Un-American Sport

[kevin_standlee]

I'm a bit busy today trying to get multiple projects done simultaneously, but in passing I'd like to point people to Cheryl's report on an international cricket match that was full of action, came down to the last ball, and had a final result of 340-340. Yes, both teams scored 340 runs and the match ended as a tie. (Not "match drawn," which is something different in cricket.) Even basketball games don't have that much scoring. Of course, Americans apparently think that Ties Are Evil, so this must be a highly unsatisfactory result. Maybe that's another reason sports like soccer and cricket never catch on in the USA.

Comments

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

I should add that this was a one-day game. So one innings per side, and a total playing time about the same as a baseball double-header (with a break between innings for lunch).

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I've watched tennis matches go on forever, and I've watched them jigger with the rules to try to avoid that without being too blatantly just random. It's bad for the scheduling of facilities in tennis, and it's very bad for TV coverage (and the vast majority of the fans watch any given game on TV, not in person).

I don't watch as carefully, but seems like soccer has had more and less complaints about games decided by penalty shootouts, which I suspect means they've tinkered with the rules somewhat there as well.

Football has few enough games that lots of ties would start to cast doubt on the model of the whole year being a contest leading up to the superbowl, I would think; but ties *are* possible in US football, aren't they? Just rare?

Seems like maybe uncertain game length is actually *more* of a problem than ties are, in practical terms. I'm not a serious fan of any sport, never have been, and I probably don't understand how actual fans relate to their sport emotionally, but I don't see why ties would be a huge problem.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

I don't watch as carefully, but seems like soccer has had more and less complaints about games decided by penalty shootouts, which I suspect means they've tinkered with the rules somewhat there as well.

No, it's just that most Americans only hear about soccer about once every four years, when the World Cup comes around. Hardly any soccer matches are ever decided on penalty shootouts because most of the time, a tie is a valid result. It's only in a pure knock-out competition with no other resolution method (like the World Cup Final) that you must play to a win. And the structure of soccer is such that in knockout games, it's often the most conservative approach to play for a tie and take your chances with the shootout, so the very nature of the game leads to such unsatisfactory conclusions.

ties *are* possible in US football, aren't they? Just rare?

Yes. If the game is tied at the end of regulation, they play one 15-minute period of sudden-death overtime. If neither team has scored by the end of overtime, the game is a tie. In playoffs, you simply keep playing more overtimes until someone scores.

I don't see why ties would be a huge problem.

Me, neither, but it appears that it must be an issue to American sports marketers. For instance, NHL hockey kept fiddling with the rules so that now games can't end in a tie (previously a very common occurrence): if tied at the end of regulation, they play one short sudden-death overtime; if still tied, they play a penalty shootout (best of three; keep shooting if still tied after three shots each). Basketball and baseball, of course, simply keep playing overtime and extra innings until there's a resolution.

[redneckotaku.livejournal.com]

I enjoy soccer and I see ties all the time in MLS. I miss the tie in the NHL, but I understand what the impact of the rules change is more exciting ends to games. I also remember the last tie in the NFL and that was a 1998 game between my Baltimore Ravens and the Philadelphia Eagles.

[cherylmmorgan.livejournal.com]

As Kevin notes, baseball is a classic example of where the sport is prepared to continue play, sometimes to ludicrous extents, in order to avoid a tie. And it is hard to see why this should be such an issue in a game where the season is 140+ games long and most games are played as part of a series.