Keith "Romario" Instone writes:
>Now "soccer" fans know how ice hockey people
>felt after the Olympic Gold Medal was won in
>a shootout.
 
I bet many of us were thinking the same thing, too.
 
On the one hand, I did not want to see the game decided on a shootout. On
the other hand, to find something positive in it, I thought it would
give more credibility to the anti-shootout position of hockey fans.
 
I see a big difference between the hockey and soccer shootouts,
though.  I am no soccer expert, but it seems to me that unless the
shooter telegraphs the direction of the shot - which most of these guys
do not do because they are so good - then it comes down to little more
than a coin toss because the goalie has no choice but to guess.
 
But in hockey, my experience has been that there is no real advantage
on a penalty shot - or that if there is one, it goes to the goalie.  If
he does not commit, he has an excellent chance of stopping the shot.
The shooter has to get him to commit or else find a way to exploit his
weakness.
 
It was interesting to hear some of the real soccer fans here at work
say they didn't like the shootout because it meant deciding the game
in a manner that wasn't consistent with the way the game is played or
"meant to be played".  That has always been my chief argument against
it in hockey, too.
 
Before anyone asks, I do not believe HE has yet made a decision on the
question of shootouts in regular season games.  I sent the poll
results along with some of the comments to the commish a while ago,
but I haven't had a chance to find out what the feedback on it was.
Hopefully sometime soon.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93
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