No more multiple overtimes in the playoffs? You can’t be serious?

By , April 12, 2007

I was reading on www.letsgokings.com, the awesome Los Angeles Kings message board that I frequent, that someone was arguing that the NHL playoff overtime system should be modified somehow, because it effects the entire series, and it is too mentally and physically draining on the players. I wasn’t going to comment, because I figured this guy must be one in a million.

Then tonight, during my sports show Platforum, one of the guests on the show used his final word – a segment dedicated to voicing your opinion on something important to you in the world of sports – to make the same point that I’d read earlier this morning. Something needs to be done to change this playoff system.

If two people feel this way, it probably isn’t a freak thing; there are actually people that feel this way! And this needs to be addressed!

The mental and physical fatigue effects both teams equally, because they both play the same long drawn out game! It is the team that can persevere – that can find the energy and adrenaline from their personal deepest depths – that come out on top when its all said and done. Giving your all when you’ve got nothing left to give is the stuff that champions are made of!

Look at how un-fulfilling the end of the World Cup was between France and Italy. It came down to penalty kicks. PENALTY KICKS to decide who is the best team in the world! Bartez, who is a small goalie and is terrible in the PK, didn’t stand a chance; and the World Cup was decided.

Am I advocating non-stop sudden death in soccer? Probably not, simply because the nature of the game is so much more low scoring. But maybe giving both teams breaks – such as the period system in hockey – might keep the teams fresh enough to decide a winner. But that is a whole different sport and argument for a different day.

The point is this; nothing in the world of sports comes CLOSE to the intensity of NHL playoff overtime. Even considering making a change – to 4 on 4, or to a shootout, or any other silly option that anyone could come up with; would be absurd.

While we’re at it, lets cut extra innings in baseball and decide a winner by a home run contest instead. And instead of overtime in basketball, lets switch to a slam dunk contest.

As for sudden death in pro football? That actually does need some work.

(http://vegasdavesdime.blogspot.com/2007/04/no-more-multiple-overtimes-in-playoffs.html)

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