Professional Cornhole Has a Cheating Scandal Called BagGate
Officials talk of new regulations to root out illegally sized bags. Fans are reeling: ‘The dirty underbelly is being exposed.’
By John Clarke
Nov. 1, 2022
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.
Was the No. 1 ranked doubles team using illegal beanbags?
“I thought the bags were too thin,” recalls Devon Harbaugh, who lodged a complaint against rivals Mark Richards and Philip Lopez.
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 with the solemnity required for such a grave complaint. Then they huddled near sponsor banners for Johnsonville sausage products and Bush’s baked beans.
It was true—the bags weren’t regulation size. “They’re too small,” color commentator Mark Pryor exclaimed to viewers. “That’s going to create some drama.”
Drama? That is only half of it.
Messrs. Lopez and Richards asked officials to check their opponents’ bags, too. Turns out, they weren’t compliant, either.
This now infamous incident is known to fans as BagGate and it has sparked a frenzy in the game that started in the backyard, enjoyed between swigs of beer.
This now infamous incident is known to fans as BagGate and it has sparked a frenzy in the game that started in the backyard, enjoyed between swigs of beer.
New regulations are brewing and there is talk of a crackdown to root out iffy bags. The evolving sport is proving it’s never just fun and games when money is tossed in the mix.
“I think it’s funny that anyone believed it would be all friendships and rose petals forever in cornhole,” wrote one commenter on the Addicted to Cornhole Facebook page, which has 85,000 members. “Now the dirty underbelly is being exposed.”
Armchair Warrior 