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• Let's Face It (Score:1)

  by pudge (1)

  The four American (yes, I know the NHL is largely Canadian, but primarily American; basketball and baseball aren't Canadian despite there existing Canadian teams, though) sports leagues are the premiere leagues of their respective sports. The NFL, baseball, hockey, and basketball champions are the world champions. This may not have been the case always in hockey, but it is now. It's always been the case with football and basketball.
  
  In baseball it may no longer be a clear case, I'll grant, with Japan ha
  • Re:Let's Face It (Score:1)

    by jmm (276)

    Baseball has an excuse - the "World Series" winner wins a trophy names after the New York World (a newspaper which ceased to exist long ago). It's an embarassing excuse, since unless you know the real meaning of "World" it just sounds arrogant.
    
    There is a World Cup for football. However that is for a game that applies feet to a ball; and where touching the ball with your hands is a foul unless you are a goalkeeper. America doesn't participate in any significant extent in this event, but claiming that ti
    • Re:Let's Face It (Score:1)

      by pudge (1)

      America does participate significantly in the World Cup. I went to a U.S.-Colombia game that rocked, and the U.S. went on to pose a serious threat to Brazil in the next round.
      
      Anyway, I don't see how you can't call the Patriots the world champions of football. "American" football is implied, and no other team in any other country could possibly beat them. Yes, it is US-centric, but so is American football.
      
      And no, the other countries are not irrelevant, but they only have so many hours in the day to sh
      • Re:Let's Face It (Score:1)

        by jmm (276)

        America does participate significantly in the World Cup. I went to a U.S.-Colombia game that rocked, and the U.S. went on to pose a serious threat to Brazil in the next round.
        
        I wasn't meaning that America didn't take part at all. They play and occassionally accomplish some results, although they have never been at the top as competitors. My main point though, was that the American people has never been interested significantly.
        • Re:Let's Face It (Score:1)

          by pudge (1)

          Sure they have. Millions of Americans watched the World Cup games in 1994. How is that not "significant"?
          • Re:Let's Face It (Score:2)

            by Matts (1087) on 2002.02.05 5:03 (#4101) Journal

            Perhaps because they did not repeat that viewing figure in 1998, or any of the world cups prior to that? How many watched from the US in 1998 anyway? I was unable to find any exact figures by country (except for the overall figure of 1 billion people watching the 1998 final), but the US is renouned throughout the world for its general disinterest in the world's most popular game.

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            • Re:Let's Face It (Score:1)

              by pudge (1)

              I agree the US doesn't watch it as much as most countries, I just disagree that the numbers that do are not "significant." Depends on how you define it, I suppose. Certainly far fewer than watch the Big Four major sports championship tournaments, or the Olympics, or the college tournaments, etc. But I watch, and I know a lot of people who do.
              
              I think most Americans just realize that soccer, in comparison to other sports, sucks. ;-)
              
              BTW, USA just won the Gold Cup (the CONCACAF tournament) for the first