The next time you gather for a cold one and a friendly game of cornhole, don't assume the contest is quite so chummy.
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The Wall Street Journal reports:
Perhaps the greatest controversy in the history of the sport of cornhole unfolded in August at the 2022 American Cornhole League World Championships in Rock Hill, S.C.
At stake was a $15,000 prize in a game where players toss bags of resin beads into a small hole in slanted boards placed 27 feet apart.
With the cornhole world watching live on ESPN, officials inspected the bags of one team.
It was true—the bags weren’t regulation size. “They’re too small,” color commentator Mark Pryor exclaimed to viewers. “
Messrs. Lopez and Richards asked officials to check their opponents’ bags, too. Turns out, they weren’t compliant, either.
Cornhole is growing quickly, with big-name sponsors and serious athletes. The ACL boasts about 155,000 members, up from 125,000 in 2021. The total number of events tops 22,000, from about 14,000 last year. Top ACL players can make up to $250,000 a year from winnings, endorsements and sponsorship deals.
More and more contests are popping up across the Green Mountain State.
Since a lighter, thinner bag could provide an advantage, some players are boiling bags or washing them with vinegar to try to make them more pliable and slick. Others are bringing out the sandpaper, hammers and rubber mallets."
Our prediction: clever techies will bypass all of these cornhole bag treatments, instead inserting a microchip in the bag and inside the board so every bag finds its way home.
Our question: Is the future of competition pivoting to who cheats best rather than who is best?
Dang.
