breaking news: home run derby to decide the world series

just as ridiculous as this headline would be is the headline that reads:

Manchester United wins Champions League final on penalty shootout

penalty shootout? so like the stanley cup being decided on a shootout or the nba finals being decided on a 3pt shooting contest. "ray allens hits 18 of 20 from 3pt land to win celtics 17th championship!" i mean, c'mon.

i'm not the world's biggest soccer fan, but i know it's ridiculous to have the European Champions League title decided by penalty shoots. It's true that they could have legitimately played another 90 minutes without scoring another goal, but it seems like a cop-out to decide such an important game this way. the nhl started having shootouts to decide regular season games but they don't do that come playoff time because it's not a true measure of talent. it's gimmicky; nothing less.

i didn't watch the game yesterday due to a prior engagement (namely work) so maybe i'm misguided. i'm sure it was exciting as hell. but i'm also sure that it would have been equally exciting, if not much more, if the teams were to battle it out playing the actual game, not just one facet of the game.

i know that both teams were in the same position so i don't think that the outcome was bullshit or anything... it's just that shootouts seem like a terribly poor way to decide championships. kind of like having each football team start at the opposing team's twenty yard line (here's to you ncaa).