Shootouts are a bad way to settle things. I’m not talking about the shootout at the O.K. corral or the climax scene to a million bad movies – they took it to the limit in that Christian Slater movie which had two or three other great scenes (the “Sicilians are really Moors” scene and the “I was so relieved you don’t have a dick” scene), and any faceoff/shootout scene after that is anticlimactic.
No, I’m talking about the shootouts at the end of football or hockey games, and when I say football I mean real football. When I’m referring to American football, I’ll say American football.
Last night, I was quite thrilled to watch the Czech Republic defeat Finland in the quarterfinals of the World Hockey Championship. It’s always nice when your team wins, but I hate to see it happen that way. It’s almost like flipping a coin.
Also, I think it leads to more conservative, less exciting hockey. They finished regular time tied 1-1. (I’m assuming a bit here – we got confused about the TV schedule and didn’t tune in until nearly the end of overtime. Instead, we watched Sweden thrashing Denmark.)
Then, they finished the overtime period tied 1-1. I got the distinct feeling neither team was trying too hard to score. They were satisfied to let it end that way and put all their chips on the goalie.
I suppose there are worse possibilities. Counting the number of shots on goal, or penalty minutes, or any other arbitrary metric would be worse because it would encourage sloppy shots, or timid play, or change the game in some other, unimaginable way and the game is a pretty great game just the way it is. But I still hate the shootouts.
Here’s what I’d like to see: a single, unlimited time, sudden death, first goal wins overtime period. If it winds up like a dance marathon, and the fans are sitting there until there butts hurt and kids are crying at home because their parents won’t let them stay up any longer and angry housewives are calling the TV station because the hockey game is cutting into their soap opera and players are collapsing on the ice, so be it.
Endurance counts in sports. It should count more than luck.
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