Thoughts While Watching Olympic Soccer

A word about soccer. It isn't boring. That's a prejudice.

If two basketball teams play each other to a final score of 99-98, people say, "Wow, that was a great game! It was close all the way to the buzzer!"

And if two soccer teams play to a 1-0 final? That's boring. But the difference between the scores in the two games is the same, one point.

Americans like a game that is constantly changing, a titillation. People in other countries prefer a constant tension, wondering if a team down 0-1 for 45 minutes can suddenly put something together and turn a match around. It is exciting, but in a different way. It is a static tension, rather than a dynamic one. Like the difference between watching a long, dramatic movie and watching an action flick.

A lot of scoring cheapens the meaning of a score. There is nothing more dramatic and exciting than a soccer goal, sudden and thrilling, a knife through long minutes of expectant anxiety.

On the other hand, penalty kick tiebreakers suck.

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