Wild Win

Okay, I've been neglecting Minnesota's other winter sports team. There's a good reason for that. It's just hockey, right?

Well, I watched part of last night's game, and even though the Wild are off to a great start this year (12-4-4), it's still just hockey.  The final was 3-2. The Wild had one more lucky bounce than the Panthers, and the Wild skated away with a 3-2 win.

It's a lot like soccer except they move faster. I've explained this before but it bears repeating.  When all of the games are this close and low scoring, winning is not determined by the "better" team but by simple odds. Knowing there are so many ties, shows the same thing.

I can't stand any sport that is determined more by mathematical probability than skill. The players and teams are too evenly matched to root for. It's not much different than flipping a coin. Sometimes it land on heads 5 times in a row.  That's a winning streak.

I'm not saying the players aren't skilled, they quite clearly are. But most team's players have very similar skill levels. As a result, their skill doesn't determine outcomes.

Probability does.

Baseball has great pitching. Football has great quartbacks.

Hockey just has lucky screened bounces that go in the net.

So does soccer.

Your free to watch if you wish, but coin tossing just doesn't interest me.