Olympics 2021 -- Competition and Results

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Wow, you hate golden goal more than PKs? I definitely feel the opposite. If hockey playoff games were decided by shootout rather than sudden death overtimes, it would be a really annoying watch.

Golden goal playoff hockey is the most exciting thing in sports.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Maybe my confusion is that I'm conflating hard core soccer fans with purists. I'm pretty sure most of my hardcore soccer fan friends (I am not one, but these are the folks that got me to start watching) love PKs as much as I do.

I have a friend whose father is English and he absolutely despises basketball because it's so easy to score. I like penalty kicks because it ends before someone actually dies on the pitch. Soccer is a brutal sport. So the basketball comparison doesn't really fit. You can have a whole bunch of overtimes but the odds of that occurring as a quasi Bataan Death March are pretty low. My father's high school team won the sectional playoffs in five overtimes. The kid who hit the winning free throw scored the only point of his entire career that night. He never once scored as a JV player or as a varsity player other than knocking in a free throw in the fifth overtime with one second left in a tie game to make it to the Elite 8.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Golden goal playoff hockey is the most exciting thing in sports.

Playoff hockey and playoff baseball are fantastic.

[robed deity]

Ok, now that you mention that I actually don't really mind it in hockey. I hate it in football and soccer. I think the difference probably has to do with pace of play/frequency of scoring opportunities or something. If a hockey team won a game in OT on a golden goal with a score of 1-0 or 2-1 I wouldn't like that either, probably.

Do you hate it because the team that was scored upon doesn't have a chance to respond? In soccer, it's so hard to score, golden goal makes even more sense to me. Rather than this completely random game of skill that has nothing to do with the actual game, at least a team scored a goal in the natural flow.

I guess I don't mind the 30 minute extra time (non golden goal) but wish there was a way to have it settled without PKs. They are exciting in a vacuum but seem like a ridiculous way to decide a game.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

I have a friend whose father is English and he absolutely despises basketball because it's so easy to score. I like penalty kicks because it ends before someone actually dies on the pitch. Soccer is a brutal sport. So the basketball comparison doesn't really fit. You can have a whole bunch of overtimes but the odds of that occurring as a quasi Bataan Death March are pretty low. My father's high school team won the sectional playoffs in five overtimes. The kid who hit the winning free throw scored the only point of his entire career that night. He never once scored as a JV player or as a varsity player other than knocking in a free throw in the fifth overtime with one second left in a tie game to make it to the Elite 8.

Was his name Ollie? Did your dad look like Gene Hackman?

[CameronBornAndBred]

But, imagine if we were the better team, the favorite, and better at FTs and still lost that way?

We'd be livid.

Well then we wouldn't be the better team, would we? If a game is played so evenly that it results in a shootout, then it's hard to argue that the better team loses.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Well then we wouldn't be the better team, would we? If a game is played so evenly that it results in a shootout, then it's hard to argue that the better team loses.

Surely you don't believe that the better team always wins.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I have a friend whose father is English and he absolutely despises basketball because it's so easy to score. I like penalty kicks because it ends before someone actually dies on the pitch. Soccer is a brutal sport. So the basketball comparison doesn't really fit. You can have a whole bunch of overtimes but the odds of that occurring as a quasi Bataan Death March are pretty low. My father's high school team won the sectional playoffs in five overtimes. The kid who hit the winning free throw scored the only point of his entire career that night. He never once scored as a JV player or as a varsity player other than knocking in a free throw in the fifth overtime with one second left in a tie game to make it to the Elite 8.

That's pretty awesome. I'm guessing he was in because everyone else had fouled out?

[DukieInKansas]

I've watched more PKs in the last month and a half...

I'm another idiot who loves them.

One of my youth was a goalie - I find PKs very stressful.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Surely you don't believe that the better team always wins.

Of course not, but usually in a loss "the better team" gets blown up. Think Duke vs Georgetown in 2010. (But don't think too hard, it's Friday and the weekend deserves a happier start.)

[Acymetric]

Do you hate it because the team that was scored upon doesn't have a chance to respond? In soccer, it's so hard to score, golden goal makes even more sense to me. Rather than this completely random game of skill that has nothing to do with the actual game, at least a team scored a goal in the natural flow.

I guess I don't mind the 30 minute extra time (non golden goal) but wish there was a way to have it settled without PKs. They are exciting in a vacuum but seem like a ridiculous way to decide a game.

That's kind of it, I think. Basically, I don't like golden goal in soccer because scoring is too hard. I don't like sudden death in football because (in the modern NFL) scoring is too easy. Hockey is just about right for it. Since someone mentioned baseball, I'll point out that I don't see walk-offs in baseball as equivalent to sudden death endings in timed sports.

[DukieInKansas]

As someone who played soccer for 20 years, I always loved penalty kicks. Of course I was also really good at taking them

disclaimer: I played mainly rec league, no truly competitive leagues.

I took one in a rec league coed indoor soccer game - because the women with a stronger leg didn't want to take it. We were playing against college kids home for the summer. Extremely good goalie. He dropped to his knees to stop the kick and it snuck through. There wasn't enough pace on the ball to make it to the back of the goal, which is only about 2 feet deep. The goal line almost stopped it. The look on his face was priceless. Debbie pretty much did the same to him so we won the shoot out.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Was his name Ollie? Did your dad look like Gene Hackman?

Ollie would have lit that kid up. The best part of that is in the 4th OT when we have our 7th kid foul my dad turns to his assistant and says "I guess we have to put in [name redacted]." His assistant says: ""Oh s*@#. Can't we play 'em with 4?"

[ClemmonsDevil]

I took one in a rec league coed indoor soccer game - because the women with a stronger leg didn't want to take it. We were playing against college kids home for the summer. Extremely good goalie. He dropped to his knees to stop the kick and it snuck through. There wasn't enough pace on the ball to make it to the back of the goal, which is only about 2 feet deep. The goal line almost stopped it. The look on his face was priceless. Debbie pretty much did the same to him so we won the shoot out.

That is fantastic!

[Acymetric]

I took one in a rec league coed indoor soccer game - because the women with a stronger leg didn't want to take it. We were playing against college kids home for the summer. Extremely good goalie. He dropped to his knees to stop the kick and it snuck through. There wasn't enough pace on the ball to make it to the back of the goal, which is only about 2 feet deep. The goal line almost stopped it. The look on his face was priceless. Debbie pretty much did the same to him so we won the shoot out.

Great story! I'm undefeated in soccer, myself. Friend tore his achilles and his IM team (indoor soccer) needed another player last minute. Won 1-0, only "competitive" game of soccer I've ever played! I decided to retire on top.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Ollie would have lit that kid up. The best part of that is in the 4th OT when we have our 7th kid foul my dad turns to his assistant and says "I guess we have to put in [name redacted]." His assistant says: ""Oh s*@#. Can't we play 'em with 4?"

Was his name ClemmonsDevil?

Awesome story. Winning games like that provides a lifetime of memories. Losing games like that stinks and is when you have to be a goldfish, to quote Coach Ted Lasso.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Was his name ClemmonsDevil?

Awesome story. Winning games like that provides a lifetime of memories. Losing games like that stinks and is when you have to be a goldfish, to quote Coach Ted Lasso.

Dangit! Good burn.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Dangit! Good burn.

You kind of set that one up for me. And it's not a burn - he won the game! He's a local hero. There's probably a road named after him and kids practicing free throws pretend to be him. But no one remembers the name of the 4th best starter on that team who was a much better player.

[ClemmonsDevil]

You kind of set that one up for me. And it's not a burn - he won the game! He's a local hero. There's probably a road named after him and kids practicing free throws pretend to be him. But no one remembers the name of the 4th best starter on that team who was a much better player.

That's true!

[Phredd3]

Well then we wouldn't be the better team, would we? If a game is played so evenly that it results in a shootout, then it's hard to argue that the better team loses.

And yet, that's exactly what I'd argue about the US-NL game today. IMO, the US were most definitely not the better team. Possession was about even, but the NL were much better at generating dangerous chances, and led by 5 in shots, and by three in shots on target (plus the NL had one off the woodwork). They were even in total passes, but but had a higher pass accuracy, especially in the opponent's half, and while possession was about even, NL often won the ball very high up the field. They NL even missed an open play penalty very late in regular time. The US was much sloppier than usual with the ball, and also tended to go for a long, speculative pass ahead (which was rarely successful), rather than trying to play out from the back and really control the game. Shootouts are a coin toss, and the US won it, but they were not the better team today, IMO. There's a lot more randomness in soccer than a lot of othr sports because scoring is at such a premium.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy they will be advancing, and they got to the coin toss and won it against the 4th-ranked team in the world. But they are going to have to play better against a very capable Canadian team (8th ranked) or risk another coin toss.