# Should all sports give up tie breakers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 9, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474 "2006-12-09T15:35:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/21 "2006-12-10T17:28:41Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] Well, actually, baseball has had lots of tie games, in situations were games could not be continued. They just don’t appear in the standings. If the game doesn’t have to be suspended for rain or darkness, though, playing extra innings is the practical way to decide it **and is enormously appealing to the fans.** Fans LOVE extra innings; it’s one of baseball’s great pleasures. I mean, it’s supposed to be a spectator sport; why would you want to take away things spectators enjoy? [/QUOTE] I agree. I love extra-inning games. If you’re a baseball fan, it’s edge-of-your-seat stuff. One swing of the bat can decide it. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/22 "2006-12-10T17:56:26Z")
The only human sport that I really watch is Boxing. I’m OK with ties as long as the judging wasn’t all out of whack. ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/23 "2006-12-10T20:01:21Z")
[QUOTE=DKW] Tennis: Since the vast majority of events are single-elimination tournaments, I don’t see how draws would be even possible. However, I’m all for allowing individual sets to be tied. Monstrosities like 25-23 should NEVER be a possibility. If they’re all knotted up after 3/5, have a standard tiebreaker to decide it. [/QUOTE] You’re joking, right? I certainly was. Leaving individual sets tied is nearly as unworkable as leaving a tournament match a draw. How do you decide a three set match, when the score is 6-4 6-6 4-6? ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/24 "2006-12-10T21:01:19Z")
[QUOTE=DKW] Hockey: Yeah, in the past teams often played for the draw. Someone care to explain to me why this was such a horrible thing? (Don’t chess grandmasters do this _all the time?_) [/QUOTE] When teams play for the tie it’s _boring_. Hockey is supposed to be an exciting, free-flowing game. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/25 "2006-12-11T19:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Ace309] Playing four or five overtime periods can haunt a hockey team through fatigue for the next few games. [/QUOTE] But I like this aspect. The team had more than enough opportunities to avoid incurring this fatigue penalty. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/26 "2006-12-11T20:43:53Z")
No one has mentioned cricket, where you can have both ties and draws. A tie happens when both teamsd have completed both innings, and the scores are equal – it’s rare, and has only happened twice in international test matches. A draw happens when time runs out, with the team that has scored fewer runs still has batters not out – and that is pretty common, even with 5-day test games. A new version of cricket was created to get around this (and other) perceived problem, by having limited-over games that could no longer be drawn (but could still be tied). However, serious fanatics prefer the traditional form, where a losing team can play defensively and aim for a draw rather than a loss. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/27 "2006-12-11T21:50:35Z")
I hate the NCAA football rules where each side must get the ball. I love the idea that a coin toss can have a huge impact on the game. If you are the team kicking off in overtime you gotta stop the other side. Prevent defense isn’t good enough. It makes things much more exciting, IMO. Anything less isn’t “sudden death” and I like sudden death. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474/28 "2006-12-12T10:28:53Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] No one has mentioned cricket, where you can have both ties and draws. A tie happens when both teamsd have completed both innings, and the scores are equal – it’s rare, and has only happened twice in international test matches. A draw happens when time runs out, with the team that has scored fewer runs still has batters not out – and that is pretty common, even with 5-day test games. A new version of cricket was created to get around this (and other) perceived problem, by having limited-over games that could no longer be drawn (but could still be tied). However, serious fanatics prefer the traditional form, where a losing team can play defensively and aim for a draw rather than a loss. [/QUOTE] An older version used in international cricket was the “timeless” Test. Typically, matches scheduled to be played to a finish would be all over in five days anyway, but there were a couple of spectacular exceptions. The most notorious was one in Durban in 1938-39 when England were set an improbable 696 to win - well over 300 more than any side batting last had ever reached - and got within 42 of it before the rain brought the _tenth_ day’s play to a halt. Then, despite the lack of a time limit, the match had to be abandoned anyway so that the tourists could catch the ship home. (Half the side had yet to bat.) England had also drawn a 9-day match in Kingston nine years earlier after setting the home side 836 to win. Once again there was a ship to catch and England were robbed of the win with half of West Indies out and more than 400 still to get. 🙂 “Timeless” Tests have been consigned to history. In 1975 the last match of Australia’s tour of England was scheduled for six days. This time it was England’s turn to grind out the draw after having been in dire straits by the end of day two. Now five days is the upper limit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-all-sports-give-up-tie-breakers/383474.md?page=1)