St. Louis National Recap

In my last post I mentioned a few things that I experienced while attending the National event in St. Louis. Something that stood out while I watched the end of the Advanced Singles tournament, was simply how tired everyone was. With the walking from hotel to the event location, playing games and watching others play after a while we just wear down. Similar to a Signature event with TCL, playing multiple events over a couple of days takes it's toll and you simply can't avoid the "fatigue factor".  It's a grind and speaking of grind, aren't those the first five letters in the name Grinderslev?

Watching Eddie Grinderslev finish 3rd overall in the Advanced Singles Division was tiring in itself for me, I can imagine that he was worn out as well. Eddie won his Bracket playing several games. I tried to count looking at his bracket but I wasn't sure if he played 10 or 11 games before advancing to the final 4. Along the way he beat some very heavy hitters including fellow Texan Josh Groce. Eddie also disposed of 2018 ACL Player of the Year Cody Henderson, Robert Guthary, Isidro Herrera, Ashton Speas and Leston Allen. Grinderslev then lost to one of the young hot shots Trey Burchfield who eventually lost to Ryan Windsor in the finals.

Many of the Texas players hung around and watched Eddie and lend support to him which seemed to energize him, especially in critical moments. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend seeing players from different areas of Texas come together to support one of our own. It was special.

Since I've been a part of TCL, Eddie has always been one of the top players but the roll that he is on right now sure makes him look a little harder to beat. He is throwing the Player Advantage Reynolds bags and throwing the mess out of them! At the time of this post he not only is the number 1 player in Texas Cornhole League, he is also the number 1 ranked player in ACL. That's pretty impressive folks!

Additional results of players from Texas include Josh Groce and A J Sims both with 9th place finishes in their brackets. Eric Weathers with his team of Josh Groce, Eddie Grinderslev and Brandon Gregor finished 7th in their crew cup bracket. In Womens Doubles, Christina Espinosa and Betty Seymour grabbed a 5th place finish in their bracket. In Senior Doubles Steve Wendling and Johnny Seymour finished 4th losing twice to the eventual champs. Eddie drew Ryan Windsor in the Advanced Blind Draw and defeated James Baldwin and Noah Wooten in the finals. In that same event, Stuart Foster teamed up with Lester Price to finish 3rd in their bracket. Eric Weathers and Sebastion Schafferford came in 5th in their bracket and A J Sims and Phillip Hayden came in 9th. Christina and Colby Usry also finished 9th in their bracket. In Pro Doubles, Josh and Eric ended up 2nd in their bracket while Eddie and BG finished 4th in theirs. In Advanced Doubles, Eddie and BG came in 3rd in their bracket, Josh and Eric 4th, Nik Gemmiti and AJ 5th and Daniel Vinson and Stuart finished 7th in their bracket. Competitive Singles had Mark Rubio finishing 5th and Eli Gonzales coming in 9th in their brackets. In the 2nd Chance Blind Draw, Foster grabbed the win with Louis Dugas while Christina finished 5th with Anne Vogel.

With so many great players at these type of tournaments, finishes like these are quite remarkable. Needless to say Texas is catching up with the rest of the country and before long you will be seeing some of these players on the big screen! Congratulations everyone, way to grind!

Until next time, throw em straight y'all!

Things I learned in St. Louis

There is a saying..."I never lose. I either win or I learn". Not that I don't mind learning, but I really like winning! This past weekend in St. Louis, I was pretty realistic with my chances of winning which allowed many learning opportunities. Here are a few things I learned.

The nations top players are really good. If you play them and throw 10's, you will lose...slowly. They just seem to put the bag in the hole more often than not.

There are a lot of young players in this sport. I know a large majority of players are younger than me so I may need to explain myself! When I say young, I mean in their 20's...and they all can play...very well! I must mention that the team that won the Pro Doubles just happen to be in their 50's...touche!

The arch in St. Louis is really tall. Busch Stadium is impressive, even when closed. Many of the buildings we saw have a lot of cool architectural design and character... that's a mouth full. Speaking of mouth full, Sauce on the Side serves up some really tasty Calzones. The barbque that we ate was good. Not Texas good, but good. Having a Starbucks less than 100 yards from the venue is awesome, if you like coffee. Some Uber drivers are informative, some are not. Medi, from Frankfurt, may very well be my all time favorite waitress.

I like how Texas Cornhole League separates players by tier ranking. Seeing players throw 12's and 10's on a regular basis is what I expect in the Advanced Division...not the Social Division.

Eddie Grinderslev isn't human. Neither is Ryan Windsor, or any other players at their level. These guys threw so many bags in the hole I nearly fell asleep watching some of their games. Not really but when you see so many bags fall in the hole over and over, it kinda gets a little boring.

Playing cornhole against different players from all over the country is fun. Most of the players I played against were pleasant and the top players that I spoke with were cool. Most were willing to chat and if you didn't already know, Jay Dotson is a hoot.

Not the best idea to watch a 2 hour movie on a 1 hour 20 minute flight. Thanks Todd Bridgeman for the movie suggestion. I. Can't. Get. That. Song. Out. Of. My. Head!!

I learned that TCL has some really fast boards compared to boards we played on in St. Louis. Now I know why we see a lot of the players throwing slick side.

I consider St. Louis a learning experience and I'm not sure what type of grade I earned but I do feel that I did not fail.

Till next time, throw 'em straight y'all!