BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Mr. Cocksucker, the most decorated champion in LEG history, turned 40 years old this week! When reflecting back, it’s hard to believe we started the LEG shenanigans when he was 33 years old, and we’re still going at it seven seasons later. Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

Part of the group’s birthday gift to Mr. Cocksucker was some new, rookie blood. Whether it’s swooping in sober at 9 pm and dominating when the rest of the group has been drinking for 3+ hours, or “aww shucks’ing” his way to a 21 – 0 win over innocent rookies, Nick basks in the glory of beating up on the less fortunate.

Enter stage right – his latest victims, rookies Dan and Pete. These newbies arrive with less fanfare than the current Rookie of the Year favorite, Brent, but only because they aren’t on the cornhole circuit making names for themselves. Both players have natural skills and love to play the game. LEG is the perfect environment for them to thrive.

Before thriving, they must take their customary lumps. Those lumps included the following:

• Dan and Pete partnering in Game 1 against Galz and KP. They lost the match, 21 – 9, in just six innings and had to deal with KP throwing rounds of 12, 10 and 12 on his way to averaging 8.7 points per round.
• Dan and Pete partnered in Game 6 against JV and Bushie. More to come on that in the Game of the Night.
• Pete losing his head-to-head battle against JV in Game 7, 31 – 25, and almost blowing an 18 – 14 lead to lose the game. JV put a 10-spot on Pete (won the round 10 – 5) to give his team a 19 – 18 lead, but he almost hit a 4-bagger that would’ve won the game. For Pete’s sake (see what I did there?), Bushie bailed him out in the bottom of the inning, recovering to win the game 21 – 19.
• Dan losing his head-to-head match with Nick in Game 15, 31 – 26. Barker was on fire, though, and carried Dan to a 21 – 12 victory.
• Dan and Dibble partnering in Game 16 against Coach Mike and KP. They lost the match, 21 – 3, and Coach outscored Dan head-to-head, 28 – 23.
• Dan and Barker partnering in Game 18 against Dibble and Bushie. They lost the match, 21 – 19, and Dibble outscored Dan head-to-head, 27 – 23. Even worse, Dan and Barker logged a “choke” with this collapse – they were leading the game 19 – 3 before giving up 18 unanswered points to lose the match.

While there were plenty of negative moments, both players also had a lot to be proud of. Pete finished his first night with a 12.6 KPM, averaging 4.1 points per round and 0.71 cornholes per round on 67% shooting. He also had a 2 – 3 record, and flashed potential as arguably the best airmail thrower in the league.

Meanwhile, Dan posted a 14.7 KPM and 4 – 4 record thanks to 4.8 points per round, 0.84 cornholes per round and a blistering 79% accuracy.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

The Game of the Night featured the rookies, Dan and Pete, against JV and Bushie. The rookies did a great job early in the match of keeping things close, until JV hit Pete with an 8 – 2 round to help his team take a commanding 13 – 5 lead. At this point, you’d expect a rookie pairing to collapse under such a large deficit, but they showed resilience when Dan immediately scored five points against Bushie (won the round 6 – 1) to vault his team back into the game – 13 – 10.

JV immediately pushed the score to 16 – 10 with another 8-point round (won the round 8 – 5). But Dan was there to the rescue again, winning the round 8 – 5 against Bushie and cutting the deficit to 16 – 13.

JV and Dan volleyed points back and forth for their respective teams, with JV scoring two more and upping the lead to 18 – 13. Dan immediately responded with three of his own to make it 18 – 16.

Serve was broken in the top of the seventh when Pete finally scored on JV, tallying two points to tie the game at 18 – 18. Dan wanted badly to capitalize on his partner’s big round by closing the game. He almost did, but threw an errant bag off the board and settled for two points, taking their first lead of the entire game, 20 – 18.

Here we go again – a clutch moment near the end of the game and the bags are in JV’s hands. He delivered three times in similar moments just last week. This time was no different, as he gave Pete a lesson in clutch performances. JV won the round 5 – 2, using two blocker bags to prevent Pete from easy hole access and then drilled an airmail to secure the game, 21 – 20.

Welcome to the league, rookies.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT (“MSM”)

Game 2 was a close match the entire game, with Bob and Brent leading the entire time against Bushie and JV. Bob and Brent held a 19 – 17 lead late in the game with the bags in Bob and Bushie’s hands.

Bob had an opportunity to apply tons of pressure on Bushie, but missed his first bag off the side of the board. That was the opening Bushie needed, and he proceeded to drill three consecutive cornholes to take a 9 – 2 lead in the round after three bags. Bob was helpless, his final bag did not matter. Bushie tried to cap a great round with a 4-bagger, but missed long off the back of the board. No matter, his 9 – 2 round gave his team their first lead of the game when it mattered most…to score 21 points and win the game 21 – 19.

Bushie earns this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment for delivering in a big time moment.

NEWS AND NOTES

• The Birthday Boy had a great night, going 4 – 3 with an 18.4 KPM and averaged 5.8 points per round and 1.35 cornholes per round on 78% shooting. He sank two 10-point rounds and two 4-baggers.
• KP threw a 21.0 KPM thanks to 6.5 points per round, 1.70 cornholes per round and 77% shooting. He added seven 10-point rounds and two 4-baggers. Despite those numbers, he finished with a 2 – 4 record.
• Brent was on fire, throwing a 20.9 KPM, 6.5 points per round, 1.71 cornholes per round, and 76% shooting. Those numbers helped him to a 2 – 1 record this week.
• Barker also played very well, going 4 – 1 with an 18.2 KPM, 5.7 points per round, 1.37 cornholes per round and 74% shooting. He knocked in two 4-baggers, matching his season total entering this week.
• Dibble went 3 – 3 with a 16.3 KPM, 5.2 points per round, 1.18 cornholes per round and 70% accuracy. Not a bad night at all, but he did slip from #2 to #3 in the Power Rankings.
• Bushie had an excellent week with a 7 – 4 record and 14.7 KPM. He was part of the huge comeback win in Game 18, scoring eight of his team’s 18 points during their game-winning streak. He scored 4.7 points per round, 1.0 cornholes per round and 68% shooting.
• Galz fell from #9 to #13 in the Power Rankings because of his 10.7 KPM. He averaged just 3.6 points per round and 0.56 cornholes per round on 61% shooting. A forgettable night for him.
• Coach really struggled, going 1 – 7 with an 11.2. KPM, 3.6 average points per round, 0.67 cornholes per round and 57% shooting.
• JV was less than stellar with an 11.7 KPM, causing him to fall from #7 to #10 in the Power Rankings. He averaged 3.9 points per round and only 0.66 cornholes per round on 64% shooting. He did, however, have some loud moments despite his overall inconsistency.
• Bob went 2 – 2 with a 12.4 KPM, averaging 4.0 points per round, 0.77 cornholes per round and 62% shooting.