Game 8 of the World Series

So a few weeks ago I posted an ode to Australian Rules Football, which you can enjoy here.

I've now been introduced to one of the, um, odder customs in the sport.

I happened on, rather by accident, the wonderful news that ESPN Classic was doing live coverage of this year's Grand Final. Among the participants, the St. Kilda Saints, whom I'd seen in person win a controversial upset victory during the first round of the playoff series three weeks ago. Well, great game. The Saints fell behind pretty badly in the second quarter, but slowly and steadily made their way back in the second half, and then they go ahead by a goal late in the 4th quarter, fall behind by one point, get that one point back, and we end regulation time dead even at 68-68.

Well, imagine if it's game 7 of the World Series, the game is tied 4-4 at the end of 9 innings, and Bud Selig comes on the field to say it's such a great game that we're going to come back tomorrow and play another one.

You don't have to imagine it, because that's the current rule in the AFL. Finish the grand final tied, and everyone gets to come back next week to do the whole thing over again. I don't quite know whether to laugh or cry, stay up past 3AM for the grand finale of the Grand Final, and I get to do it all over again in a week.

The good news is that all of you now reading this blog post have several days to find out which part of the ESPN empire will broadcast the do-over, and you can all experience the joys of watching AFL.

But really, this is kind of way way weird.