Why Cornhole is a Rocketship
It seems like people are finally figuring out what a lot of us have known for a long ass time…..that Cornhole is the greatest game in the world!
From Rock Hill to Beverly Hills more and more common folks are out their throwing 1lb bags at a hole and now we’ve even got some star power with Shemar Moore and his SWAT Cornhole crew lapping up the action. I’ll be damned if I didn’t turn on my television the other day to see Throwbot himself on The Talk mixing it up with the Hollywood elite.
If you told me 10 years ago that I would be obsessed with Cornhole and have my own podcast dedicated exclusively to the game I would have laughed you out of the room. I was a golfer back then and loved nothing more than hitting the links. Now? When I think of Golf I think of all the Cornhole time that will eat up. What a waste of an afternoon.
So how did we all get here? How did we go from casually playing in the backyard to letting this game control our vacation and social calendars? This is how I see it.
The Barrier to Entry is Low
All you really need to play cornhole is 4 bags and some boards. The best part? Boards last a long ass time if you take care of them and so with boards, scoring app on your phone(Scoreholio) and 4 bags you are looking at $300.
You can’t even get a new Driver at Golfer’s Warehouse for under $300 and that’s before you ever pay your greens fee.
All over the country people are spending time in the backyard tossing bags and it might be the best bang for your buck in all of sports.
Added to the low cost is the fact that literally ANYONE can play this game! I’ve lost to everyone from 10 year olds to 70 year olds!
Hell, Daymon Dennis is one of the best players in the world and my guess is his best 40 yard dash days are behind him!
The Game Feeds the Inner Beast
The thirst for competition and the urge to enter the proverbial “Ring” to test our mettle is hardwired into most of us. Many of us are washed up ex Basketball or Baseball player starving to feel that buzz of heated competition one more time and Cornhole delivers that in spades.
From the time you hit your first four bagger Cornhole sets its sharp hook deep into your soul and reminds you what it’s like to feel alive again. Like lions on the Serengeti we travel from Blind Draw to Blind Draw looking for our next fix of airmail drags and being the first to 21.
The best part about this game? You can play it at almost all levels without fear of snapping your calf muscle mid game because you are old(happened to me in hoops). That said the game still allows you to feel that same buzz you got hitting a 3 pointer in someone’s mug at the buzzer all without the trips to the emergency room.
The Family You Find
I remember going to a blind draw down in Bluffton SC a few years back and speaking with an older woman who was a regular. She told me that her and her husband regularly drive over an hour and a half to make it to blind draws. She then said, “It’s really the people we drive for. Cornhole people are just damn fine people.”
She could not have been more right.
I could list 100 people who are pretty big parts of my life due to my decision to start playing competitive cornhole. Most of my best friends are people who I first met walking up to the boards at a tournament.
I’ll be honest that while I still love the competitive aspect of the game it is really about the people and the relationships for me at this point.
What Does the Future Hold?
How big will this game grow? Honestly, I have no idea but I don’t see it suffering the same fate as Poker and fizzling out. There is simply so much more appeal to Cornhole and room for the game to grow in a million directions.
I believe in a few years we will be seeing High School Club teams on the regular and more and more gyms will be filled with the younger generations. The game lends itself so well to building communities that I can’t see if slowing down anytime soon.
Enjoy the ride! I know I am!
