Judges ruled that the violations were unintentional, resuming the cornhole competition with its $15,000 cash prize after a one-hour delay.
I might have questioned Devon Harbaugh’s complaint that rival opponents Lopez and Richards’ bags were too small, but ESPN’s cornhole color commentator agreed, “anticipating some drama.” And I would have been surprised by Lopez and Richard’s request in return to have Harbaugh’s bags inspected, because why would Harbaugh call them out if his own team was tossing unlawful sacks? But I didn’t know that 15 K was at stake in this contest, and yes, the protests carried credence: as it turned out, both parties indeed had noncompliant pouches, yet the contest now called “BagGate” continued.
I would not have known any of this cornhole shenanigan but I happened to hear a morning radio show host mention the now-infamous tournament, declaring that there is now “talk of stronger oversight in the cornhole world.” In the throes of a hectic week, with various worries circulating through my veins, the phrase made me laugh inside and smile out loud.
Even if you aren’t purposefully modifying your equipment to steal an illicit victory, you’d best examine closely that complete set you ordered on Amazon. According to the ACA (“the original, official, governing body”), the bags must be 6” x 6”, with a thickness of 1” (plus or minus 1/8th of an inch), weigh between 14.00 and 16.25 ounces, and be filled with corn or resin pellets (but presumably it’s all cornhole regardless of the pellet choice). If you get the corn-based ones, order them on the lighter side in case you play in the rain, they pick up moisture, and things get illegal.
You’ll need to make sure the boards are to spec also, as they have thorough sizing and height regulations. If you have a family member that wants to build them in-house, make sure they have proven carpentry skills. And if all is good there, make sure to keep a tape measure handy for setup, as the board distancing is also regulated, as it should be.
“Stronger oversight” will involve random bag checks as one might expect, but there’s so much more to this that requires painstaking deliberation. Although the talk of stronger oversight originally lifted my spirits, I am now quite concerned.
For starters, there are all the non-dimensional regulations—that the boards are “sanded to a very smooth texture,” and can be “painted with a semi-gloss exterior latex paint resulting in a surface…not so slippery that it allows the bags to slide back down the board.” Also, that the bags are fashioned from “durable fabric,” and the matter of the pellet type, only corn or resin, but note that if it is corn, it must be “feed corn.” These can all be judge-reviewed but there will be judgement calls. And I don’t think competitors will want any of their precious bags randomly unstitched and restitched to check the contents. Regardless of how they rein in cheating on these matters, I propose that any disqualified team is noted on the scoreboard not as “DQ’d” but rather as “Sacked.”
As a side note, one might wonder why board regulations matter so much, being that competing teams share the same boards. But I discovered “Ghost Cornhole,” a single-player game primarily for practice, which has also become multi-player competitive via video as “Virtual Cornhole.” So, a whole bunch of other ways to cheat there if you want to!
Moving on, we consider significant factors unspecified in the regulations. Whereas the thickness of the bag has only a 1/8th-inch range of tolerance, the overall size of the finished bag is to be “roughly 6×6 inches.” I would regard this as an important dimension, considering the reason why BagGate was a big deal and that the competition simply continued. There is also the matter of the pellet size itself, which I think would affect the pliability of the bag. And as to the pliability or texture of the bag, this is difficult to define but isn’t included in the regulations. It is known that competitors boil the bags, use fabric softener, soak them in vinegar, and manipulate sections of the bags’ (and boards’) slipperiness with unscented hair spray or furniture spray.
So, as it turns out, stronger oversight in the cornhole world may require more than simply appending the rules. When that is painstakingly done, cornhole must also train up a new crop of judges skilled in measuring, feeling, squeezing, sniffing, and conferring. For starters, the ACS heads (and ACO heads, if the two can work together) could meet up with the NFL heads, and learn from their experience wading through “Deflategate,” defining actions such as “roughing the passer” or “a football move,” and generally learning how to add rules and enforce them. Then, if cornhole really wants to get serious, the governing body could meet with the heads of Major League Baseball and take it to another level. Cornhole would never be the same. Ever.
Copyright © 2022 Richard Berndt – All Rights Reserved.
Leave a Reply