BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – This week’s word of the day is: Appreciation.
Merriam-Webster defines “appreciation” as “a feeling or expression of admiration, approval or gratitude”.
You’re probably double-checking your URL to make sure you are at the LEG week 4 recap, and indeed, you are. There is no funny story line this week, but hang with me for a second.
Sometimes we get so consumed with our busy lives, it’s easy to take things for granted. It isn’t that we intend to be unappreciative, but days, moments, and time can seemingly pass in the blink of an eye. We are already 25% of the way through the 2022 season, and that realization hit me this week. The season is racing past, and that’s why it’s important (for me, anyway) to step back, slow down and appreciate.
Tonight Coach Mike made his season debut, and he walked up to every player, giving a fist pound and hug while wearing that infectious smile we love him for. I’ve missed him. I appreciate him. Not just for this cornhole league, but as a friend.
Barker bent over backwards, keeping his word by showing up, even though we had a 90 minute rain delay and he had a prior family commitment in Flint. I appreciate him.
I appreciate all of you, whether you showed up this week or not. Whether you show up next week, or not. This silly cornhole league I organized in 2016 has become a vessel for deepening existing relationships, while creating new ones.
Life is hard. We all have crazy demands and schedules that pull us in different directions. But for approximately 15 Thursday nights per year, our schedules bring us together. So if you’re ever confused about why I get butt-hurt in certain situations, it’s not **REALLY** about the cornhole. It’s because our precious Thursday nights throughout the summer are often the few/only moments I get to see many of you on a consistent basis.
This week’s theme is about expressing the appreciation I have for you, for what we’ve built, and for where I hope we continue to go with this; because without LEG, it would be very easy for months to pass without seeing all of you, and that’s not something I want to entertain.
Thank you all for being part of LEG, and for sacrificing the other things in your life to hangout on Thursday nights. This recap will serve as my personal reminder to savor the moments we have together, and appreciate the friendships we’ve built.
That said, I can do all of that while kicking your asses! Now on to the Game of the Night!
GAME OF THE NIGHT
The Game of the Night is the game that almost wasn’t. After socializing, dicking around and mixing Dibble’s patented “bourbon slush” drinks, we finally decided to play some cornhole. We were two hours into the night and had played only one game. Dark clouds rolled up, which was puzzling given the zero percent chance of rain in the forecast.
Yet here we were, one inning through Game 2 and Mother Nature soaked us. The mad scramble of seven out of shape dudes attempting to “quickly” move everything inside must have been hilarious to watch. After 90 minutes of rain and $200 of Galz’s video poker losses, the sun returned and play resumed.
Coach Mike rigged tarps and taped trash bags to keep all the equipment dry. And then Game 2 was back on!
Prior to the rain delay, Coach Mike and Dibble held a 1 – 0 lead over Paul and Nick. The second inning (which was the first inning after the rain delay) was brutal. Booze had infiltrated the players’ veins, rust and stiffness started to set in, and the cornhole was hideous. Coach and Paul threw their way to a 2 – 2 wash, while Dibble and Nick didn’t fare much better, throwing a 3 – 3 wash.
Dibble broke the draught in the third inning with an 8 – 2 round over Nick, while Coach added a few more points in the fourth inning with an 8 – 6 round over Paul. The game was getting out of hand, 10 – 1.
Paul and Nick were forced to scrap for every point, and tried to stay within shouting distance at 12 – 6 through six innings. But Coach Mike widened the gap with a 7 – 4 advantage in the seventh inning, upping his team’s lead to 15 – 6.
In the eighth inning, the game momentum flipped. Nick and Paul hung around, kept throwing body blows until Coach and Dibble’s finally hands dropped. Then, they punched them square in the chin. Paul’s 7 – 3 advantage, followed by Nick’s 10 – 8 win, pulled the score to 15 – 12. Paul added another point in the ninth inning, cutting the deficit to 15 – 13.
A blowout turned into a barn-burner. Dibble and Coach inched closer to victory with two points in the 10th inning – 17 – 13.
Paul and Coach both littered the middle of the board with blockers, creating difficult scoring opportunities for one another. Each guy also hit their patented shots to perfect – Paul tumbled his patented “roly-poly” bag over the laundry on the board and into the hole, while Coach answered with his own roll bag, the back-handed taint tickler, washing the round at 5 – 5.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, Dibble couldn’t find the board, missing three bags off the board and narrowly placing his final bag on the back left corner of the board for one measly point. The noose felt tighter and tighter with each missed shot. Luckily for him, Nick mustered only five points, tying the match at 17 apiece.
Both sides washed the 12th inning, and Coach and Paul washed the top of the 13th inning, 6 – 6 with another dirty round mixed in with a roll bag triple.
Dibble was noticeably tight in the bottom of the 13th inning, again. He did score five points, but his lone cornhole was with help from a poorly executed push shot by Nick. Once again, though, Dibble survived his abysmal round because Nick couldn’t fully capitalize. Nick did score seven points, giving his team a 19 – 17 lead, but he missed the board with one of his bags and cost himself an opportunity to win the game.
In the 14th inning, Coach Mike tied the game at 19 – 19 with a fantastic dirty board win, 6 – 4.
The bags returned to Dibble and Nick, with Dibble struggling, yet hanging on by the skin of his teeth. The first player to make a cornhole was going to apply serious pressure. Dibble had throwing honors and applied that pressure with a first bag cornhole.
Nick missed his first bag off the board, and suddenly Dibble’s shoulders stopped slouching and Nick’s felt heavy. Dibble capitalized, hitting two more cornholes on his way to a 10 – 4 round to clinch the victory. Dibble’s big round, after limping his way through the prior three innings, is this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment (“MSM”).
This game was a marathon, and one hell of a battle. Dibble lead all players with 19 cornholes and 76 total points, while Nick was on his heels with 17 cornholes and 73 total points. At the other end of the boards, Coach Mike and Paul played a dirty game – clog the middle of the board, then try to hit roll bags. Coach drained 10 cornholes and scored 55 points, and Paul hit 9 cornholes and scored 52 points.
NEWS AND NOTES
- Dibble was excellent this week. Not only did he close the Game of the Night and earn the MSM, he was dominant with three 10-point rounds and a 12-point round, yielding a 20.4 KPM. His 3 – 1 record is no surprise, given the statistics. The crazy part of his fantastic night is that he still only had a +2.8 scoring differential in his four games. Nonetheless, he scored 6.3 points per round on 1.63 cornholes per round and 76% shooting.
- Nick posted an 18.2 KPM with 75% shooting, 5.7 points per round and 1.36 cornholes per round. He also matched Dibble with three 10-point rounds and a 12-point round. Very good numbers, but he somehow went 1 – 4.
- Barker went 2 – 2 with a 14.5 KPM. That may seem low for his standards, but the conditions were moist. He threw 84%, but the downfall was his 0.73 cornholes per round. He just couldn’t get anything to fall in the hole.
- In Coach Mike’s first appearance since the Preseason Kick-Off Tournament, he went 3 – 1 with an 11.8 KPM. Coach Mike is never going to be in the high-teens or better for KPM because of his style of play. With his dirty style, 11.8 KPM, 63% accuracy and 3.9 points per round were very solid after the long layoff.
- Galz and Paul both struggled, maybe because of the pink eye symptoms that are still lingering. Galz threw one of his worst weeks ever – 1 – 2 record, 11.3 KPM, 54% accuracy, 0.74 cornholes per round and only 3.6 points per round. He finds himself at #9 in the Power Rankings. Paul, on the other hand, was 1 – 3 with a 10.4 KPM on 59% shooting and 3.5 points per round.
- KP also had a rough week with a 16.4 KPM on 72% accuracy, 1.16 cornholes per round and 5.2 points per round, but retained his spot at #2 in the Power Rankings.