Using that analogy, one can only hope common sense will also prevail with the futile football exercise every four years.
Here's also hoping the Olympic soccer qualifying organisers will get their act together with a lot more haste than those initiating recent road rules after decades of frustration.
Oly Whites (under-23s) pulverise Tonga 10-0.
A few days later the Football Ferns all but ensure London Olympics qualification with an 8-0 thumping of Papua New Guinea in Whangarei last Saturday night.
Why did they bother playing the away second leg (won 7-0) in Port Morseby yesterday?
It seems booking a flight to London for a life-long Olympics experience is all that matters.
When will this part of the world stop playing meaningless games?
While the blokes worked up some sweat against Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in Taupo, you have to wonder how well prepared they will be going into the Games.
Countries in other parts of the world are competing in much higher octane-filled arenas to make the cut.
The format of the Oceania region seems to be a FIFA arrangement to keep everyone happy.
It's a no-win situation.
Yes, the minnows from the Pacific Island nations get to play their relatively resource-rich neighbours New Zealand.
Consequently those games give them an idea of what they need to aspire to in a seemingly impossible task of ever marching in the opening ceremony of the Olympics to the tune of their national anthem.
From New Zealand's perspective - bar the squad of 18 or so going for an unforgettable experience in the Games village where the importance of condoms are stressed as much as the evils of using performance-enhancing drugs - what are we likely to gain?
From FIFA's view, it is great exposure on the international stage for amateurs in a code that is already a global phenomenon in the professional arena as the biggest team sport in the world.
Arguably, it can be a useful platform for talent scouts from the cash-rich clubs around the world to recruit potential superstars.
In the more cutthroat environment of the FIFA World Cup finals, Ricki Herbert has shown that he can coach sides to eke out stalemates against some of the elite nations.
But just as the All Whites need to start winning at the World Cup, the Oly Whites need to show they are capable of matching decent opposition before qualifying.
This would at least ensure they're capable of footing it against the world's elite under-23s at the Games and would give a fair yardstick of how well football is progressing here.
In the current format, it hardly matters who is in Neil Emblen's squad.
Hawke's Bay-born Andrew Bevin, who returned from his American college to play for Emblen's Waitakere United in the hope of making the squad, should have every reason to feel aggrieved after finding he was surplus to requirements.
Basically it raises the question, not just for the blokes but the female Football Ferns as well, of what exactly is the criteria for selection to the Olympics?
The qualifying stage barely tests the calibre of players and succeeds in reducing the Games to a glorified trip for the chosen ones.
Seeking a more equitable qualifying route to the Olympics may be demanding and even result in not making the cut in the next decade or so.
Nevertheless, what is certain is that when the Oly Whites and White Ferns make that cut, they would be among the countries considered to be genuine medal contenders.
