Ties

 

Let’s Hear It For The Boy

Let's hear it for the boy
Let's give the boy a hand
Let's hear it for my baby
You know you gotta understand
Oh, maybe he's no Romeo
But he's my lovin' one-man show
Oh, whoa-oa-oa
Let's hear it for the boy

Let's hear it for the TIE!

In an elimination game, there is no such thing as a tie. That is why there is sudden death, extra innings, extra time, shoot outs, tie breakers, etc. In reality this is only because the regular contest ended in a tie. The result of any game is a win, a loss, or a tie (or a push for the sports bettors among you). A tie is NOT like kissing your sister. A tie is a legitimate and necessary outcome of every contest. The GAME, the Harvard-Yale Football Game of 1968, ended in a dramatic 29-29 tie, and the Harvard fans in attendance at the Harvard Bowl were jubilant, which  I hope was not how they would feel about kissing their sister.

If there was not the possibility of a tie, then there would never be be a game. In the group stage of the FIFA World Cup, a win is awarded 2 points, a tie is awarded 1 point and a loss is awarded no points. Life is a lot like that group stage. If there was not a reward for a tie, then why play? A win is only the result of a single contest. If you tie, also known as a draw, then you did something that is NOT losing.

Let's add win, loss, tie as among those trinities, a subject of previous blogs.

  https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2023/01/interest_30.html, https://dbeagan.blogspot.com/2022/09/triads.html. 

Pretending that there are no ties, or that a tie is the same as a loss is arguably why the US is in the condition that it is currently. And maybe that is why soccer...er, fútbol, is the most popular team sport in the world, because it rewards and acknowledges a tie. Viva la tie! Don’t ever change.