抛硬币在各种体育运动中占有一席之地

记忆中最具争议性的选举之一很快就会结束（我们希望），美国人今天将前往投票站决定卡马拉·哈里斯还是唐纳德·特朗普将成为他们的下一任总统。

The U.S. presidential election is finally upon us (we think), and by all accounts it's pretty much a 50/50 race. Considering those odds, and the fact that everyone seems pretty stressed about what our neighbours might do, I thought it might be fun to look at some famous coin flips in sports.

美国总统选举终于来临了（我们认为），从各方面来看，这几乎是一场 50/50 的竞选。考虑到这些可能性，以及每个人似乎都对我们的邻居可能会做什么感到非常紧张的事实，我认为看看体育运动中一些著名的抛硬币可能会很有趣。

Before we indulge our inner Anton Chigurh, a little background.

在我们沉迷于安东·奇古尔（Anton Chigurh）内心之前，先了解一些背景。

Coin flips have a regular place in a variety of sports. In tennis, for instance, they determine who gets first serve. In soccer, which team kicks first in a shootout. In cricket, the winner decides whether to bat or bowl to begin the match.

抛硬币在各种运动中都占有一席之地。例如，在网球比赛中，他们决定谁先发球。在足球比赛中，点球大战中哪支球队先开球。在板球比赛中，获胜者决定是击球还是投球来开始比赛。

Sometimes, a coin toss can even be used to settle a tie. A famous example came during soccer's 1968 European Championship, which happened before the adoption of the penalty shootout. With host Italy and the Soviet Union still knotted at 0-0 after extra time in the semifinals, a coin flip determined who would advance. The Italians won it, then defeated Yugoslavia to capture their first Euro title. (That matchup initially ended in a tie too. But, under the rules at the time for settling a final, the game was replayed a couple days later and Italy won 2-0).

有时，甚至可以用抛硬币来解决平局。一个著名的例子是 1968 年欧洲足球锦标赛，当时比赛采用点球大战。半决赛加时赛后东道主意大利与苏联仍打成0-0，掷硬币决定谁晋级。意大利队赢得了冠军，然后击败南斯拉夫夺得了他们的第一个欧洲杯冠军。 （那场比赛最初也以平局结束。但是，根据当时的决赛规则，比赛在几天后重赛，意大利以 2-0 获胜）。

Among the major North American team sports, football is the only one that uses coin flips regularly. The team that wins the referee's toss at midfield before the game can choose to receive the opening kickoff, kick the ball away, defend a certain endzone or defer their option to the second half.

在北美主要的团队运动中，橄榄球是唯一经常使用抛硬币的运动。赛前赢得裁判在中场抛球的球队可以选择开球、将球踢出、防守某个端区或推迟到下半场进行选择。

I'm pretty sure this has never happened before, but the NFL's criteria for breaking a tie in the standings also include a coin toss. For that to happen though, at least 10 other tiebreakers needed to be exhausted first.

我很确定这种情况以前从未发生过，但 NFL 在积分榜上打破平局的标准还包括掷硬币。但要做到这一点，至少需要先用尽其他 10 个决胜局。

The NHL, NBA and MLB do not currently have a coin flip among their potential tiebreakers. But, in the past, the NBA used a toss to decide whether the Eastern or Western Conference would get the first pick in the draft. This resulted in Magic Johnson going to the Lakers in 1979 instead of Chicago, which had to settle for David Greenwood.

NHL、NBA 和 MLB 目前尚未在潜在的决胜局中进行掷硬币决定。但是，在过去，NBA是通过抛掷来决定东部或西部是否会获得选秀第一顺位。这导致魔术师约翰逊在 1979 年转投湖人队，而不是芝加哥队，后者不得不接受大卫·格林伍德。

Here are some other great coin-toss moments:

以下是其他一些精彩的抛硬币时刻：

Tails fails for Jerome Bettis

杰罗姆·贝蒂斯的尾巴失败了

When a 1998 game between Bettis' Pittsburgh Steelers and the Detroit Lions on U.S. Thanksgiving went to overtime, the big running back was asked to call the coin flip for first ball. Bettis said "tails," but referee Phil Luckett thought he heard "heads." The coin landed tails, Luckett awarded Detroit the ball (over protests from Bettis and his teammates) and the Lions promptly won the game on a field goal.

1998年美国感恩节，贝蒂斯队的匹兹堡钢人队与底特律雄狮队的比赛进入加时赛，这位大个子跑卫被要求宣布第一个球的投硬币。贝蒂斯说“反面”，但裁判菲尔·卢克特认为他听到的是“正面”。硬币反面朝上，卢克特将球权判给了底特律队（不顾贝蒂斯和他的队友的抗议），雄狮队很快就凭借射门赢得了比赛。

Embarrassed by the high-profile mess-up, the NFL quickly changed its rules so that heads or tails must be called before the flip, not while the coin is in the air. And two other members of the officiating crew must also be present.

由于对这一引人注目的混乱事件感到尴尬，美国国家橄榄球联盟迅速改变了规则，规定必须在抛硬币之前判断正面或反面，而不是在硬币悬空时判断。另外两名主礼人员也必须在场。

Joe Namath jumps the gun

乔·纳马斯抢先一步

Broadway Joe came dressed to the nines to perform the opening coin toss at Super Bowl XLVIII between the Broncos and Seahawks, rocking an outrageous fur coat at chilly MetLife Stadium just outside New York City.

在纽约郊外寒冷的大都会人寿体育场，百老汇乔盛装打扮，在第 48 届超级碗野马队和海鹰队之间的开场投硬币表演中，他穿着一件夸张的毛皮大衣。

But the Jets legend came in too hot, flicking the coin up before anyone had a chance to call it. Luckily, alert ref Terry McAulay caught it in midair and Namath got it right on take two.

但喷气机队的传奇人物来得太热了，在任何人有机会宣布之前就将硬币弹了起来。幸运的是，机警的裁判特里·麦考利在半空中接住了球，纳马斯在第二回合中成功完成了进球。

The XFL's human coin toss goes awry

XFL 的人力抛硬币出了问题

When Vince McMahon's football league debuted in 2001, it promised to disrupt the sport in a number of ways. Some of the innovations were actually pretty good and ended up being absorbed by the NFL, like skycams and mic'ed-up players. But the so-called "human coin toss" turned out to be as dangerous as a chair shot.

当文斯·麦克马洪 (Vince McMahon) 的橄榄球联盟于 2001 年首次推出时，它承诺会以多种方式颠覆这项运动。有些创新实际上非常好，最终被 NFL 吸收，例如天空摄像头和麦克风播放器。但事实证明，所谓的“人类抛硬币”和椅子射击一样危险。

Rather than flip a coin to determine who got possession first, XFL referees placed the ball on the ground and one player from each sprinted for it. To be honest, the idea was kind of exciting, but the downsides became obvious right away when Orlando Rage safety Hassan Shamsid-Deen separated his shoulder on opening night.

XFL 裁判并没有通过掷硬币来决定谁先获得控球权，而是将球放在地上，然后每个球员中的一名球员冲刺。说实话，这个想法有点令人兴奋，但当奥兰多愤怒队安全卫哈桑·沙姆西德·迪恩在揭幕战之夜肩膀分离时，其缺点就立即显现出来。

The Canucks and Sabres spin their wheel of fortune

加人队和军刀队旋转他们的命运之轮

OK, this wasn't actually a coin flip. But it was the same thing, basically. Except way more fun. Because why flip a boring old coin when you can use an elaborate (and unnecessarily confusing) carnival wheel to do the same job?

好吧，这实际上不是抛硬币。但基本上是同一件事。除了更有趣。因为当你可以使用一个精心设计的（并且不必要地令人困惑的）嘉年华轮来完成同样的工作时，为什么还要抛一枚无聊的旧硬币呢？

That was the NHL's move ahead of the 1970 draft, when the top two picks were promised to expansion Vancouver and Buffalo. Whoever got the No. 1 choice would take Gilbert Perreault, who scored 51 goals in 54 junior games that season.

这是 NHL 在 1970 年选秀之前采取的举措，当时承诺将前两名选秀权扩大到温哥华和布法罗。无论谁获得第一名，都会选择吉尔伯特·佩罗，他在该赛季的 54 场青少年比赛中攻入 51 粒进球。

Instead of flipping a coin or pulling ping-pong balls like we see in today's draft lotteries, the league decided that the best thing for this high-stakes moment

联盟并没有像今天的选秀乐透中看到的那样掷硬币或拉乒乓球，而是决定在这个高风险时刻最好的事情是