Hi folks;

I just saw a little blurb on ESPN's website that was apparently an
editorial about eliminating tie games once and for all; probably with
a shoot-out, however I'm not sure...I didn't read it. But it does seem
that there is a growing cult who feel that ties are a burden to the
game; not so much for the game itself, but for the  fans, who feel that
they "deserve to see a game decided with a clear-cut winner".

Why do you suppose this is? Is it not enough to see a hard-fought,
edge-of-your-seat hockey game? A tie game is obviously about as
competitive as you're going to get between two teams; these
elements *used* to be enough for fans...what has happened?

The same is true for college football fans who piss & moan that their
team deserves a shot at being #1, and what they end up with are
complex formulas (BCS) that will never solve the problem, because
no one will ever agree what components should be weighed in what
fashion, relative to one another. At least hockey has always tried to
be honest about it in saying, "Hey, these two teams are evenly
matched, let's reward them both". Game over. No gimmickey shoot-
out circuses, no drawing of straws, no coin flips. Game over.

In truth, I see this argument much more amongst NHL fans than
college fans, but I figure this forum would have something more
interesting to say than ESPN's NHL message board :-)

Robert