BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Establishing a periodic “Belt Challenge” has been on the Commissioner’s agenda for almost two years, and it was finally implemented this week.

What is a “Belt Challenge”? As you all know, the Singles Tournament has been a midseason staple since 2018 with the winner of the tournament claiming the LEG Championship Belt. Ordinarily the winner of the LEG Championship Belt would possess it until the following year’s Singles Tournament, which would then require a title defense. However, the Belt Challenge allows for top challengers to play for the right to defeat the Singles Champion and take the belt.

Some of you may recall the “Monday Night Wars” between Monday Night Raw of the WWF and Monday Nitro of the WCW. The two wrestling organizations were so hellbent on topping the other in television ratings that they started periodic championship matches where the current belt holder would defend the title against a top competitor. It was a huge shift in the championship wrestling format, as all prior championship matches were saved for Pay Per View. Televising championship matches on cable TV was a ratings grab, and it worked.

Anyway, the concept is the same for the LEG Championship Belt…Belt Challenges allow challengers to claim the Championship Belt through other avenues besides winning the Singles Tournament. The format of the Belt Challenge is that the title holder – whether that’s the prior Singles Tournament Champion or the most recent Belt Challenge winner (on a go forward basis) – is automatically the #1 seed in the Belt Challenge and has a chance to defend the belt. The top three KPMs (excluding the current title holder, of course) on the night of a Belt Challenge become the #2, #3 and #4 seeds.

From there, the #1 seed plays the #4 seed in one semifinal and the #2 seed plays the #3 seed in the second semifinal. The semifinal winners advance to play for the LEG Championship Belt. The entire format is single elimination.

KP won the 2020 Singles Tournament and therefore automatically earned the #1 seed in the inaugural Belt Challenge. Nick earned the #2 seed with a 20.4 KPM, Galz the #3 seed with a 17.5 KPM and Dibble the #4 seed with a 16.3 KPM.

In the first semifinal between #1 KP and #4 Dibble, KP jumped out to an early 11 – 3 lead. But Dibble kept chipping away at the deficit and slowly crawled back in the game. Eventually he took the lead and never looked back, beating KP 21 – 14.

The second semifinal between #2 Nick and #3 Galz was tight the entire way and went down to the wire, each guy exchanging a few points per round and never gaining more than a three point separation. Nick held a 19 – 17 lead and picked the right time to sink two cornholes while Galz piled bags on the board. Nick won the final round, 6 – 3, after Galz chased glory with a final shot airmail that missed. That was the clinching moment of the game, advancing Nick to the title match with a 21 – 17 victory.

The Belt Challenge title match felt eerily similar to the first semifinal. Dibble found himself in an early hole, down 8 – 2. But Nick caught a cold streak and Dibble smartly took one point here, two points there…soon enough he jumped in front on the scoreboard. Dibble closed the game on a 19 – 3 run to win the Belt Challenge, 21 – 11 over Nick.

Dibble now has possession of the LEG Championship Belt! These Belt Challenges will occur every two weeks, so week 6 it will be up for grabs with Dibble defending the title.

MISSING – HAVE YOU SEEN ME?

KP was so disgusted after his semifinal loss in the Belt Challenge that he kicked a can of delicious IPA into the side of the house and dropped several four letter expletives. The frustration wasn’t necessarily about *this* loss. Rather, he’s been in a slump for the entire 2021 season and it all came to a head when he had control of the game and pissed it away. Just using tonight as an example, KP was actually #5 in the KPM rankings and would not have qualified for the Belt Challenge if it weren’t for his exemption as the current belt holder. Paul was actually in the top four players (15.8 KPM this week), but had to watch KP struggle through a loss to Dibble rather than have his own shot at taking possession of the belt.

To make matters worse, KP began hearing whispers that multiple players were taking joy in beating him and/or in the fact that he was struggling, culminating in massive shit talk from another LEG player during a casual setting over the weekend (days after week 4).

Go ahead and take joy in KP’s struggles, talk your shit, and laugh at the bun run Galz and Bushie handed KP and Paul in Game 9 this week (link below). Just know that the version of KP ya’ll are beating isn’t the best version, and the revenge tour will come sooner or later. When it does, each of the offenders are officially on notice because KP’s coming for that ass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNcn0sBfJvA

JIMMY 2.0

We last saw Jimmy in the final weeks of the 2020 season when he finished the year with a 7.9 KPM. Clearly not great, especially when compared to the swanky KPMs throughout the league, but also consistent with almost every other rookie in LEG history.

Jimmy made his 2021 debut this week and was noticeably different from the time the first bag left his hands. Rhythm was great, bag was flat and spinning like a pizza pie, and scoring was improved.

“Jimmy, have you been practicing?” KP asked.

“I have. I was getting my butt kicked last year and did not want that to happen again,” he responded.

The work paid off. Not only did he look better, but the stats proved he was markedly better. Jimmy finished this week with an 11.1 KPM, 62% shooting, 3.7 gross points per round, 0.60 cornholes per round and a 2 – 2 record.

Those are enormous jumps from how he finished the 2020 season – 7.9 KPM, 48% shooting, 2.7 gross points per round, 0.38 cornholes per round and a 7 – 15 record.

Jimmy capped his night with a great victory in Game 10, which was runner-up for Game of the Night (“GoT”). Jimmy and Dibble snuck by Erik and Barker, 21 – 20, and Jimmy scored 45 gross points and 8 cornholes, averaging 4.1 gross points per round while hanging tough in his head-to-head with Erik (47 gross points and 9 cornholes).

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Game 3 pitted JV and Galz against Turley in Dibble, representing one of the few instances when all four players had things rolling. Below is a snapshot of their Game 3 stats, and keep in mind JV and Turley were head-to-head, while Galz and Dibble were head-to-head:

• JV – 12.5 KPM, 68% accuracy, 0.70 cornholes per round and 4.1 gross points per round
• Turley – 14.2 KPM, 70% accuracy, 0.90 cornholes per round and 4.6 gross points per round
• Galz – 16.7 KPM, 73% accuracy, 1.2 cornholes per round and 5.3 gross points per round
• Dibble – 16.7 KPM, 65% accuracy, 1.3 cornholes per round and 5.2 gross points per round

Not a lot of separation in those head-to-head match-ups, making this a nail-biter.

With the score tied 6 – 6 in the fourth inning, JV and Galz each won their half of the inning, stretching their lead to 9 – 6. Over the next three innings they pushed their scoring run to 11 – 2, making the score 17 – 8. During that run JV contributed two of his team’s 11 points while also holding Turley at bay. Galz knocked in the remaining nine points during that stretch, capped with a 10-point round in the seventh inning.

Turley and Dibble needed to stop the bleeding quickly, and did so with Turley snagging one point in the top of the eighth inning to make it 17 – 9. Dibble scored all four of his bags, including two cornholes, in the bottom half of the inning, outscoring Galz 8 – 2! A seven point swing in just one inning cut the gap to 17 – 15.

JV drained two cornholes on his way to a 7 – 5 win over Turley in the ninth to make the score 19 – 15. All Galz had to do now was score two points to clinch the game, while Dibble could win it with a +6 point round.

With the game at stake, both players disappointed in crunch time. Whether it was nerves, lost focus, or playing too aggressively, both guys failed to deliver – Dibble scored two points and Galz managed just one, making the score 19 – 16.

Turley had honors to throw first in the top of the tenth inning, a golden opportunity against the best closer in the league. He answered the bell with an enormous three-pointer!

JV’s first toss landed on the board. Turley heated up with a second cornhole, pushing his advantage to 6 – 1.

Things were slipping away for JV. He threw a perfect bag at the middle of the board to block additional cornhole attempts from Turley. Unfortunately for JV, Turley is a smart player and was perfectly willing to lay-up, forcing JV to execute a miraculous shot to get back in the game.

Turley boarded his third bag for a 7 – 2 advantage. Cue the heroic attempt from JV. He lowered his release point on the third toss, attempting to push one or both of his existing bags on the board. The trajectory was good, but aim was off. JV just missed pushing his bags because of a wide toss.

Once again, Turley smartly decided to lay-up and board his final bag for an 8 – 2 advantage. JV had to make one bag or the game was over.

He surveyed the board, identifying all four bags littering the canvas. Heroics were needed, but the mathematician quickly calculated the odds of all possible heroic scenarios in his head and reached into his bag of tricks – out came an even lower and harder toss than his third attempt, this one directly on target. His toss smashed into a mess of bags, moved his own two blockers closer to the hole and rolled over the pile for a three-pointer! Not only did he deliver the cornhole he needed to extend the game, but he was fractions of an inch from pushing two more bags in the hole for a 9 – 8 round win!

Instead, Turley took the 8 – 5 advantage, which made the score 19 – 19 and turned the bags back over to Galz and Dibble. After a subpar prior inning, Dibble responded by scoring three of his four tosses, including two cornholes, to put the game away. He outscored Galz 7 – 3 to win the game, 21 – 19.

Not only were the players separated by fractions on the stat sheet (particularly in the head-to-head match-ups), but fractions on the board separated winning from losing in this one. It was an excellent match that was thrilling to watch.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

This week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment (“MSM”) was so incredible that it was crowned despite the fact it came in a losing effort. In Game 2 Galz and JV found themselves down 8 – 4 to Paul and Jimmy early on. In the bottom of the fourth inning Jimmy executed a perfect game plan through his first three bags, piling them around the hole to make things difficult for Galz. For all his positive attributes, one thing Galz does not have is patience. He plays 100 mph at all times. After bunching his first two bags around the hole (thanks to Jimmy’s blockers), his third bag was shot out of a cannon – it exploded into the pile of bags near the hole and somehow all three of Galz’s bags fell in for NINE TOTAL POINTS, WHILE ALSO PUSHING ALL THREE OF JIMMY’S BAGS AWAY FROM THE HOLE!

Jimmy’s final toss missed the board, and Galz had an alley of Jimmy’s dead bags to use as bumpers for a 12-point round. Apparently this was too easy of a shot for Galz, as he failed to make the cornhole for a 12-point round. The bag missed hole-high and just to the right, as he settled for 10 points.

However, Galz taking three bags into the hole on one shot, and the degree of difficulty associated with pulling that off, earns him this week’s MSM. It was one of the best shots you’ll see. That 9-point shot was a catalyst for his 10 – 3 round win that gave he and JV an 11 – 8 lead, but Jimmy and Paul wouldn’t let their opponent score again – they went back to executing their strategy and pieced together a 13 – 0 run to win the game, 21 – 11.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Erik had a great week going 2 – 1 with a 13.6 KPM, 66% accuracy, 0.87 cornholes per round and 4.4 gross points per round. Somehow he fell from #10 to #11 in the Power Rankings, despite the 13.6 KPM.
• Paul was exceptional with a 15.8 KPM and 3 – 2 record. He did enough to qualify for the Belt Challenge (was #4 in overall KPM on the night), but was left on the sidelines because of KP automatically qualifying. Still, a lot to be proud of for Paul on this night, especially his 5.0 gross points per round and 1.12 cornholes per round! Paul jumped from #11 to #8 in the Power Rankings.
• Turley continues to win, baby. This week he was 3 – 1, which runs his season record to 13 – 4. That’s an absurd winning percentage in this league (76%), while the next highest is just 63%. He finished the night with a 12.5 KPM and remains #6 in the Power Rankings.
• Bushie cracked the top-5 of the Power Rankings this week, jumping from #7 to #5 thanks to this week’s 14.3 KPM. Bushie continues to play extremely well this season, averaging 1.06 cornholes per round, 4.7 gross points per round, and 64% accuracy while posting a 14.8 KPM.
• Finally, Nick keeps re-writing the record book. This week’s 20.4 KPM isn’t quite a record for best weekly KPM, but it does help him stay #1 in the Power Rankings and bring his season KPM to 19.9. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you…19.9 KPM for the season! What is most impressive is that he’s averaging 1.59 cornholes per round (best in the league) while also being the most accurate player in the league at 75%. The only blemish on Nick’s record is his inability to close the title match of the Belt Challenge. Otherwise, he’s in a league of his own right now.

CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – You’d expect warmer temperatures and an ideal environment for cornhole on Thursday before Memorial Day. But this week felt like the British Open of LEG given the cold and blustery conditions.

Dibble had the grill roaring, it was Bob’s birthday, and the competition among the top three players was enough to heat things up this week.

Last week’s recap was mostly dedicated to the rise of Bushie, Turley and Bob. Clearly the big dogs (Nick, Dibble and Galz) don’t take kindly to ripping the headlines away from them. Their response in week 3 was absurd – all three combined for a 13 – 3 record (Galz locked in at 5 – 1, while Nick and Dibble each went 4 – 1), with two of the three total losses coming at the hands of playing one another. The trio also posted the top three KPMs of the week, Nick – 20.4, Dibble – 18.2 and Galz – 16.5.

Dibble and Galz were stroking it early, partnering in Game 1 against JV and Coach Mike. They made quick work of their opponents, trouncing them 21 – 1 in just three innings. Thankfully JV snagged a second inning point on a final bag airmail against Galz (he won the round 7 – 6) or else the night would have kicked off with a bun run.

Dibble’s second game of the night was another blowout win in only three innings, 21 – 3, and he posted a new single-game KPM record of 32.2. His three innings went like this: 10 –> 9 –> 10, and he totaled nine cornholes. Bushie’s single-game KPM record, set in week 2, didn’t stand a chance.

Two games later Galz stepped to the boards for his second game of the night, on a mission to keep pace with his powerhouse counterpart. He partnered with Erik and destroyed Bushie and Turley, 21 – 4, again in just three innings! Galz’s three innings went like this: 7 –> 9 –> 7, and he totaled seven cornholes while posting a 25.4 KPM. Not quite the 32.2 KPM from Dibble, but still a phenomenal game from Galz.

Nick showed up a bit late, catching the end of Galz’s second game domination. He was oblivious to Dibble’s 32.2 and to the Game 1 thrashing Galz and Dibble gave Coach and JV. One thing was clear, though, Nick was prepared to throw heat and stiff-arm the chase Dibble and Galz were on to unseat him as the #1 player in the Power Rankings.

His evening opener in Game 6 wasn’t the quick three innings of work Dibble and Galz had, but scorched the nets just the same. He and Jack teamed to outlast JV and Erik, 21 – 17, and in eight innings Nick scored 56 gross points, 16 cornholes and three 10-point rounds, equating to a 23.0 KPM, 2.0 cornholes per round, 7 gross points per round, and 75% accuracy.

The Big 3 got their groove back in a major way this week.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

By the time Game 13 rolled around the sun had set, the wind gusted harder and the air was more frigid. Yet this match featuring Bushie and Erik against Dibble and JV somehow managed to produce GoT quality.

Bushie, going head-to-head against Dibble, and Erik jumped out to an early 6 – 1 lead, and upped it to 9 – 3 two innings later. JV halted the run in the fifth inning with an 8 – 3 advantage over Erik, cutting the deficit to 9 – 8.

Bushie immediately tacked on two more points in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it 11 – 8, getting the best of Dibble, 8 – 6.

The lead grew to 15 – 8 after the top half of the sixth, thanks to Erik’s 4 – 0 shutout of JV.

Dibble and Bushie combined for an ugly bottom of the sixth, totaling three combined points on 3/8 shooting. Dibble walked away with one point to make it 15 – 9, advantage to Bushie and Erik.

Through six innings, Bushie and Erik stayed patient and executed their strategy perfectly. They played aggressively in spots, but often threw blockers and piled up points while creating difficult shots for their opponents.

Erik continued with the strategy leading off the top of the seventh inning. His first bag landed on the board, but was misplaced short and left, not in JV’s line whatsoever. It was the crack in the door JV had been waiting for and immediately pounced with a first bag cornhole. Rattled, Erik tried to compose himself and toss an accurate second bag.

He missed the board this time. JV boarded his second toss for a 4 – 1 advantage, and would add four more points in his next two tossed as Erik limped to the end of the round with just one more scoring bag. JV’s 8 – 2 round tied the game, 15 – 15.

Bushie lifted Erik from the mat in the bottom of the seventh by draining two cornholes and besting Dibble, 8 – 6, snatching the lead, 17 – 15. Erik threw a perfect 4/4 in the top of the eighth inning, tacking on one more point to help his team inch closer to a victory, 18 – 15.

Similar to the bottom of the sixth inning, the bottom of the eighth was ugly. Once again, Bushie and Dibble combined for 3/8 shooting, this time Dibble walked away with three points, tying the game 18 – 18, thanks to a cornhole.

Where have we heard this before? JV, arguably the best closer LEG has, with bags in hand during a game-clinching moment. He has the Mariano Rivera effect, where even the best opponents can’t fight off the self-doubt that creeps in when facing him.

JV’s first two bags found the board while Erik did a sensational job of piling up bags in front of the hole to block any JV heroics. With the inning tied 2 – 2 after two throws, JV dialed up the aggression and launched an airmail attempt on his third toss. It was on target but short, stacking on the pile with four other bags.

Erik was content to join the pile, and did so safely with his third toss – 3 – 3 after three bags.

JV gathered himself for an extra few seconds, envisioning his shot like Tiger Woods in his prime. Once again he tossed an airmail attempt that rainbowed toward the hole, on target but unsure if it had enough to clear the pile of six bags. As the bag approached the hole, it clipped one of JV’s bags on the pile and dragged it into the hole for a double-cornhole airmail!

Holy shit, JV’s flare for the dramatic comes through again, turning a 3 – 3 inning into an 8 – 3 advantage, forcing Erik to sink a cornhole to extend the game.

Understandably lacking composure, Erik tried to focus for his final shot – an airmail, which he does not attempt often. He stepped, threw and immediately knew it had no chance. A low pull that barely clipped the board settled on the concrete.

21 – 18 was the final, as JV closed with one of the best 8-point rounds you’ll ever see.

Erik played exceptionally, scoring 28/36 bags (78%). The problem was he failed to record a cornhole in the game, so all 28 scoring bags were good for just one point. Meanwhile, JV used seven cornholes to score 35 points, none bigger than the ones recorded on his final toss of the game.

At the other end of the board Bushie outplayed Dibble, 38 – 36 and both players made nine cornholes.

CHOKE ARTISTS

As the night closed and playing group dwindled, Galz and Dibble were sauced up with liquid confidence. Game 14 finished and there was a slight lull in the action, “Alright! Dibble and me versus Nick and KP!” Galz yelled.

Any time Galz is focused on playing instead of talking or eating (yes, even in the middle of his own inning!), you have to capitalize on the moment. So, it was on. Galz and Dibble vs. KP and Nick in Game 15.

The start of the contest couldn’t have been worse for Galz and Dibble, quickly finding themselves in an 11 – 0 hole due to eight points from KP (he won rounds of 7 – 4 and 8 – 3 over Galz) and three more points from Nick (he won rounds of 6 – 4 and 6 – 5 over Dibble). Halfway to a bun run!

Galz’s confidence is unshakable. He relishes moments like this because it’s the ultimate challenge. Dibble collected two points in the third inning while Galz added three more. The bun run was off the table, 11 – 5.

The fourth inning became the turning point of the match. Nick struggled to find the board and Dibble took advantage with a 5 – 1 inning win to climb back into the game, now facing an 11 – 9 deficit.

The struggle transferred to KP’s end of the board in the bottom of the fourth inning where he managed only two bags on the board, and Galz pounced all over that opportunity by sinking three cornholes. He crushed KP, 9 – 2, giving his team a 16 – 11 lead.

Moments later, Dibble dropped three cornholes for nine points with Nick managing only four points. Nick’s final bag needed to be in the hole to extend the game, but it came up empty. Dibble closed the match for his squad, a 21 – 11 victory.

Down 11 – 0 and on the verge of a bun run to a 21 – 0 scoring streak to win the game, 21 – 11. What a turn of events! Credit to Galz and Dibble for the comeback. Meanwhile, Nick and KP were fuming over their choke. Neither guy played after that, both sitting on the sidelines trying to figure out how they played so shitty.

AUNT MILLIE MIKE RETURNS

It’s been almost one year since Coach Mike’s last bun run. In fact, week 2 of the 2020 season produced two Coach Mike bun runs, earning him the nickname “Aunt Millie Mike.” Coach has been turning the corner since then, even handing Dibble his first career bun run in week 11 of the 2020 season.

This week Coach invited Matt, a friend/neighbor, to join the cornhole party. After narrowly avoiding a bun run in Game 1 as JV’s partner (lost 21 – 1), Aunt Millie Mike wasn’t as lucky in Game 14 when he partnered with Matt. Turley outscored Matt, 11 – 3, and held him cornhole-less, while Aunt Millie struggled to keep pace with Nick, losing 29 – 13.

Add it all up and you get a 21 – 0 victory for Turley and Nick. Even on a frigid night, Aunt Millie honored the bun run and dragged Matt to hell with him. It was Aunt Millie’s seventh bun run of his career and Matt’s first (obviously).

See the footage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNGX5cqREFw

In the final game of the night (Game 16), Aunt Millie dodged another bun run bullet. Bob and Bushie throttled he and JV, 21 – 1. Just like in Game 1, it was JV snatching the lone point for he and Aunt Millie to escape the bun run.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

In the late stages of Game 11, JV and Turley found themselves in an 18 – 18 tie with Galz and Bushie. In the seventh inning JV was in process of closing yet another match. He had thrown two bags and owned a 4 – 2 advantage over Galz – but more importantly, JV’s bag on the board was near the hole and had successfully blocked Galz’s first two tosses.

Galz’s third toss was a fastball that powered two of his bags into the hole, swinging the score in his favor, 7-4!

JV attempted a push shot and could manage only to board his third bag. Galz landed his final bag on the board for an 8 – 5 advantage, requiring JV to score his final toss.

Still confident in the push shot, JV attempted again knowing he could win the inning 10 – 8 if successful. He tossed with a little more juice on the bag, but it caromed off the board.

Galz’s double-cornhole on his third bag allowed him to take control of the inning and ultimately close the game against LEG’s best closer. That, ladies and gentlemen, earns Galz this week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment!

NEWS AND NOTES

• We celebrated Bob’s birthday this week, and he celebrated by almost putting a 12-point round on Paul in Game 4. His final bag missed the hole and he settled for a 9-point round instead. Bob did earn his first two wins of the season, going 2 – 3 with a 13.0 KPM, 0.91 cornholes per round, 4.1 gross points per round and 58% accuracy. Happy Birthday, Bob!
• Jack continues to play the best cornhole of his career, ending his night with an 11.4 KPM on 51% shooting. He posted a 19.6 KPM in his first game, before getting into a rhythm! Where Jack has really grown is his cornhole rate, finishing tonight with 0.8 cornholes per round. His season average is 0.73 cornholes per round, up significantly from his 2020 average (0.54 per round) and career average (0.35 per round). He’s also shining in clutch moments – tonight he tossed an incredible roll bag that dodged JV’s blocker and fell into the hole. Granted, as Jack was celebrating what he thought was an inning win, JV says, “You know better than to celebrate before Daddy is done!” and proceeded to throw an airmail to wash the round. Nonetheless, Jack is yet another example the growing talent in this league.
• Speaking of JV, he rebounded very nicely from his rough week 2. His 13.6 KPM, 0.93 cornholes per round and 62% shooting are great. But the dominant closer with the killer mentality came back this week, which is more important than anything else for JV.
• Turley finally fell from the ranks of the unbeaten. His 2 – 3 record is quite the change of pace compared to the 8 – 0 record he brought into the night. Despite the loss, he still recorded a 15.3 KPM and 73% shooting…and is still 10 – 3 on the season.
• Erik made his first regular season appearance this week, finishing with a 2 – 2 record and 11.7 KPM on 74% shooting. Not bad for taking almost a month away from the game.

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.

CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – If week 1 is a precursor for what the 2021 LEG season has in store, we all need to buckle up and prepare for a wild ride. This week included 10 guys, all of whom were well over 10.0 KPM, a 14-point choke/comeback, and a Power Team receiving a bun run.

In 2017 the KPM was defined as part of an effort to enhance tracking of statistics. The group finished that season with only three out of 17 players above a 10.0 KPM (Nick – 12.4, JG – 10.5, and KP – 10.1).

The number of players above a 10.0 KPM increased to nine in the 2018 season (out of 23 players), but the season-high maxed out at 12.0 (credit to Galz posting that through 64 games, as Tony’s 12.5 KPM on only four games does not compare).

We’ve seen the league steadily improve from top to bottom, but this week was a huge jump for every player. As mentioned earlier, all 10 players easily cleared the 10.0 KPM mark, including six players posting 15.0 KPM or higher. Nick set the pace with a 17.6 on the evening, and Jack’s 10.7 was last of all players, though still excellent.

What’s scary about this record-setting week is the conditions weren’t great for scoring. The temperature was slightly cool and JV’s boards were playing an octane higher on the slick meter. Only four guys cleared 60% accuracy, with the sharpest shooter scoring 68% (Nick). In other words, more record-setting weeks may be on the horizon in 2021.

POWER COUPLE?

During tournaments we’ve always enforced a “draft protection” to prevent some of the top players from partnering to create a super team and distorting the competitive balance of the tournament. This week Nick and Dibble provided evidence that it might be time to reconsider the “draft protection” rule.

In Game 10 Nick and Dibble teamed to battle Turley and Galz. While Nick and Dibble are generally regarded as the top two players in the league, it would be a bit disingenuous to call it a slam dunk they’d dominate Turley and Galz. Sure, they’re likely the favorite in this match, but anyone can beat anyone on a Thursday night.

This, however, wasn’t as simple as “anyone beating anyone”. The match started rather pedestrian with Turley snagging one point against Nick in the top of the first inning, followed by Galz adding two more points in the bottom of the first.

Turley set the tone in the top of the second, sinking three cornholes on his way to a 10-point round and five points to make the score 8 – 0. Galz piled on with five more points in the bottom of the second inning by outscoring Dibble, 7 – 2. Suddenly, things were sideways with a 13 – 0 advantage to the underdogs.

Surely the big hitters would start connecting.

As the third inning got underway, The Weather Girls’ “It’s Raining Men” blasted in the background. Ironic because this was Turley’s requested song for the 2021 Preseason Kick-Off Tournament playlist.

Turley’s first bag of the third inning found the bottom of the hole, adding the pressure of five wet men to Nick’s shoulders. Nick’s first attempt to answer was unsuccessful, missing the board entirely on his first bag.

Turley’s sweet sweeping lefty toss scored three more points on his second bag, followed by one point from Nick. Turley upped his inning total to nine points with his third straight cornhole. Nick attempted to push two bags into the hole with his third shot, but both bags stopped just shy of the hole.

Turley’s fourth bag was an opportunity to complete a 12-point round and drive a spike in his opponent’s coffin. He lofted an airmail attempt to avoid Nick’s two blockers, but missed long. With two blockers at the front of the hole, Nick could throw low and hard to push three bags in for a 9 – 9 wash. He fired an aggressive shot, but was wide of his target, missing off the board long. A 9 – 2 advantage for Turley in the third inning made in 20 – 0 overall.

It was still raining men as Galz stepped to the plate. Even though the scorer’s table had just announced 20 – 0 for ALL to hear, Galz paused before his first toss and walked to the scorer’s table to inspect the computer with his own eyes. He confirmed the score and took a drag from his cigar as he strolled back to the board – “Alright Dibble, you’re getting a bun run right here!” Galz took his nuts and pushed them to the middle of the table, calling his shot right to Dibble’s face.

Galz walked the walk, sinking his first two bags and scoring one point on his third bag. During the same period, Dibble also scored all three of his bags – but, only one cornhole left him with a 7 – 5 deficit going into the final bag.

A cornhole from Galz would end it, solidifying the bun run. His final toss failed to find the board, leaving the door open for Dibble. A cornhole would give Dibble an 8 – 7 win in the bottom of the inning; anything less would clinch Dibble’s second bun run of his career and Winkler’s first during regular season play (he’s been bun run during a tournament).

Dibble’s arm swung back, and Nick started unzipping his shorts. The bag came out wobbly, Nick unbuttoned his shorts. Dibble leaned, as if to will the bag back on target. No such luck…the bag smacked the right side of the board and continued sliding off the back.

7 – 5 advantage to Galz, 21 – 0 bun run complete for Turley and Galz!

Nick dropped his drawers, put his shoes back on and fluffed himself while he waited for Dibble to undress. Note – “undress” is a generous description as both guys were wearing boxers that were longer than most people’s shorts and they kept their shirts on. Stricter enforcement of bun runs is coming in the future.

As they finished the bun run, Dibble dropped his drawers and gave the whole crowd a shot of his ass. His pasty white dumper looked like a vat of large curd cottage cheese. His ass was so lumpy it looked like he was smuggling chicken McNuggets in his ass cheek skin.

Of course we have footage. Thanks to both Coach Mike and Galz, we can relive this bun run over and over.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

This week’s Game of the Night was difficult to choose because there were multiple thrilling games. Game 11 gets the nod, which pitted arch nemeses Paul and JV against Coach Mike and Bushie. On the heels of the bun run (remember, that was Game 10), Coach Mike and Bushie damn near put Paul and JV on notice to get naked. After five innings Coach and Bushie had a commanding, 16 – 2 lead.

Paul stopped the hemorrhaging in the top of the sixth, scoring five points to cut the deficit to 16 – 7. JV doubled-down by outscoring Bushie, 8 – 5, to make it 16 – 10 overall. Paul continued his hot streak in the seventh inning with two cornholes and a 7 – 0 win over Coach, which gave he and JV a 17 – 16 lead.

A 16 – 2 lead evaporated in the blink of an eye, and Bushie’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. JV sensed the shaky ground Bushie was on, and arguably the best closer in the league relished this moment against Bushie. JV drained his first three bags, while Bushie managed just four points. JV’s final bag for a 12-point round missed, but Bushie was still forced to make cornhole to extend the game. He didn’t, and Paul and JV completed a 19 – 0 run to comeback from a 16 – 2 deficit to win the game.

Paul and JV’s incredible two-round comeback was glorious, while Coach and Bushie had trouble stomaching their choke. At least it wasn’t raining men anymore.

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

Nick may have topped the KPM charts this week at 17.6, but Turley may have been the most impressive player of the night. He finished second in KPM (16.1) while averaging 5.0 gross points per round and 1.35 cornholes per round, and sprinkled a fancy 4-0 record on top of it all. Turley-led teams were also 3-0 against Dibble, 1-0 against Nick, and 1-0 against Galz, and he outscored all of those players head-to-head in every match-up. What the rest of the league should find worrisome is that Turley *only* hit 57% of his shots.

JV went 4-1 and posted a 15.6 KPM (fourth highest) despite all the distractions of being a gracious host. His only blemish was a 21 – 17 loss in Game 4 when he partnered with KP. JV did his job outscoring Jack head-to-head, and scored 11 of his team’s 17 points. However, KP got jail sexed by Nick, preventing JV from a perfect record.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

Many Mushroom Stamp Moments (“MSM”) come during hotly contested matches and are often a swing in momentum or a game-clinching toss. This week’s MSM is neither.

In Game 2 Nick and JV beat Jack and Paul in a blowout, 21 – 6. With the score 12 – 5 after four innings, Nick dropped the hammer on Jack with cornholes on his first two bags, a hole blocker on his third bag, and a push shot to score two cornholes on his fourth bag. The only thing worse for Jack than Nick’s 12-point round was Nick’s aw-shucks attitude after the four-bagger. Four-baggers are so commonplace in Nick’s world that he rarely reacts, often just shrugging his shoulders like Michael Jordan hitting six three-pointers against the Portland Trailblazers in the NBA Finals. Coach Mike named this aw-shucks moment after it happened, “Jack you just got ‘Winklered’!” referring to a nonchalant 12-point round.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Despite being the recipient of the MSM, Jack played some of the best cornhole of his career posting a 10.7 KPM and shooting 55%. His 0.63 cornholes per round can improve, and when it does his KPM will make a huge leap. He finished with a 2 – 1 record, the only loss coming to Nick’s squad in the MSM game
• Coach Mike seemed to find his rhythm and confidence, posting an 11.3 KPM and scoring 0.88 cornholes per round. He had a nice mix of the back-handed taint tickler and the flat bag toss, playing each strategically based on what was required in the moment. It’s great to see Coach confident, playing loose and grooving with the music
• Galz was quietly 3 – 3 overall, but still posted a 15.4 on 61% shooting and 1.19 cornholes per round. He also had the biggest balls of the night, telling Dibble to his face that he was going to finish the bun run, then went out and did it
• Bushie and Paul posted excellent KPMs – 14.7 and 11.3, respectively – yet somehow couldn’t turn their exceptional play into victories, each of them struggling to 1 – 4 and 1 – 3 records, respectively
• Dibble had similar struggles as Bushie and Paul. Great KPM (16.0), accuracy (66%), and cornholes per round (1.19), but it felt empty considering his 1 – 4 record and bun run. Chalk it up to being just one of those nights. The numbers are there, and expect the wins to follow as Dibble continues posting outstanding statistics

BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Does the best team always win the championship in sports? It depends. In single-elimination formats like the NCAA Basketball Tournament or NFL Playoffs, it can be argued that some champions are not necessarily the best team. However, in multi-game series like NHL, MLB or NBA playoffs the best team is often crowned the champion because it’s more difficult to pull an “upset” throughout the course of a series.

So does that mean the triple-elimination LEG tournaments always crown the best team? Every tournament until now has seemed end with the best team standing at the end. But the 2020 Postseason Tournament might be the first time in history where the best team didn’t win. In fact, the best team wasn’t even close to taking home the title.

Below are the teams and I’ll let you guess who I’m referring to. By the way, if you’re as confused about what the hell “An Alf Is Sure” means, you aren’t alone. Say it fast. If you still don’t get it (I didn’t), here you go – “Anal Fissure”.

Team Name	Captain	Drafted Partner
“Bags of Glory”	Meyer	KP
“We Just Came in Our Pants”	Barker	Nick
“B1G Men”	Dan	Galz
“An Alf Is Sure”	Steve-O	JV
“Big Dick Eldricks”	Jack	Justin
“Pull & Tug Brothers”	Paul	Bushie
“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Beyotch”	Bob	Turley

“Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Beyotch”

Bob and Turley win the award for most creative costume, and for most time and effort put into their costume. The portrayal of Rick and Morty was spot on, down to the details of Turley making his bald head look like Morty’s brown hair.

Unfortunately for “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Beyotch,” their costumes were the best part of their day. They won their first round robin match of the day against “Pull & Tug Brothers,” 21 – 20, thanks to a walk-off 4-bagger from Bob! But they lost their next three round robin matches and continued to tumble in bracket play by losing three more straight games to fall into the Toilet Bowl.

In the Toilet Bowl, “Rikki-Tikki” lost their semifinal match, finishing their day with a 1 – 7 record and seven straight losses. A brutally underwhelming performance after a promising start to the day.

“Anal Fissure”

Steve-O is fresh off a 2020 Preseason Kick-Off title as Nick’s partner, and make no mistake about it, he was a major reason for their championship run. When he fell to the #5 pick and was still able to snag two-time champion JV as his partner, most assumed this would be a team to show up deep into the tournament.

Whatever magic these two drummed up in prior championship runs, they couldn’t replicate it as partners in this tournament. On the surface, their round robin was respectable with a 2 – 2 record. But a deeper dive into the box scores of their losses signaled danger ahead. They couldn’t keep pace with “B1G Men” or “We Just Came in Our Pants,” losing 21 – 3 and 21 – 7. Both of those teams appeared to be contenders and “Anal Fissure” got smoked.

In bracket play, they battled with “Pull & Tug Brothers” before losing a nail-biter, 21 – 17. Their reward was a loser’s bracket match with “We Just Came in Our Pants,” who handled them again with ease, 21 – 6.

On the brink of elimination in the double loser’s bracket, JV and Steve-O kept hopes alive with a 21 – 9 victory over “Rikki-Tikki”. That victory was the first of five total needed to get back to the championship match. “Bag of Glory” ended all hope for “Anal Fissure” in the next double loser’s bracket match, escaping with a 21 – 12 win that was much closer than the scoreboard would indicate.

The loss to “Bags of Glory” meant a trip to the Toilet Bowl for “Anal Fissure” – unfortunately all they found there was bloody stool from their own hemorrhaging fissures. Sure they advanced to the Toilet Bowl Championship by beating “Rikki-Tikki” again. However, it was a narrow escape this time, 21 – 19, after they had previously beaten them 21 – 7 in round robin and 21 – 9 in the tournament.

“Big Dick Eldricks” pounded the fissures like a Perkins waitress in the Toilet Bowl title match, 21 – 14.

“Bags of Glory”

Meyer earned the #1 pick in the Draft Lottery and selected KP because he bought the pre-draft hype around KP’s lofty #2 Power Rank and Singles Tournament championship earlier in the season, beating #1 ranked Nick twice in a row to claim that title.

Meyer clearly didn’t notice the “Buyer Beware” sticker attached to KP, warning potential drafters that he wasn’t ready to handle the target on his back from winning the Singles Tournament.

Any time someone is drafting #1 overall, one expects to receive a difference-maker. Meyer was fully relying on having a horse to carry him during battles with other premier players. He didn’t get that on this day because KP couldn’t hold his own against the likes of Nick, Galz, Barker, Justin, Dan, etc.

During the post-tournament press conference, KP was grilled by LEG media for his lackluster performance. “I couldn’t get comfortable with these flames dangling from the arms of my ice skating leotard. The flames kept brushing against my hand and the bag during my backswing and follow through, and it became a mental hurdle for me. One I clearly couldn’t overcome,” he said.

Ah, there it is! Refusing to take blame himself or to credit his opponents! Hey dipshit, that’s a faux ice skating leotard on a faux Chazz Michael Michaels, and you’re a faux cornhole player. Excuses are like assholes, and you are one.

For most of the day Meyer did his job, which was to hang with his opponent. KP didn’t come close to delivering his job, which was to be the best player in the league, a difference-maker that could conquer the best player on the other team.

Hence, it was no surprise when “Bags of Glory” had a mediocre 2 – 2 round robin session, followed by two straight blowout losses to start the tournament. They did salvage a few victories in the double loser’s bracket, before being eliminated and sent to the Toilet Bowl, where they were crushed by “Big Dick Eldricks” in the semifinals.

“Big Dick Eldricks” (“BDE”)

Coming into the tournament, Jack and Justin looked like a solid, middle of the pack squad. Justin hadn’t played at all this season and Jack had only played 13 total games during the regular season (though he did play in the Preseason Kick-Off and Midseason Singles Tournaments). It was hard to imagine two players with so few reps making much noise in a tournament.

However, they defied the odds and proved the old saying “stats are for losers” to be correct. Their round robin segment was just “okay,” finishing 2-2 with two blowout wins, but also two blowout losses. After starting 0-2 with losses to “Anal Fissure” (21 – 11) and “Bags of Glory” (21 – 6), they rebounded to beat “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi Beyotch” (21 – 1) and “Pull & Tug Brothers” (21-11).

“BDE” was the #7 seed and in the first round of the tournament they drew #2 seed “We Just Came in Our Pants,” who was arguably the pre-tournament favorite. Justin faced Nick head-to-head, while Jack battled Barker at the other end of the boards. “Big Dick Eldricks” dominated Nick and Barker worse than a mandingo in a BlacksOnBlondes.com video. The underdogs raced out to a surprising 13 – 2 early lead and finished the upset with a 21 – 7 victory.

Sending the favorites to the loser’s bracket made every other team take notice, but “BDE” then had to refocus for their next match where they faced “Pull & Tug Brothers”. Maybe it was a natural letdown, or maybe “Pull & Tug Brothers” were playing at a high level – either way, “BDE” squandered a golden opportunity to advance in the winner’s bracket by losing a thrilling match, 21 – 20, to “Pull & Tug Brothers”.

“BDE” picked up a loser’s bracket victory over Rikki-Tikki, earning them another match against “We Just Came in Our Pants”. Was their first round upset a fluke? We were about to find out.

Jack and Justin once again jumped out to a huge lead, 17 – 8. The audience watched in awe, shocked by how easily Jack and Justin were handling a powerhouse team for the second straight game.

This time, however, “We Just Came in Our Pants” showed the championship mettle most expected. Rather than accepting the pounding, they battled back to make this a close match. “BDE” was up 19 – 18 and Justin had a chance to close the match late. He and Nick each had one bag remaining and were tied in the round with four points apiece. A cornhole from Justin would mean anything except a cornhole from Nick on his final bag would clinch the game.

Justin tossed his final bag, it was in the heart of the board but landed just on the front and fell backward to the ground! Inches separated Justin’s bag from being perfect and being a dud.

With the pressure off, Nick delivered the perfect bag and drained a cornhole to win the round 7 – 4, and the game, 21 – 19. “BDE” had their foot on the neck of a giant and stepped off. Credit “We Just Came in Our Pants” for a courageous comeback, but the sting of the loss was crippling to “BDE”.

The immediately lost their elimination match against “Bags of Glory,” 21 – 18 and dropped to the Toilet Bowl.

After a break in action, several beers and positive reflection on how well they played despite being eliminated, “BDE” rebounded and coasted to a Toilet Bowl Championship. They certainly would have preferred a Postseason Tournament title, but they enjoyed the hell out of the Toilet Bowl Championship and celebrated hard.

This is the team referenced in the opening of the recap. They looked every bit like the best team in the field, and had they finished the job in the second match against “We Just Came in Our Pants” they would have had a great chance to advance to the championship match.

Nonetheless, Jack and Justin had a great run and proved they were not a fluke.

“B1G Men”

Galz is always a dangerous player in tournaments, with one title under his belt, two runner-up finishes in Singles Tournaments, and several other deep runs. However, the last time we saw Dan he looked like a guy who doesn’t play often, but had a high ceiling of potential – he was inconsistent with accuracy, but threw a beautiful flat bag. With enough reps, he’d evolve into a very good player. Thing is, Dan lives near Howell so making it to Thursday night regular season matches is near impossible. So, where would he get the practice reps?

Evidently those practice reps come from his cottage, where he spends every weekend in the summer. Suddenly Dan was a consistent beast! He didn’t resemble the “old” Dan we were accustomed to seeing in past tournaments.

The new and improved Dan combined with Galz created a very competitive team. They went 3 – 1 in round robin play with blowout wins over “Bags of Glory” (21 – 2), “Anal Fissure” (21 – 3), and Rikki-Tikki (21 – 3). Their lone loss was to “We Just Came in Our Pants” and it was a nip-and-tuck match the entire way, with Barker coming through in the clutch to give his team a 21 – 19 win.

“B1G Men” marched all the way to the tournament semifinals before losing 21 – 14 to “Pull & Tug Brothers”. One might view the loss as an upset, but it was the second time “Pull & Tug Brothers” handed them a loss and both weren’t very close games – the other was a 21 – 11 victory for “Pull & Tug Brothers”.

Add another deep run to Galz’s resume. But, this one felt disappointing because they were on the cusp of landing in the title match. Dan was devastated by coming up short. He has yet to get a taste of a championship match, and this run was the deepest of his career. Don’t worry, Dan, you’ll have many more opportunities based on the way you’re playing.

CHAMPIONSHIP OR BUST

Only two teams remained – “Pull & Tug Brothers” and “We Just Came in Our Pants”. One team was the pre-tournament favorite, while the other featured a dysfunctional pairing of players who often get under one another’s skin. It’s the equivalent of pairing Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau as teammates. Paul and Bushie are so not on the same page that they were the *ONLY* team who did not coordinate their costumes. Paul hilariously pulled off Ace Ventura, while Bushie came dressed as a yeast infection. Wait, no it was a bread box. Shit, that’s not right either…it was a bread baker named Bushbaker.

Anyway, how this team wound up in the championship match is beyond me. They had no team chemistry, often arguing early in the tournament about how much they were going to drink, were they allowed to smoke, etc. They were 0 – 4 in round robin and looked like the worst team in the tournament.

Their fortunes turned with a 21 – 17 first round victory over “Anal Fissure,” followed by a 21 – 20 win over “Big Dick Eldricks” and a 21 – 11 win over “B1G Men”. Who was this team, and what did they do with Paul and Bushie?

Two straight losses to “We Just Came in Our Pants” put them on the brink of elimination, but the found a way to beat “B1G Men” in the semifinals and advanced to the championship.

On the other hand, “We Just Came in Our Pants” went untested besides their two games with “Big Dick Eldricks”. They rolled to a 4 – 0 round robin record and dominated every other opponent in their trek through the loser’s bracket:

• 21 – 6 over “Anal Fissure”
• 21 – 6 over “Bags of Glory”
• 21 – 19 escape over “BDE”
• 21 – 12 over “B1G Men”
• 21 – 9 over “Pull & Tug Brothers”
• 21 – 16 over “Pull & Tug Brothers” to earn their spot in the championship

This team was so stacked that anything less than a championship would be a monumental disappointment, particularly considering they had just beating their title match opponent twice in a row, and they only had one loss compared to “Pull & Tug Brothers” having two losses – in other words, “Pull & Tug Brothers” had to win two straight against “We Just Came in Our Pants,” while “We Just Came in Our Pants” only needed one victory to claim the title.

The spectators were heavily in “Pull & Tug Brothers’” corner, cheering everything good for Paul and Bushie and everything bad for Nick and Winkler.

Even a hostile environment was not enough to shake “We Just Came in Our Pants”. They easily beat “Pull & Tug Brothers” in the first game, 21 – 12, ending any hopes of an upset.

Nick and Barker earned another LEG championship, the fourth of Nick’s career, and second of the 2020 season, and third of Barker’s career.

Adding salt to KP’s wounds, Nick and Barker were so impressive in their championship run that KP’s wife became a “We Just Came in Our Pants” groupie. Ouch.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

The 2020 Postseason All-Tournament Team consisted of the top four players based on votes cast among all players. Paul was voted to his first all-tournament team after carrying, while Barker and Nick both earned all-tournament honors for the third time in their careers. Bushie took home his first tournament MVP honor after leading “Pull & Tug Brothers” to a championship appearance. It was the second time in his career he’s earned all-tournament honors.

BEVERLY HILLS, MICHIGAN – Ordinarily, the Draft Lottery is held the day of a tournament, moments before the tournament begins. The process has always been this way because it creates suspense, uncertainty, and doesn’t allow partners much time to develop a strategy and team chemistry.

For the first time ever, teams were drafted in advance of the 2020 Postseason Tournament. The tournament theme is “Halloween” and we wanted to give partners the opportunity to coordinate their costumes ahead of time.

So, this tournament preview will be a bit different than normal because we can analyze known teams and their chances of claiming The Cup, rather than speculating about individual players heading into a tournament.

DRAFT LOTTERY

Monday night 14 players gathered on Zoom for the much-anticipated Draft Lottery. Six players were given the best odds at the #1 overall pick with seven lottery balls each – Jack and Bob, who were the last two players in the Power Rankings, along with four unranked players who haven’t appeared in a 2020 regular season match (Steve-O, Justin, Matt, and Dan).

The complete Draft Lottery odds are summarized in the table below.

Player	Power Ranking	Lottery Balls	Odds for #1 Pick
Steve-O	Not Ranked	7	11%
Justin	Not Ranked	7	11%
Matt	Not Ranked	7	11%
Dan	Not Ranked	7	11%
Bob	15	7	11%
Jack	14	7	11%
Paul	11	4	7%
Bushie	10	4	7%
Turley	8	3	5%
JV	7	3	5%
Barker	6	2	3%
Galz	4	1	2%
KP	2	1	2%
Nick	1	1	2%

As you can see, the players ranked higher in the Power Rankings had the worst odds for the #1 pick, which means the lottery is designed to significantly reduce the odds of a team being stacked with two highly ranked players.

The lottery wheel started spinning and out dropped the first ball…Matt!

The lottery wheel continued to spin and a second ball dropped, revealed Barker as the #2 pick! Two picks in and the Draft Lottery is already chaotic. Barker had just a 3% chance at the #1 pick, and after Matt earned that honor, Barker had only a 3.7% chance (2 out of 54 balls) at receiving the #2 pick!

The #3 and #4 picks stayed true to the odds with Bob and Jack earning those picks, respectively. Bob was ecstatic to receive the #3 pick because he knew he’d more than likely partner with one of Nick, Galz, or KP.

At #5 things got wild again. The lottery wheel selected JV’s ball despite only a 7.8% chance to earn that pick, compared to Steve-O, Justin, and Dan having an 18.4% chance at the #5 pick.

Paul received the #6 pick, which again went against the odds, meaning at least two of Steve-O, Justin, and Dan would not receive the #7 and final pick.

A few more rotations of the wheel and the final ball dropped. The #7 pick of the 2020 Postseason Tournament goes to Galz! He had just a 2.9% chance of getting that pick.

Meanwhile, Bob’s disappointment was visible on the Zoom call. Even with the #3 pick, he was now likely to miss out on a partnership with all three of the top ranked players.

The results of the draft are listed below.

Pick	Player	Partner Picked
1	Matt	KP
2	Barker	Nick
3	Bob	Turley
4	Jack	Justin
5	JV	Steve-O
6	Paul	Bushie
7	Galz	Dan

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

When scrolling through the teams it doesn’t take long to identify the favorites. Barker and Nick, the #6 and #1 players in the Power Rankings, respectively, jump off the page.

These two players combine for five LEG titles – two doubles tournament championships each and Nick adds a Singles Tournament. Without a doubt, Nick and Barker are the favorites to win The Cup, adding a third doubles tournament championship to their resumes.

Where this gets interesting is if these two can withstand the enormous target on their backs. Barker has been talking shit for weeks, including 48 straight hours of chirping in KP’s ear, boasting about how he’s the better player.

Nick doubled-down this week when KP had The Cup engraved for the 2020 Preseason Kick-Off title won by Nick and Steve-O. Knowing The Cup was getting engraved, he texted KP, “Might as well just put “XYZ” on there too 😉” (“XYZ” is a placeholder for Nick and Barker’s team name, which I won’t reveal in advance of the tournament).

Clearly Nick and Barker believe they are the favorites, and they are confident they’ll win the title Saturday. Question is, can their skills cash the check their mouths have written?

DARK HORSES

The remaining six teams are all balanced, at least on paper, and each of them has a legit shot to make a run at a title.

That being said, a few teams that I expect to make noise are Galz and Dan, as well as JV and Steve-O.

Dan was the last player to be selected in the draft, awkwardly waiting like the last kid picked for dodgeball in P.E. class. The difference is the kid in P.E. class is a known commodity and team captains purposefully avoid picking him. Dan, on the other hand, is an unknown to several guys in this league because he has only played in tournaments. So, guys like Bob and Jack don’t know Dan’s skills, and JV and Paul were always too smashed to remember how Dan plays.

Galz should feel good about the partner he received. Dan is ultra-competitive and athletic (point of clarification: he is not ultra-athletic), though he can’t make free throws to save his life. When you mix that with Galz’s tournament experience and past success, this team should vie for a title.

JV has two LEG championships under his belt, while Steve-O won his first in the 2020 Preseason Kick-off. Steve-O also made a run to the semifinals in the 2020 Singles Tournament, including handing Nick and KP upset losses along the way. He’s played exceptionally in 2020 and there’s no reason to think Saturday will be any different.

Meanwhile, JV has put up good numbers during the 2020 regular season, but he has also struggled for most of the year. Something has been off, despite his solid numbers. Last night while playing the week 16 schedule, it became clear what was missing – his killer instinct. JV thrives with the pressure on, and would rather throw bags with everything on the line. JV struggles to focus if there isn’t pressure.

Well, last night that killer instinct returned. The switch came back on and he looked like the player who won two titles in 2018 and finished runner-up in the 2019 Postseason Tournament, almost bringing his team back to win three straight games in the finals.

Steve-O and JV should have excellent chemistry, and both seems to be on an upward trend going into the tournament.

THE REST OF THE PACK

Let’s go rapid fire and touch on each of the remaining teams.

Matt & KP – this duo should also have an excellent shot. Matt was a mid-tournament substitute as Galz’s partner in the 2019 Preseason Kick-off and he won that championship with Galz. The downfall is that Matt has not played since then, and we don’t know what kind of rust might be on his game. Nonetheless, this 2020 Postseason Tournament will technically be a title defense for him and KP isn’t a bad running mate to have.

Bob & Turley – I LOVE TURLEY! I’m talking about his cornhole abilities, but I also love him. Who doesn’t? Turley is in the running for Most Improved Player, and he has the skills to lead a team on a deep tournament run. The question will be, is this the year he does it? Bob is also playing in his first LEG tournament, and that can be quite overwhelming. If Bob can fight through the nerves and slippery slope of a blackout (hey, we’ve all been there at one of these tournaments), I think these guys can make some noise.

Jack & Justin – Jack played well in the 2020 Preseason Kick-off, and has shown flashes of being a player capable of a 10.0+ KPM. Justin, on the other hand, has been a 10.0+ KPM player in 2019 (11.2 KPM) and 2018 (10.3 KPM). The success of these guys boils down to reps. Jack has only played 13 games this season (plus the Preseason Kick-off Tournament), while Justin hasn’t played in more than 12 months. If the lack of reps doesn’t hamper them, they have the talent to survive deep into the tournament.

Paul & Bushie – Oil and water. These guys aren’t the perfect mix. In fact, they bicker and rag on each other almost every Thursday. Even when Paul picked Bushie on Monday night, Bushie was trying to urge Paul to pick Dan instead. As Paul pondered his #6 pick he said, “What do you think, Bushie?” and before he could formalize his pick Bushie interjected, “Pick Dan!”

Chemistry could be an issue here. Exceeding their PAL (premium alcohol level) could also be an issue here. All that said, both guys are playing well right now. Bushie revamped his throw to a more consistent flat bag, while Paul has more confidence than he’s ever had and isn’t intimidated by anyone. This could be a great success, or it could be a goddam train wreck. Saturday will be fun to watch with this team.

PREDICTION

The easiest thing to predict would be a Nick and Barker championship. But I’m not going to do that. Why? Because I don’t believe it will happen. Draft Lottery chaos paired them together against the odds, and I think tournament chaos will keep them from becoming champions.

I really like Galz and Dan in this tournament. Galz has one title and has regularly made deep runs in other tournaments. Dan is also capable of elevating his game to be the Robin to Galz’s Batman. Don’t sleep on this team. My prediction is they drink from The Cup Saturday afternoon.

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.

CLAWSON, MICHIGAN – I’ve given Coach Mike an unusual amount of shit this year. He bore the brunt of my jokes in the week 2 recap, including tagging him with the nickname “Aunt Millie Mike” when he became king of the bun runs. Coach would be the first to tell you he deserved all the ribbing, so I won’t apologize for it…plus, it was funny as hell. So funny that I’m linking that recap again.

https://legcornhole.com/2020-week-2-recap/

The truth is, Coach has struggled this year. Prior to this week he had a season average of 10.0 KPM, 56% accuracy, scored 3.4 gross points per round, and averaged 0.56 cornholes per round. All solid numbers on paper, yet something wasn’t clicking with Coach. His energy is typically the roaring fire that fuels him, and this year it was flickering, at best.

After week 6, Coach took a break from LEG. Week 7 came and went…no Coach Mike. And the same happened in week 8, and week 9. And again in week 10. He stepped away for a month and drifted off into oblivion, often avoiding responding to text messages.

The reasons for his leave of absence are only known to him, and they should stay that way. But one thing became clear – he needed that break.

How do I know? He returned this week with a renewed spirit. His energy was up, and he revealed a new, saucy, pancake throwing style (how many players are going to change their mechanics this year?!?!).

Before the games began, Dibble was touting the work Coach put in over the prior weeks, practicing this new style toss. And then in Game 1, we all witnessed the fruit of his labor. Coach led off the top of the first inning for his squad – his first throw of the night, BANG! Cornhole!

That was much needed validation for Coach. The pancake toss is officially in his tool belt.

RIP ta da back-handed taint tickler.

Actually, the back-handed taint tickler should stay in the arsenal, and Coach knows it. His pancake toss has a nice cut (left to right movement) on it, whereas his back-handed taint tickler draws (right to left movement) and can trickle over blockers.

Coach Mike has the looks of becoming the most versatile player in the league if he keeps sharpening both styles.

Coach has a lot of paybacks to give, and his revenge tour kicked off this week.

He played five games and won them all. His KPM reached 11.0. He shot 61% and averaged 0.60 cornholes per round and 3.6 gross points per round. Everyone he played, he blew out – one of his four wins was a 21-18 affair, but the next closest was 21-13.

In Game 1, he and Erik were en fuego, racing out to a 9-0 early lead and looked so dominant that JV hollered to his partner, Bob, and asked, “Hey Bob, what kind of underwear do you have on?”.

Coach and Erik couldn’t complete the bun run, but they did win in dominating fashion, 21-6. Coach led all scorers with 22 points and five cornholes while also clinching the game with a 3-2 advantage over Bob in the sixth inning.

PAYBACKS ARE A BITCH

Coach and Erik were a lethal partnership, as they demonstrated with a 21-6 whipping to open the night. They partnered again in Game 6 against Dibble and Bob, and once again pounced on their opponent from the jump.

The first inning was about feeling out the opponent, and they still collected two points in the process to take an early 2-0 lead.

Then in the second inning shit got real. Erik drained three cornholes and was fractions from earning his first four-bagger of the season. His 10-point round was a thing of beauty. He outscored Dibble 10-0 and gave his team a 12-0 lead, and even though his team needed nine more points to win the game, the 10-point round was the death knell for his opponent.

Coach Mike chipped in one more point in the bottom of the second inning to make it 13-0, and turned the bags back over to Erik to keep the bun run alive.

Dibble was rattled, you could see he was feeling the bun run pressure. Erik fired first in the top of the third inning and made cornhole. Dibble’s first bag missed long off the board.

Erik’s second bag settled on the board to give him an early 4-0 lead, then Dibble missed again. Pressure mounting.

Erik missed his third bag, and turned away in disgust, as he desperately wanted to bury Dibble’s scoring hopes. Dibble responded with a critical cornhole to make it 4-3 (advantage Erik) with one bag remaining.

Erik missed again with his fourth bag, which set the stage for Dibble to either wash the round with one point, or erase his team’s bagel on the scoreboard with a cornhole. He tossed his final bag and it fell short of the board, as if he threw a 20 pound bag.

14-0.

And then ol’ Aunt Millie Mike stepped to the plate, ready to stuff buns with hot Italian sausage.

First pancake bag, CORNHOLE!

Second pancake bag, CORNHOLE!

Third pancake bag, on the board for seven points in the bottom of the third inning.

Meanwhile, Bob missed each of his first three throws, which secured the 21-0 win. On Coach’s last bag, he got aggressive and aimed for a cornhole to pad his stats. He missed, but it didn’t matter.

Coach and Erik deep-dicked Dibble and Bob in just three innings, with Erik outscoring Dibble 19-8 (5-2 in cornholes) and Coach topping Bob 17-7 (4-2 in cornholes).

It was Dibble and Bob’s first career bun run, and how fitting that it was at the hands of the Bun Run King.

25.6

Huh? Let me explain – in KP’s first game of the night (Game 2) he partnered with JV to battle Dibble and Galz. JV and KP pulled out a thrilling, 21-20 win that was a finalist for Game of the Night.

But the real story here was KP. He scored 79 points, averaged 7.9 gross points per round, and shot a ludicrous 92.5%, scoring 37/40 throws, including 21 cornholes. He added two 12-point rounds to his resume, just in this game, including a 12-7 dagger over Dibble in the 10^th inning to win the game.

At the end of the game his KPM was 25.6, which is easily a LEG record. Erik was scorekeeper and later confirmed that KP’s KPM during the middle of the game had reached 36!

KP finished the night at 19.6, also a new record for a single night KPM. He was 4-2 overall, shooting 76%, averaging 6.1 gross points per round, and dropped four 12-point rounds and one 10-point round for the night.

GAME OF THE NIGHT

Game 5 pitted Nick and JV against Galz and Paul. This was a game of runs – Nick and JV raced out to a 5-0 lead, only to see Galz and Paul go on an 11-0 run to take an 11-5 lead.

In the bottom of the third inning, JV stopped the bleeding with a 7-2 win over Paul, which pulled his team within 11-10. More importantly, his five points sparked an incredible 14-0 run, led by a monster seven point fourth inning by Nick (beat Galz 9-2).

It was 19-11, and Nick and JV appeared to be in complete control.

Galz found a way to eke out three points against Nick in the sixth inning – 19-14.

Paul’s been here too many times, especially against his nemesis, JV. He relished the opportunity to spoil a JV celebration. In the bottom of the sixth Paul drained two cornholes en route to a 7-2 win, which tied the game at 19-19. Paul’s final toss could have won the game had he knocked in another cornhole. Instead, he landed on the board to even the game.

Galz and Nick washed their half of the seventh inning, combining to go 8/8 and each scoring a cornhole.

The bags flipped back to Paul and JV. Could Paul spoil the celebration again, for the second consecutive inning?

First bag:

Paul – on the board for one point

JV – answered with one on the board

Second bag:

Paul – runs his bag up the middle of the board and into the hole for three!

JV – places another bag on the board

Third bag:

Paul – missed as his bag hit the front left of the board and continued off. That was an enormous missed opportunity for Paul, as he could’ve applied a lot of pressure with a scoring bag.

JV – his third toss landed in the middle of the board and took a big hop forward into the hole for three! He needed that shot, and gave himself a 5-4 advantage.

Fourth bag:

Paul – he played aggressively, trying to score three points, but settled for one on the board instead. That allowed him to draw even for the inning, 5-5. But, JV had one final bag.

JV – the guy performs bar tricks by counting the number of letters in a sentence within seconds of hearing a sentence. Do you really think he doesn’t know the situation and score? Of course he knew a cornhole would win the game, and against Paul? Ohhhhh daddy! Get your popcorn, folks.

He launched a rainbow that carried the other four bags on the board. His bag hit in the center of the board and curled into the hole for a game-winning cornhole!

JV was fired up, and celebrated a little harder knowing it would devastate Paul. A great game, and a great finish!

Galz led all scorers with 35 points and six cornholes, while Nick trailed just behind with 33 points and eight cornholes. JV scored 32 points and six cornholes, none bigger than the game-winner. Paul scored 27 points and five cornholes.

MUSHROOM STAMP MOMENT

This week’s Mushroom Stamp Moment was a game-clincher. In Game 7 Bob and KP were partners and quickly fell behind their opponent, JV and Paul, 7-0 after the first inning. KP and Bob rebounded with a 19-4 run to take a commanding 19-11 lead.

But then the tide started turning again when JV and Paul closed the gap to 19-15 in the fifth inning.

In the top of the sixth inning, the match-up of Bob vs. Paul was critical because Paul has big-inning potential and could easily score the six points his team needed to pull a stunning comeback.

The two players exchanged misses and cornholes on their first two bags. Each player landed their third bag on the board, making the score 4-4 with one more toss remaining. Paul had an opportunity to cut his team’s deficit to 19-18 with a cornhole, and he threw first – off the board!

KP celebrated, knowing his partner couldn’t lose the inning.

As Bob prepared for his final bag, the tension of the moment didn’t seem to bother him. Maybe he’s too green to know any better? He launched, and immediately liked what he saw. The bag was tracking in the air, but was also carrying like it was launched out of a cannon. It carried, and carried, and then sailed through the hole for an airmail!

Bob with an airmail to cap a 7-4 round win and win the game, 21-15! He gets this week’s MSM, which isn’t easy given the array of incredible shots many players made this week.

Bob outscored Paul 29-19 and 6-3 in cornholes. He was the second leading scorer in the game, behind JV (30 points), and outscored his partner, KP (27 points).

NEWS AND NOTES

• JV posted a 14.1 KPM and 3-3 record while shooting 66% and draining 0.95 cornholes per round. His game-winner in the Game of the Night was incredible, but he also added two straight airmails during a nine point round in Game 9. He doesn’t flip the switch for every game on Thursday nights, but when he does turn it on, it’s must-see TV.
• Bob got better this week, building on his LEG debut in week 10. He had a 7.9 KPM and shot 43%. Though he was 1-4 overall, the one win was a special one for him because of his game-winning airmail that earned him the MSM.
• Dibble had an off-night, yet his numbers are still ridiculous. His KPM still ended up at 18.7, accuracy at 78%, and made 1.38 cornholes per round. Despite his off-night, he did enough to earn the #1 spot back in the Power Rankings. He also earns this week’s MVP for the spread he provided all of us. His smoked pig shots and armadillo eggs were fantastic! So was the sausage and mac and cheese. Dibble set the bar high as a host this week.
• Nick was excellent once again – 16.8 KPM, 74% shooting, and 3-3 record. He scored a 12-point round and three 10-point rounds. Somehow, he lost his one-week hold on the #1 spot in the Power Rankings despite those numbers. Regardless of Power Rankings, Nick is a handful and extremely difficult to beat.
• Erik jumped from #11 to #9 in the Power Rankings thanks to a 3-3 record and 11.5 KPM. He continues to prove how good he is, steadily producing ~11 KPM week after week.
• Paul had a solid night, posting a 10.5 KPM and delivered in the clutch several times. Unfortunately he was just 2-4 overall and dropped from #10 to #11 in the Power Rankings. He did add one foot snag against Galz, which was perfect timing because Galz had just popped a fresh Two-Hearted.
• Speaking of Galz, he solidified his #4 spot in the Power Rankings with his 16.1 KPM. He shot 72% and dropped 1.12 cornholes per round. His 3-4 record is not impressive, but two of his losses were heart-breakers – 21-20 and 21-19.