Win, Lose, or Draw. Or, Better Yet, WIN!

At Wimbledon, the match between John Isner of the US and Nicolas Mahut of France, has been suspended in the fifth set due to darkness. That's not what makes this interesting. What makes it interesting is that the first four sets were actually played yesterday: The players spent ten hours playing today and still have not finished the fifth set. As we write, the set is tied at 59 games apiece. The match has already shattered every conceivable record for longevity, and there's no telling how much longer it will continue once play resumes tomorrow.

This is one of the great things about tennis: Somebody actually has to step up and win before the game can end. It highlights what we think is one of the major flaws with today's other headline-grabbing sport, soccer. It's incomprehensible that a major sporting event like a World Cup soccer match can end in a tie. What's even more outrageous, though, is the method that the soccer gods have established for settling contests where a draw is unacceptable (e.g., in elimination rounds at major tournaments): penalty kicks.

How can any sport's governing body allow a decisive victory to be earned through methods other than just playing the game? (For the record, we have a similar objection to hockey "shootouts.") The argument, as far as we can tell, is that, since it is so difficult to score in soccer, it could take an outrageous amount of time for a game to be settled through standard game play. To which we say, "Who cares?" The fans who have paid good money to watch the game or who are following passionately from afar will presumably enjoy every extra minute. And if the players get tired, at least they're getting equally tired.

Deciding a World Cup match with a penalty-kick shootout is like deciding an NBA Finals game with free throws. Some may argue that many NBA games--close games--are effectively decided at the foul line, but that's different. When basketball players shoot free throws, they are receiving a sort of compensation for being victims of infractions by the other team. The whole notion of a penalty-kick shootout seems semantically flawed, if nothing else. What are teams being penalized for? Effective defense?

Baseball and basketball cannot end in ties. Football can, but it's extremely rare, and in the playoffs, no ties are allowed: The game continues until one team scores--legitimately. Isner and Mahut will keep slugging it out until one of them wins by two games (or until one of them drops dead of old age). The soccer gods should take notice.

(Addendum: Congratulations to the USA soccer team for its thrilling victory and World Cup advancement. If Americans are getting good at it, maybe soccer is a real sport after all.)