Funny, I thought I *was* speaking for myself...

Yeah I know penalty kicks are heavily biased towards the shooter. In two of my years of playing soccer I played keeper. We never settled ties with shootouts at age 12, of course, but I did have to try to defend penalty kicks due to fouls in the penalty area (I think I made one save in perhaps seven or eight opportunities, and that was only because the ball basically went right to me.)

Having said all that, I still think ties suck. Your point is valid in that a keeper has little chance to do anything about penalty kicks, so why not make the players put the ball in from the 18 yard line during shootouts instead of from the penalty mark at 12 yards? Normal penalty kicks would still be taken from the penalty mark, but during overtime, why not move the players back a little? In this scenario, the keeper would have a much better chance to break on the ball, yet the shooter would still have a reasonable chance to score with a well-placed kick. Allowing the keeper to leave the goal line before the ball is kicked could also increase his chances a little bit.

Even with all the advantages the shooter has in shootouts, it's still up to them to put the ball into the net... So I don't know why the winner would feel unsatisfied about winning on shootouts. I guess it's better to win in the course of a normal game, but I'd frankly prefer "counting potatoes" if it means that after I've paid my $TICKET_PRICE I leave the game knowing someone won and someone lost.