NBA Finals, UFC & Conor McGregor, Euro Finals With Troopz And Segments

Episode Description

On today's Pardon My Take... our good friend TROOPZ! The soccer savant joined today's show to discuss yesterday's heartbreaking loss for England against Italy in the Euro 2020 Final via Penalty Kicks, what the scene was like at Wembley, and whether or not his haircut cursed England. There was also a discussion of a debate on whether or not PK's are the right way to end a match after 120 intense minutes on the pitch. Some journalists and fans think it is too random, while others appreciate the chaos. Where does Troopz stand on this? He explained on today's show.

Mr. Cat: This is a question I want to know your take on. Ending a game in penalties, are you for it or against it? Because there's a lot of people who think it's terrible, a terrible way to crown a champion. It's obviously thrilling. You get some of the most, like, incredible moments in the sport from this. But where do you side on that?

Troopz: No, I'm with it. It's part of the game. If you can't win it in 120, then it's got to go to a penalty shootout. 

Mr. Commenter: At some point the players just get too tired. You can't keep playing forever and ever and ever. 

Troopz: They're playing at high intensity, blood. 

Mr. Cat: They walk around a little bit.

Mr. Commenter: They should, at the start of extra time, take two men off per side, and have it just be nine a side, and then maybe if it goes to the second overtime, you go seven on one, and then you end up just one on one, full-sized field, and then the first to 10 goals wins. 

Mr. Cat: Harry Kane's just tapping it in over and over and over. 

Troopz: This is why you men do NFL and basketball. 

Mr. Commenter: You can't be offsides if there's only one guy on your team. 

Mr. Cat: People love to say like their retort is always like, could you imagine if you ended the NFL game or college football game? Well, college football overtime kind of is that. They both start at the 25 and then they just score and score and score. It's awesome, it's fucking awesome. 

Mr. Commenter: Penalty kicks is just shooting a ball and then saving a ball, which is a pretty big part of soccer. So it's not saying like it's completely unrelated to the rest of the game. It's a pretty big, pretty big part of the game that you're doing to to crown the champion. I do understand why people are like, you know, it's not there's no passing. It's not a team sport at that point. It's just an exhibition. But those people, Mike Greenberg, I'm looking in your direction, need to figure out a better way to solve it besides, like I think we just did with our one on one. 

Mr. Commenter: They need to have a smart person sit down, take a look at it and see is there a way that we can do this a little bit differently? When you have a team like Italy that wins a couple of games in penalty kicks, it does feel like a little cheap, right? You're able to defend, defend, defend, stretch it out until overtime, stretch it out into PK's, and then all you have to do is make three shots from 12 yards out and you end up winning the game.

Troopz: Yeah, but if that's your tactic, that's your tactic, that's how you're going to go at it. You understand? It's who wins the tactical battle.

I agree with what Troopz is saying here. Luck is a big part of sports, and the intensity of a penalty shootout is unlike anything out there. When your team is involved, I imagine it is a very, very stressful 10 minutes trading shots back and forth. But as a neutral party, give me all the PK's.