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A big man who usually has an unhurried gait, Stacey Moore picked up his pace to a near jog. It was, after all, what could听be one of the most important nights of his life.听

Wearing a blue-and-white-striped dress shirt and black slacks, Moore led me through a maze of hallways connecting Pennsylvania鈥檚 Valley Forge Casino Resort with a Radisson Hotel.

鈥淭his is big,鈥� Moore said. He was generally a bit of a quiet talker, maybe on the shy side, with an affable smile that made听it seem like he was always on the verge of a punch line. 鈥淭onight is really big for me.鈥澨�

Moore is听commissioner of the (ACL), a four-year-old operation that has helped turn a tailgate game into an organized sport. It was early August, and the league was hosting a nationally televised broadcast, featuring players from three countries,听as part of its six-day .

Live television has its obvious obstacles, but perhaps the biggest one for Moore were the thousand players in the basement of the casino,听tossing beanbags into holes and听getting piss drunk. Moore told听me听it鈥檚 not uncommon to have to yank his players away from the bar for a round.听

But that鈥檚 not even the worst of it. 鈥淥ne guy, we started our broadcast, and he鈥檚 nowhere to be found,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淭urns out he was in the can. He鈥檚 supposed to be on live TV, and he鈥檚 taking a dump.鈥�

Moore shook his head at the idea of that happening again.听

The league had its first exposure听on ESPN in July 2016, albeit on the network鈥檚 online-only ESPN3. Its big break came a year later, with the first-ever nationally televised cornhole tournament on ESPN2. This year, the conclusion of the international World Cup tournament, one event that鈥檚 part of the world championships, was shown live on ESPN8: The Ocho, which, to catch you up, was initially a parody created in the movie . The Ocho became such a cultural phenomenon that the network decided to turn ESPN2 into the Ocho once a year in August. Its听slogan?听鈥淏ringing you the finest in seldom-seen sports from around the globe since 1999. If it鈥檚 almost a sport, we鈥檝e got it here.鈥�

The idea that cornhole is categorized as 鈥渁lmost a sport鈥� doesn鈥檛 seem to help the league鈥檚 credibility. It also doesn鈥檛 help that the World Cup tournament was broadcast after cherry-pit spitting, acrobatic pizza trials, and slippery stairs, in which leotard-wearing contestants try to, well, you鈥檝e already figured it out.

The World Cup is just one of several titles on the line at the overall tournament. : the All Forces Championship for veterans; doubles play broken down into seniors, women鈥檚, and mixed competition; something called the Devour Man of the Year. When asked whether听there鈥檚 one that stands above the rest, organizers kept insisting they鈥檙e all somehow equally important.听

Inside an auditorium underneath the Radisson, Moore surveyed the scene.听He let out a deep breath. The sobriety of his players aside, things were looking close to ready.

The pressure of a live broadcast wasn鈥檛 the only thing on the line. Moore created the World Cup portion of the event hoping that cornhole would earn more respect and听attention in other countries. He鈥檒l need both if he鈥檚 to meet his goal of .

That鈥檚 right.听Moore wants a game that鈥檚 typically played with one hand holding a beer鈥攁nd possibly named for an indecent part of the human body鈥攊n the Olympics.听

There鈥檚 no clear explanation of how the game got its start. The origin story I heard many times at the world championships鈥攖hat a 15th-century German cabinetmaker named Matthias Kuepermann invented the game after witnessing kids throwing rocks in a hole鈥攊s likely a myth, said Gerald听Gems, professor emeritus at North Central College near听Chicago. But his research did find that Chicagoans were playing the game as far back as the 1970s.听

Moore, who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, got into cornhole after creating . He noticed听that people took cornhole far more seriously than beer pong or other games, so he started the American Cornhole League in 2015, which, as it turns out, wasn鈥檛 even the first听cornhole league. Frank Geers听first played the game in the Cincinnati Bengals鈥� parking lot in the late 1990s. At the time, he worked for a business doing specialty marketing, figuring out how to get brand logos placed in unconventional places. 鈥淲hat I saw, when I saw cornhole, was a billboard waiting to happen,鈥� Geers recalled. For a few years, he worked trying to sell companies on the idea of putting their logos on cornhole boards, before having an even bigger epiphany: he would create the world鈥檚 first professional cornhole league. In 2005, Geers incorporated the American Cornhole Organization. 鈥淲e got laughed at for five to seven years when we started saying this could be a sport,鈥� Geers said. There are听now at least three pro cornhole leagues in the United States, with tournaments and branded products and claims to be the game鈥檚 official governing body. Moore鈥檚 ACL, however, remains the only one to be broadcast on national TV.

Among the things pro cornhole leagues have done for the sport is create standardized rules. Players get a point for landing on the board and three points for dropping a bag into the hole. Each team tosses four bags, alternating turns, and then the low score is subtracted from the high score; if one team sinks two bags and the other sinks just one, the first team gets three points. They typically play to 21 points, but it can sometimes take a half-hour or more to reach that number.

The pros even have a few tricks you likely haven鈥檛 seen. The first player to throw often tries to land the bag in front of the hole, blocking the other team from being able to slide their bags in. Sometimes they鈥檒l even stack them up, a little beanbag wall. That forces the other team to attempt an airmail, or a toss with a high arc that ideally drops the beanbag right in the hole. For those of us who know the game mostly from football tailgates, the accuracy of the pros is shocking. Trey Ryder, the league鈥檚 expert commentator, said the pros land about 80 percent of their shots.听

On the afternoon before the big international championship, was in the bowels of the Valley Forge Casino, worried. Henderson is one of the game鈥檚 best-known players, the Derek Jeter of cornhole and the captain of Mid-East team, which was about to start play in an untelevised tournament听featuring听cornhole鈥檚听elite鈥嬧€嬧€嬧€�,听the first major contest of the ACL World Championships.听听

The first problem he had to overcome were听the league-provided jerseys. They came in an assortment of sizes. Nobody on his 16-person team wanted the XXL, and too many of them wanted the larges. Henderson eventually sorted the shirt issue. But more important, the team was missing one of its star players, a 40-year-old woman named Stacia Pugh, who wasn鈥檛 answering texts.

Luckily, Henderson, 28, is used to dealing with logistical issues. In his day job, he runs a warehouse in Athens, Ohio,听for a company that delivers convenience-store items to college students. He started playing cornhole when he was 16, traveling to compete in tournaments near his home. He got slaughtered at first,听so he鈥檇 practice hours a day听until he started winning. Sometimes he鈥檇 walk away with $500 for a first-place finish.

Nowadays听he practices 20 hours a week and dreams about quitting the warehouse job to become a full-time cornhole player. He said that听people ask him all the time how much he makes.听The league听claims that some have made up to $60,000. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way,鈥� Henderson said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no way that鈥檚 possible.鈥� Last year, a good year for Henderson, he made about $20,000 in winnings, but he said that most, if not all, of that money went to travel expenses to get听to events.听

Pugh, the missing member of Henderson鈥檚 team, is among the few who have become full-time pros. She got into the game ten听years ago when she started playing her dad, who would trash-talk while constantly besting her. She responded by buying her own boards and bags and practicing until she consistently beat him. In November 2018, Pugh quit her job as a real estate developer in Cleveland. As of August, she鈥檇 won more than $10,000 playing cornhole and in sponsorships, and she hoped to double that by year鈥檚 end.

The ACL estimates that听fewer听than 250听players are considered pros鈥攖hose who have made money at a tournament. Women make up about 15 percent of that number, according to the league, and the best of them stand to make more money than the men. That鈥檚 because they can play in both women-only ACL contests and also in main events open to anyone.听

Pugh shrugged off questions when she showed up about 15 minutes after play was supposed to begin. Henderson switched from frantically running around the casino basement to getting ready for the game.听

Henderson and Pugh and the rest of their team took their spots among a mass of cornhole boards lined up in the cavernous, windowless space. The boards are made from a thin plank of pine or birch, and the landing bags created a cacophony, like a hundred off-beat snare drums.

I wandered behind the rows of courts, trying to understand it all. Unlike the broadcasts, which are chopped down to just the finals and juiced up with music and announcers, the beginning of bracket play is difficult for a spectator. The players get text messages from the organizers announcing when and where they鈥檙e playing, meaning it鈥檚 not possible for me to know what鈥檚 coming up next. The score is kept with golf tees stuck into wooden podiums, with numbers so small that it鈥檚 nearly impossible for a spectator to keep track. Also, the results are kept by scorekeepers who don鈥檛 announce them. At the end of one tournament, I watched as players simply stopped in the middle of games, knowing that one team had achieved enough points to claim the trophy; I鈥檓 still not sure how. 听

A replay is only accessible on the ACL website or for subscribers of the ESPN app, and even then, only the parts of the tournament that get broadcast are available.

Perhaps more challenging for the league鈥檚 hopes of making cornhole an Olympic sport, watched by millions, is the fact that tournaments are exceedingly long. The world championships in August lasted up to听14 hours a day over six days. The all-star-style tournament I watched lasted five hours鈥攆ar longer than my cornhole attention span.听

When I mentioned this to Moore鈥檚 staff, they said that the night鈥檚 World Cup would be better, thanks to a simpler scoring method. It would be, they promised, a true spectator sport.

Earlier this year, cornhole had a bit of a moment. Following a Fourth of July tournament in Connecticut, ESPN posted on its Twitter feed that showed听Daymon Dennis making what might just be the Immaculate Reception of cornhole. Thrown high and arching, Dennis鈥檚 airmail shot听knocked听his opponent鈥檚 bag off the board before dropping into the hole, good for three points. In all the hours I watched cornhole at the championship, I didn鈥檛 see a shot like this听repeated. By last count, the clip had听been viewed 25 million times, according to Dennis.

Dennis said听he gets recognized while traveling now, and he can鈥檛 go anywhere in his hometown of Brownsville, Kentucky, without someone at least giving him a knowing look. Not that it has amounted to听much. 鈥淚f听anybody鈥檚 going to be broke and famous,鈥� his wife told him,听鈥渋t鈥檚 you.鈥澨�

I previously associated cornhole with frat parties and hipster bars in Asheville, North Carolina, where I first played the game maybe a decade ago, but those two crowds are a minority among the pros. Many players听at the tournament come from the Midwest and the South, with day jobs as contractors or听electricians鈥攑eople who work with their hands. They鈥檙e often people with disposable income, in part because they have to pay their way to tournaments. It鈥檚 a welcoming group, with few displaying the kind of cold competitiveness I鈥檝e seen at听mountain-biking or paddleboarding races.

While it would be easy to question the athleticism required of cornhole, it is surprising to watch how much the players throw鈥攈undreds if not thousands of times a day at the championship. 鈥淧eople usually think I鈥檓 joking when I say this, but players do get sore,鈥� said听Ryder, the color commentator.听听

Even if cornhole does require a certain level of athleticism, it doesn鈥檛 demand sobriety. Henderson, while competing in two big tournaments a day, drank cans of Busch Light wrapped in a koozie. On , it lists her favorite drink while competing: Barefoot cabernet sauvignon. When asked about it, she said at least one glass is necessary before play begins. 鈥淚t just helps with the nerves,鈥� she said.听

Moore said听that casual approach to the game keeps things fun听and is听something he鈥檚 not willing to change. Even if it meant that听later that night听he might be pulling his players away from the bar.

Minutes before the ESPN broadcast began, Moore stood in the center of a landing that overlooked听the lighted area where the games were to be played. He snaked his way between speakers and cables and tables holding monitors and soundboards. Ryder was nearby under bright lights. Moore bounced from one foot to the other. 鈥淵eah, I鈥檓 nervous,鈥� he said. 鈥淒o I look nervous?鈥�

I took a seat at one end of the auditorium. The place filled to standing room only. Aside from a few family and friends, the crowd of maybe 200 was mostly players competing in the other events. 鈥淢ake some noise!鈥� the DJ urged them regularly, and they obliged. Many held signs that read听鈥渇or hims 4 bagger,鈥� a reference to a player sinking all four beanbags, provided by an ACL sponsor, Hims, which sells discount erectile-dysfunction drugs.

The World Cup had begun the day before, with 25 international players representing three countries鈥擜ustralia, Canada, and the U.S. Every time cornhole gets a national broadcast, Moore said, he sees an uptick in interest. At this point, Moore said,听his work is an investment into what pro cornhole could become. 鈥淚鈥檓 definitely not making a lot of money,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淧eople say I鈥檓 the Roger Goodell of cornhole, but all of our league, all of the prize money, all of our expenses, all of what I鈥檓 making from it, doesn鈥檛 equal NFL commissioner Roger Goodell鈥檚 salary.鈥� (Goodell's next contract will reportedly pay him听 a year.)

As attention for cornhole increases, so will the prize money, Moore said. The 2019 ACL World Championship made $249,000 in payouts, divided among about a hundred players, according to the league, thanks in part to money that amateur players pay to enter tournaments. The World Cup promised a payout of $25,000 split between the two teams in the finals.

As the World Cup broadcast got started, Henderson and his partner, , edged out a victory against the other top-ranked U.S. team. Next, a Canadian team beat a contingent from Australia, pitting the Canadians against Henderson and Hissner in the finals.

While it had been my intention to track the final and provide a riveting dispatch, I must confess: I had little idea of what was happening. Even with a front-row seat, it was often impossible to see where bags landed. The referee, standing at a podium to the side of the arena, had to confirm the point totals with the players. The only commentator broadcast in the arena came from听the DJ, whose main job, it seemed, was to hype the crowd for wide-angle shots. That left spectators unsure of what was going on, with reactions to even the final shots happening听a few seconds after the conclusion of the matches.

From what I could tell, Henderson and Hissner won nearly every round in the finals, slaughtering the Canadians by nine points. It was just after 9 P.M. when it ended, and Hissner, now a world champion, had听been playing while holding听a thermos of beer since at least 2 P.M. (although I never saw him refill it).听

Henderson, as everyone expected, walked away from the entire event among the top players, bringing home $8,000 in prize money.

The ACL claimed that more than 200,000 viewers saw the championship event on the Ocho, which league officials said听beat out Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball games broadcast at the same times. The broadcast鈥檚 viewership, according to also league officials, was 80 percent听men, and听at least 40 percent of the audience was听in the 25-to-34 age bracket.听

The next day I caught Moore during some downtime in the casino鈥檚 basement. He looked exhausted. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going,鈥� he said听with a laugh, when I asked how things were looking. His problem at that moment was trying to figure out why ESPN had broadcast the rest of the world-championship event on its online-only ESPN3. 鈥淲e get good ratings, people are into it, I just don鈥檛 get it,鈥� he said.听

We talked briefly about the Olympics. He knows he needs to increase the number of international teams if he鈥檚 going to make a legitimate attempt at claiming that cornhole is played widely enough to justify a bid. He鈥檚 pinning听his hopes on American soldiers, who he鈥檚 heard often pull out cornhole boards at bases in Germany and the Middle East. Perhaps the locals will catch on and spread it organically.

I mentioned my problems following the play, especially the lack of a commentator explaining the score, and I admitted听sheepishly that it was impossible to keep a cornhole attention span for tournaments that last hours. 鈥淵eah,鈥� he said听with genuine interest, 鈥渨e know that鈥檚 something we need to work on if we鈥檙e going to start getting spectators.鈥�

The next night, the broadcast shifted to crew play, meaning four-person teams. The finals lasted almost two hours, and I excused myself before the last game. While a good听shot was initially a spectacle, its entertainment value had worn off.

Before heading to the听airport the following day, I took a walk in downtown Philadelphia and found听a pair of cornhole boards set up in John F. Kennedy Plaza. 鈥淐ornhole!鈥� a kid yelled, sprinting toward them, and he and his brother started tossing bags. But they quickly lost听interest in the game and听threw the bags听at each other instead. Their mother eventually intervened, giving me the chance to play.听

It was my first time in years. Attempting to mimic the throwing motion used by most pros鈥攁rm dipped behind my back to set up an underhand throw, wrist flicked听at the last second, bag arcing gently鈥擨 landed two bags on the board and sank another, a good round. I looked around the crowded park, but nobody was watching.听