Fledgling cornhole league a popular draw

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For most people, cornhole is a game played at tailgate parties, backyard barbecues and church carnivals.

But three Midland area friends decided to form a league out of their love for the game, not knowing it would catch on.

Tall City Baggers, the brainchild of Cody Crossland, Joel Ramos, and Joe Ramirez, is a huge hit in its short life. Crossland said inspiration came from the Dallas-based Texas Cornhole League.

“We found out how big they were,” he told the Odessa American. “They have a lot of teams. We found out what we needed to do to become a part of the Texas Cornhole League and we got all the rules.”

The trio’s league already boasts a membership of 80 players, not bad after beginning play last fall.

Crossland said more people are discovering TCB and asking when the league will host the next tournament. TCB hosts tournaments twice weekly at the American Legion.

The league has a fall season, a winter season, and a spring season. While the winter season is in the books, the spring season has been postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re at a standstill right now,” Crossland told the Odessa American. “We’re still doing tournaments. We can do tournaments because anything non-sanctioned through TCL we can do.”

TCB held a tournament after Gov. Greg Abbott lifted the state’s stay-at-home order. The league adhered to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social distancing guidelines and Abbott’s order for establishments to operate at a 25% capacity.

Forty-four people were present, Crossland said.

He and Ramos admit that they are new to cornhole.

“To be honest, I’ve only been playing for about a good solid year now,” Ramos told the Odessa American. “I came to realize that cornhole has been around way longer than I realized and some of these guys down here who have been playing for years.”