Sunday, November 22, 2009

A short note about the MLS Cup

Underdog Real Salt Lake beat Favorite L.A. Beckham (er, Galaxy) for the MLS Cup [soccer] in Seattle, 1-1 tie in regulation and overtime, 5-4 in the penalty kick sideshow. No matter what the purists say, I still think top-level soccer needs a little more scoring to be more interesting (but I'm an American). That said, penalty kicks are a lousy way to determine a championship -- the NHL [hockey] uses the shootout in the regular season but you have to win it outright in as many overtimes as it takes in the playoffs.

Winning a championship on penalty kicks in soccer is like deciding the NBA [basketball] championships based on which team can make the most free throws in the last two minutes of each close game. Ridiculous, isn't it?

Oh wait...

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