Sports writer Bethany Sergeant writes about her riveting competition at the TU cornhole tournament.
March thirtieth, twenty-twenty-two. The day of the Springfest Country Cornhole tournament that will go down in infamy. I woke up, ready to face the world. I made sure to eat a nutritious breakfast of precisely nothing in order to prepare my body for what lay ahead. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I agree. Maybe my lack of breakfast could explain the tragic events that would occur that very evening.
I was set to compete with my roommate Grace. Grace and I have been through a lot together. We have faced many challenges and shared many joys. Little did we know, we had yet to face our darkest trial. Our team name was And They Were Roommates. We were going for something … corny … yet descriptive. You may be impressed by our cornhole-team-naming-skills, but you should know that this wasn’t the first tournament we had faced by each other’s side. We had already founded quite a reputation for ourselves by excelling in an on-campus cornhole tournament last year. We played under the name Shark Dream, and we were a force to be reckoned with. Grace and I came close to taking it all.
Even with our amazing track record we did not rest on our laurels! No! We put in the hard work for the Springfest Country Cornhole tournament. We stretched. We practiced our throwing form in synchrony with one another. Grace even looked up “proper cornhole form” to ensure that we were preparing correctly. We were, of course. We knew better than to become complacent before the big day.
Alas, the day arrives, and our preparations continue. The time comes to walk into the Reynolds Center — the tournament has moved inside due to the cold and rainy weather. We approach some boards and begin warming up. Very rough throws at first. Inconsistent at best as we continue. I start questioning if I have lost my touch. To make it all worse, the floor is slippery! I toss the bag with my right hand, plant with my left and I sliiiiide forward. We try not to let the slipping hazard get in our heads.
It’s a double elimination tournament. We begin playing our first team. We calmly throw our first bags, and it’s a rough start for everyone. To be expected. I’ll spare you the details, but we got crushed. It is a disheartening start, but we keep our heads up. We get to play again so we need to have clear minds for our next game.
Game two begins, and we are feeling pretty confident. Bags are being tossed every which way, occasionally landing on the board. It is a neck-in-neck game until the score is 6-6. Then we have a lucky run and finish off the game in one additional round by getting five points (they are 11 point games). Our confidence is at an all time high. We are on a winning streak, sort of. We go find our next opponents, who call themselves Come On.
Come On is a close match to us. We cancel each other out time and again, often getting 2-3 bags on the board. One member of Come On throws his bags like he is shooting a basketball. It is the strangest form I have ever seen. The results of his throws are about what you would expect, with a few lucky hits tucked in there. Once again, we are neck-in-neck with our opponents. It’s 8-9 (we’re down one), and then Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani starts playing. It’s my turn to throw. I lose focus. I can’t stop thinking about that cover of the song I listened to in my high school World History class that replaces B-A-N-A-N-A-S with B-U-B-O-N-I-C. I start laughing and then I try to regain focus and make a solid toss. Tragically, my form crumbles. We lose traction and now it is up to Grace to keep us alive. The pressure gets to her and she misses all of her throws. We were never the type of team who thrives under pressure, and we knew that. So we saw the writing on the wall.
Just like that, our plans of crushing the cornhole tournament were dashed. Looking back, I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Hollaback Girl hadn’t been playing at the time. I like to think that we would have gone on to win it all!
