Are you ready for cornhole? No sweat

It's a truly lazy competitive sport

RALEIGH -- Patrick Foote Jr. lobbed his beanbag with the graceful arc of an Olympic discus thrower, taking care not to spill his can of Natural Light or let the cigarette fall from his lip.

His bag plunked neatly through a hole 30 feet away, and a shirtless mob threw its arms in the air, howling like snake-bit coyotes, celebrating the arrival of the world's laziest sport.

Cornhole.

Easier than horseshoes. More portable than pingpong. Mindless fun that satisfies like a loud belch.

Born in Ohio, the barroom pastime has slowly trickled into the Triangle and found wild popularity at N.C. State University tailgate parties.

At least two dozen cornhole games raged outside Carter Finley Stadium for Saturday's homecoming game, with the simple beanbag toss drawing bigger crowds than the pig cookers.

In Hillsborough, Chuck Friend watched the cornhole mania build and started constructing his own sets out of plywood this summer, selling them for as much as $120. He has sold more than 30 since June, roughly the date The Wall Street Journal featured cornhole on its front page.

The game combines Americans' twin passions for leisure and blood sport -- intense enough to play with teeth bared, ridiculous enough to play with a half-full beer can in your pocket.

"It doesn't take a lot out of you," said Mike Vysocka, an N.C. State student in his "super-senior" year. "It's a lazy competitive sport. That's American!"

Any cornholer will explain that the real appeal lies in cornhole's ease -- goofing off risen to the level of art.

Pingpong tables are heavy and hard to move around, and the game takes a speck of athletic ability, said Joseph MacMillan, senior. All cornhole requires is a reasonable attention span and a working arm.

The American Cornhole Association boasts 16,000 members nationwide, mostly displaced Ohioans, with Charlotte claiming what appears to be North Carolina's only official leagues.

The ACA hopes to bring cornhole corporate sponsorship, get airtime on ESPN and develop a traveling pro tour.

"For veteran cornholers, being ranked relative to other cornholers across the country is great fun and adds a whole new dimension to the game," writes Michael D. Whitton, the ACA's president. "Help us make cornhole America's game!"

All it takes is two wooden platforms built on a slant and pair of bags filled with corn kernels.

Rules can vary more than a kid's game of tag.

For the most part, a cornholer stands 30 feet from the platform and aims his bag at a circular hole.

Send one through the "cornhole" and collect three points. A near-miss on the platform scores one.

But some give points for bags that slide down the hole when knocked in on someone else's throw -- much like shuffleboard.

As cornhole players see it, the time is near for tournaments that will rival darts and pool. Cornhole forgives poor aim, nervous fingers and blurry vision.