12/21/24
March 25, 2004
MLS does away with overtime.: The decision was reached after soliciting input from the MLS Competition Committee, as well as players, coaches and team executives.
Hmm, they didn't check with the fans now, did they?
posted by Ufez Jones to soccer at 12:37 PM - 12 comments
Why did they add extra time in anyway? It just seems strange, really. And a bit pointless, too.
posted by dng at 01:01 PM on March 25, 2004
Seems like a good idea to me. Draws (ties) are part of football and it was a bit daft for the MLS to be out-of-line with the rest of the world.
posted by squealy at 01:29 PM on March 25, 2004
To me, this decision demonstrates the growing maturity of MLS. MLS has finally decided that it is a football league that happens to play in America, rather than an American league that happens to play football. In one sense, the decision was forced upon MLS. American sports fans are used to their major leagues setting their own rules. Football in America is not yet strong enough to consider breaking ties with FIFA. FIFA have mandated that extra time periods must be a full 30 minutes. MLS had the choice of scrapping extra time, going to 30 minute extra time, or defying FIFA. Since a 120 minute match would not fit in a 2 hour timeslot for television, MLS chose the only sensible option. Note that the substitute rule changed as well, in line with international rules. I wonder if the American sports fan can be persuaded that ties are an acceptable result?
posted by salmacis at 03:27 PM on March 25, 2004
"Getting a tie is like kissing your sister." - Vince Lombardi (according to this) "If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing your grandmother with her teeth out." - George Brett More sports quotes
posted by msacheson at 07:07 PM on March 25, 2004
I'm very happy about this and its about time!
posted by StarFucker at 07:46 PM on March 25, 2004
BillSaysGood. And wonders when CONCACAAF is going to move the Champions Cup to be interspersed with the season the way it is in Europe so that my Quakies won't treat it like another preseason exhibition!
posted by billsaysthis at 07:57 PM on March 25, 2004
Again I find myself saying I agree with squealy. Damn you squealy and the brain-reading chip you must have planted in my head!
posted by scully at 09:10 AM on March 26, 2004
The MLS finally catches up with the rest of the world. The only reason they had OT in the first place (as far as I can see) was to make it (presumably) more palatable for American sports fans who were used to always having a winner (see MLB extra innings, NFL and NBA OTs. I think that NHL and college basketball are the only high-level US sports that don't have OTs, where it's OK to end a game in a draw.) But real soccer fans know this is not the way football is played. So OT is really a not-so-useful modification to the game. If soccer was so boring that it needed OT, would soccer be the MOST POPULAR SPORT IN THE WORLD? I think not. Now, OT is absolutely necessary in knockout/playoff formats, where there absolutely has to be a winner for the tournament to progress. But in a league format? C'mon. Well, it's about time.
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:53 PM on March 26, 2004
I don't know if I'll ever get used to a sport where there is a tie in a regular season game. It's like if I was watching the Duke/Carolina game at Cameron, and they were tied at the end of regulation, and then decided to go home. I don't care if it takes 3 days, play it out!
posted by corpse at 01:37 PM on March 26, 2004
WC, there are no ties in college bball.
posted by billsaysthis at 07:39 PM on March 26, 2004
bball? basketball? baseball? bcalvinball?
posted by salmacis at 04:16 AM on March 27, 2004
This fan says it's about time they did this. The goofy add-ons to the game that supposedly palliated supposed American sports exceptionalism weren't much palliative and were only much goofy.