The Beauty of the Tie (er Draw)

While working on an extended piece about why Americans hate soccer, I started to focus on one element which I felt deserved it's own post.

Currently, the American sentiment toward a tie in sports is accurately reflected the cliche "a tie is like kissing your sister." However, during my recent obsession with European soccer, I've realized it adds an additional possibility missing from established American sports. So below I've listed a couple of reasons why that I hope might change that cliche to "a tie is like kissing your step-sister."

Reason 1--it's as close to both teams losing as you can get (warning, Baseball analogy and math below).

Suppose you are a huge fan of the Baltimore Orioles who occupy the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox. You're watching a game between your rivals, yet it's uninteresting because you can't decide what result to cheer for. Ideally, for the Baltimore fan, having both teams lose would be the best situation--this clearly this isn't a possibility, but what if they could tie? How would this affect your team's hopes of winning the division? Well, in soccer a tie is usually worth 1/3 that of a win. So, if one team wins and the other loses a full win will be awarded between the two teams (in soccer--3 points to the winner, 0 to the loser). If, however, the game ends in a stalemate only a total of 2/3's of a win will be awarded (1 point to each team). This means that your two rivals will either be easier to catch up to (only 2/3's of a win behind instead of a full game), or they will both fall further behind.

Reason 2--it gives underdogs a more reasonable chance to take something away from a game.

Have you ever watched a game when the underdog comes out swinging hard and establishes some sort of lead, but in the back of your head you know that more often than not, the superior team will get it together by the end of the game or in overtime. Wouldn't it be nice if the superior team was penalized and the underdog rewarded for have the same score at the end of the game? Or, consider a more specific example. Suppose your beloved NFL team is tied with another team for a playoff spot going into the last game of the season. If you win your next game you'll be in--lose, and your done. Your team scores a touch down at the end of the game to be one point behind the far superior opponent. Without the option of the game ending in a draw, you have two options: 1) kick the extra point to go to overtime where you're likely to lose to the more talented team, or 2) gamble and go for the improbable two-point conversion to win the game. Neither option seems like a fair reward for such a valiant effort from an underdog.

In conclusion, to the casual fan a draw may seem pointless, lackluster, and otherwise useless. But, to the more knowledgeable fan a draw provides an extra possibility which actually leads to a higher degree of unpredictability and excitement.