Draws. The British and Irish Lions and All Blacks fought out a series draw after the third test ended up at 15-15.
The drama of sport? It felt more like a cosmic joke.
A tantalising win for the AB's seemed on offer until the bizarre French referee ended the game in a complete anti-climax.
Leaving aside the cowardly decision by the ref to change his mind after another annoying check with the video ref (too many refs spoiling the game), the hollow feeling we all felt because of the result was interesting.
Americans can't stand a drew. Someone has to win.
Other sports can't stand a draw. Someone has to win.
So we have overtime (NBA/ NFL/NHL/MLB), or a tie-break (tennis), or a penalty shoot out (football/ hockey), or something else entirely to break the deadlock.
Why? Because we need someone to win, to dominate, to provide bragging rights, to satisfy some deep need/craving we have.
On Saturday night Steve Hansen trotted out the 'kissing your sister' analogy again - I really don't like that tired joke. Something vaguely off about the hint of incest involved.
Instead, I do love the genius opening to Woody Allen's Stardust Memories movie (which turns out to be a movie within a movie by Sandy Bates of course):
That's the feeling, precisely, of a draw. Somewhere - there's another train, a better existence, a win, that we gaze at longingly, but it's out of reach - impossibly on a parallel track. We long for it, and we try for it anyway, but without success.
In the end Lions and AB fans were all together wandering aimlessly around a rubbish dump while gulls circled in the sky.
Love and peace - WNP
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