barker in Game 6, barely losing the head-to-head, 39 – 35, including 9 – 8 in cornholes
• Bob outscored JV head-to-head in Game 8, 28 – 25, including 7 – 6 in cornholes
• Bob was victim to Bushie’s incredible 26.0 KPM in Game 11, losing the head-to-head, 48 – 30, including 13 – 6 in cornholes. However, Bob was the second-leading scorer in that game

There was no easy way out for Bob, but he embraced the gauntlet and fared well with the 13.1 KPM, 62% accuracy, 4.2 gross points per round, and 0.87 cornholes per round. But one of the weirder stats of Bob’s night was an 0 – 6 record and -6.8 scoring differential, despite his sexy stat sheet.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Choosing the Game of the Night (“GoT”) seems to get harder by the week. Of the several contenders, Game 8 gets the nod this week. Nick and JV teamed against Bushie and Bob – the “haves” (seven combined titles) versus the “have nots” (one combined title).

Nick and JV took a 3 – 1 lead into the second inning, then Bob went to work. Two cornholes propelled him to a 7 – 1 advantage over JV, giving his squad a 7 – 3 lead.

In the bottom of the second inning Nick answered with three cornholes and a 9 – 2 inning win over Bushie, taking the lead back 10 – 7.

Bob and Bushie each chipped in one point in the third inning, cutting their deficit to 10 – 9.

JV used the top of the fourth inning to blow the game open, outscoring Bob 7 – 3. Nick outlasted Bushie in a high-scoring bottom half of the fourth, 8 – 6, giving his team a 16 – 9 lead.

A 16 – 9 lead with JV leading off the top of the inning, and Nick there in the bottom of the inning batting clean-up, if necessary. These are the moments when you’d expect the experience and talent of seven combined championships to takeover and suffocate an opponent like a boa constrictor.

Bob flipped a middle finger salute to that notion. He bested JV, 7 – 3, to keep he and Bushie in the game (16 – 13). Bushie remained hot, this time winning the high-scoring affair against Nick, 9 – 8. Don’t look now, but we have a game again! 16 – 14.

Bob tied it at 16 – 16 in the top of the sixth, and Bushie pushed his team’s scoring run to 11 – 0 in the bottom of the sixth by outscoring Nick, 7 – 3.

The “have nots” take a 20 – 16 lead!

Is this where Bob adds another brick to his foundation by closing a game against a championship opponent?

Not yet.

JV, arguably the best closer in the league, answered the bell again. Bob missed his first bag, and with it an opportunity to apply immense pressure to JV. The crowd could feel the momentum drain from Bob and surge through JV. A first toss cornhole from JV kick-started the boa constrictor.

Bob’s second bag failed to find the board. JV promptly drained another cornhole.

Gasping for air, Bob launched his third bag. Nada. JV’s third bag dropped directly in front of the hole, a perfectly executed blocker. 7 – 0, JV, and Bob now needed a cornhole to keep the game alive.

Bob’s final bag, an airmail attempt, was nowhere near. Game over, 21 – 20.

For good measure, JV attempted a push shot on his fourth bag in hopes of scoring a 12-point round. He missed, but it didn’t matter. The closer closed. The championship mettle of JV and Nick proved to be too much.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

The Mushroom Stamp Moment (“MSM”) came during Game 9 when a nip-and-tuck game turned into a blow-out. An 8 – 8 game after five innings quickly got out of hand when Dibble dropped a four-bagger on KP, outscoring him 12 – 2 to give he and Galz an 18 – 8 lead over KP and Bushie. Galz would go on to close the game, 21 – 8, in the bottom of the inning.

Dibble’s 12-point MSM was the second 12-point round of his night. Unlike last week when Dibble posted gaudy numbers that failed to produce victories, this week he was almost untouchable. An overall record of 5 – 1 paired nicely with his 19.6 KPM, providing Dibble the bounce-back week he needed.

NEWS AND NOTES

• A total of 19 10-point rounds were scored in week 2, which may be a record (that is one of the few stats we’ve never tracked). By comparison, only eight 10-point rounds were scored in week 1. Credit to the following guys who contributed to those 19 rounds:
  • KP – 6
  • Nick – 4
  • Bob – 2
  • Bushie – 2
  • Barker – 2
  • Galz – 2
  • Turley – 1
• Barker became the latest player migrating to the no step throw. He shouted instructions at his new throw more than any player in history – “get left!”, “sit down!”, “CUT!!!!”. Barker felt he played poorly, struggling to trust his new form. Yet, he registered a 16.0 KPM on 70% shooting and knocked in 1.14 cornholes per round. A comfortable, no stepping Barker is a scary thought. The rich out here getting richer
• The first mention of Nick in the “News and Notes” section might lead one to think he had a poor night. A 21.2 KPM, 3 – 3 record, 78% accuracy, 1.71 cornholes per round and 6.6 gross points per round is anything but poor. As exceptional as Nick was, he started the night 0 – 3 before rallying to win his final three matches of the night, but finished with just a +1.3 scoring differential. Just goes to show how difficult it is to win in this league.
• JV struggled this week. The commotion of hosting caused his individual performance to suffer – a 9.7 KPM, but a dismal 42% accuracy was truly his undoing. He fell from #4 to #9 in the Power Rankings, though he still had team success with a 2 – 3 overall record.
• Has anyone seen KP? He has been on a milk carton in 2021, and the search party still didn’t find him this week. Thanks to Turley’s excellence, KP managed a 2 – 3 record this week; without Turley an 0 – 5 record would’ve draped KP’s shoulders, slumping them even more.