If Ryder Cup played by World Cup rules

        I watched as many World Cup games from South Africa as I could, especially in the “knockout” rounds.  The tension quotient was high, tension of course being a key ingredient for great sporting matches.

        American media tells us Americans that we don’t like soccer because there is not enough scoring and the pace of games is too

slow.  Hey, guys, try watching a baseball game between Cleveland and Kansas City.  At least in soccer, they keep moving -– except for when the players are complaining to the referee, or flopping around on the ground like a beached carp in an attempt to force a yellow card against their opponent, or when the ref is trying to get the “wall” in front of the goal in the right position for a direct kick.

        Okay, soccer is pretty slow too.  And the constant complaints and arm waving makes the games take on a Keystone Cops look.  The one unpardonable sin for soccer, though, is how tie games are resolved in a tournament like the World Cup.  If the overtime period of the final game between Spain and Netherlands had gone another few minutes without the goal that Spain scored, hundreds of millions around the world would have had to endure a session of five penalty kicks for each side.  There is no dopier way to resolve a sporting event of that magnitude, and no more painful reward for great play -– an epic match resolved by a mistake, by essentially forcing someone to be the goat.

        Imagine that the American and European Ryder Cup teams are tied at the end of three days, and they go to a series of five two-foot putts until someone misses, and you essentially have the golf equivalent of penalty kicks.

        That just doesn’t seem very sporting, at least from an American point of view.