In an unprecedented Charity Corntoss Classic deal, naming rights to one team were sold for 800 yuan. Management at SinoScuba made the last-minute offer to Kernels of Truth, the team headed by Kevin Zhang (Fubar) and Jim Boyce (Grape Wall), a mere 24 hours before this year’s tournament.

Agreement was ultimately made on The Village Grouches, a nod to the nickname of Sinoscuba head honcho Steven Schwankert. The spirited talks included consideration of monikers such as Scuba Snacks, Sharky’s Revenge, Schwanky Doodle Dandy and The A-Maize-Ing Sharks.

Despite being one of the most inexperienced pairings in the 16-team tournament, with Zhang making his corntoss debut, The Village Grouches easily won their first match before losing to a near-professional duo — seriously, these guys brought their own corntoss boards — in the second.

Mashup Sports will go maoshup this weekend with two events to support maovember.

First up is The Turkey Bowl, an annual flag football game at Chaoyang Park at 1 PM.

Making it even better? Nearby Deli de Luxe will bring 45 servings of coffee and hot chocolate. Players and fans alike can get a beverage for 25 yuan. Want some extra kick? Add a shot of Bailey’s for 10 yuan.

All proceeds from player fees, coffee, hot chocolate and Bailey’s go to maovember.

On Sunday, the fun shifts to Kokomo in Sanlitun as Mashup holds its annual monthly beer pong tournament.

To sign up and play, click this link for flag football and this link for beer pong.

Finally, here’s a short Q&A I did a few days ago with David Craig of Mashup:

Q: There are lots of flag football groups, including IFFF, USFTL, IWFFA, PFFFFF! and FALALALA (I might have made those last two up), and lots of rule variations. What does The Turkey Bowl follow?

A: Definitely plenty of versions of flag football out there! Our mashup leagues follow the 5v5 format, which means everyone on the field is in on the action — there’s no confusion with who’s a “receiver” or isn’t. Our annual Turkey Bowl is the same way, though sometimes our sidelines get so big we have to upgrade to 6v6 or 7v7. Regardless of how or where the game is played, the important thing is spreading our love of the game globally!

Q: Can you explain in one sentence — or two, if you really need an extra one — what beer pong is all about?

A: Beer pong is all about combining friendly competition with a favorite past-time: drinking! It is worth an extra sentence to add this: it’s a ton of fun.

Q: Mashup, maovember and beer pong: Is the facial hair-inspired product at this link prove there is a higher power?

A: You know, sometimes fate leads you down a certain path; and other times it comes in a perfect product package online from Spencer’s. Looks like we know what equipment we need for next year’s mashup maovember campaign!

“Who has the best mustache of all time?”

“Hmm. That’s a tough one. Tom Selleck.”

A single question, a moment of consideration, a definitive answer. And it raised 1000 yuan for maovember.

Maovember and manager Charlie at Take 5 have been confabbing for weeks about doing an event. With various constraints hampering the effort and time running short, Charlie simply donated 1000 yuan, we turned that into a short quiz, and everyone ended up a winner: his correct answer won him a shiny new maovember pin and our presence in a Scandinavian-themed bar and restaurant earned us shots of salmiakki, a savory and slightly viscous licorice-flavored liqueur.

Next year’s quiz question: What savory and slightly viscous licorice-flavored liqueur consumed in large quantities will make you feel the next day as though a reindeer recently and repeatedly kicked you in the head?

(Want to support maovember? See here.)

The Irish Volunteer / Hockey Bar will host the second annual charity cornhole / corntoss tournament this Saturday at 3 PM. I talked to IV’s Zach Lewison about the nomenclature debate surrounding the sport, his plans to sell “Pickle Zachs“, and more (see below). Note: Irish Volunteer will also host the Homewreckers Challenge, a sausage-eating contest sponsored by Andy’s Craft Sausages, the same day. Details here.

Q: This sport involves teams throwing bags of corn at a sloped board with a hole in it and there has been spirited debate as to whether to call it “corntoss” or “cornhole”. Where do you stand?

A: It is cornhole. Always has been and always will be. As a member of the American CORNHOLE Association, I can safely say that I’m right. After all, native Americans did invent it. And as the official ref of the tournament, I have the last say on the matter.

Q: Say I’ve never played corntoss before. How tough is it for a beginner?

Never played? No problem. It’s super easy. You have two teams of two players. You stand opposite each other behind two boards that are 27 feet apart. Then you take turns with the other team tossing bean bags at the hole in the board across from you. If you land a bag on the board, that is one point. If you land it on the board and partially cover the hole, that is two points. And if you it in the hole, that is three points. Simple as that.

Q: You guys are also selling Pickle Zachs for charity on November 22. What is a Pickle Zach and why should I buy one?

A: The Pickle Zach is a craft version of the classic pickleback. It’s a shot of homemade pickle juice made by Jimi from The Corner Melt and a shot of 49 percent alcohol Moonshine I personally bring back from the U.S. every year. The moonshine has a tangy smoky taste that goes hand in hand with the pickle juice. Why should you get one? Well first is for charity, and second, it’s the super cool hipster pickleback.

Get more details on the corn toss tournament here.

With fundraising events, pin sales and donations far higher than expected this year, maovember is setting its sights on quadrupling its original goal and thus helping restore vision to four times as many people.

The initial goal: Fund 25 cataract operations for the poor in rural China, which — at 800 yuan per surgery — totals 20,000 yuan.

The new goal: Fund 100 operations at a cost of 80,000 yuan.

With eleven days to go, maovember has over 45,000 yuan of cash in hand plus over 12,000 yuan in pledges and pin sales money to be collected.

There are also plenty of fundraising events on the schedule. Events this weekend include the Corn Toss Classic and Homewreckers Challenge on Saturday at The Irish Volunteer, flag football classic The Turkey Bowl and beer pong with Mashup, and weekend mulled wine at CHEERS (see events schedule here). Next week promises to be busy, too, starting with a charity quiz at Q-Mex on Wednesday.

Want to help us reach our goal? Get involved by joining events (see here), by buying a pin for 50 yuan (we have them at events and at venues like The Corner Melt, La Cava and Paddy O’Shea’s) or by making a donation to us either in person or online here.

All money goes to funding cataract surgery for guys like Mr Xu, who we wrote about here on Monday.

If you have any questions, contact us via nihao (at) maovember.com.

Both skill and luck came into play last night as Paddy O’Shea’s held a charity quiz and mystery draw to support maovember.

Patrons tested their wits against quiz master Jo, who organized six rounds of questions, with a heavy focus on facial hair. Teams paid an entry fee of 100 yuan and received a round of shots. The winning team picked two members to go behind the bar for a one-minute free-for-all that netted them a major haul of booze (see collage).

Meanwhile, the draw started with a case of Tiger and saw prizes added each time 300 yuan worth of tickets or shots — 20 yuan each — were sold. The crowd picked which of the wrapped prizes to open and ended with a pile that included two cases of Tiger beer (courtesy of Kenny Lew), four bottles 1421 wine (Randy Svendsen), a package of Italian sausages from Andy’s Craft Sausages (Andy Horowitz), gift certificates from Fubar (Kevin Zhang), Punchline Comedy tickets for the shows next Tuesday and Wednesday (Ian Burns), South African wine and a cookbook from Grape Wall (Jim Boyce) and a mini keg and wine from Minervois from Paddy O’Shea’s (Paul Rochon).

The team fees, draw tickets and shots raised 2,400 yuan for maovember.

1. Tonight’s Mystery Draw is like Christmas came early. The crowd chooses a gift to open — and add to the draw pool — every time we raise 300 yuan in ticket / shot sales. Gifts range from booze to books, sausages to gift certificates, and are worth at least 300 yuan each. We have up to 4000 yuan in prizes to give away.

2. You can exercise your brain: Get a marathon-like mental workout with six rounds of questions from quiz master Jo.

3. Manager Paul Rochon has the best collection of live music videos, like, ever. Stuff like this.*

4. We’ll make you a team. Haven’t been to a quiz or don’t know anyone else who wants to come tonight? Don’t worry, we’ll connect your with other fun individuals for a team.

5. It supports maovember. Every 800 yuan we raise this month means one cataract surgery for a blind person in rural China, guys like Mr Xu, who we profiled yesterday in this post. Tonight’s event is a good chance to have fun, win prizes and help others.

That’s it. The quiz starts at 8:30 PM. The entry fee is 100 yuan and gets your team two pitchers of beer. Draw tickets and whiskey shots are 20 yuan. All money raised from entry fees, tickets and shots goes to maovember.

If you have any questions, give us a shout at nihao (at) maovember.com.

* I could only find this video of Tom Jones and Janis Joplin, absolutely nailing “Raise Your Hand” in 1969, on Youtube, so if you can’t access the site, no dice. But you can ask Paul at Paddy O’Shea’s to play it for you.

 

The Homewrecker Sausage has ranked as a mystery on par with the Loch Ness Monster, Lost City of Atlantis and Oak Island Treasure Pit. Does a sausage known as The Homewrecker exist? If so, how big is it? And does its name come from an ability to destroy relationships or because it crushes abodes?

Fortunately, we have discovered the — ahem — missing link in this mystery.

The Homewrecker not only exists but also will be on full display at a sausage-eating contest this Saturday at The Irish Volunteer and Hockey Bar.

Seven contestants will race to finish one of these giant links first. The sausage alone weighs 500 grams. Add a bun and toppings — and possibly a side order of chili — and it will be no easy feat.

The contest starts at ~8 PM, the entry fee is 100 yuan (all proceeds to maovember) and the winner gets a kilo of links and — says Andy Horowitz, of Andy’s Craft Sausages, who is donating the food — a championship belt that he has commissioned.

Want to sign up? Email sausagebyandy (at) gmail.com or nihao (at) maovember.com.