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Ladish and Chennelmen, I Present The World Champion Patriots 12 Comments More | Login | Reply /

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  • 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
    • 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 title for the winner of the SuperBowl is US-centric in the extreme.

      My mother is about to go to Mexico for a few weeks and was saying that she probably wouldn't be watching much of the upcoming winter Olympics. All they'll get there will be U.S. network TV; so she would see nothing except American athletes, as if presense of the rest of the world there was irrelevant. When she watches Olympics, she wants to watch the best performances, regardless of where those individuals happen to live. (This was based on her watching American coverage of the 2000 Olympics - she was travelling then, too.)
      • 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
        • And no, the other countries are not irrelevant, but they only have so many hours in the day to show the American athletes, and on American networks, American athletes are usually more important. It's not like there's a thing wrong with that, that is how it *should be*. And it is.

          No, that is not how it should be. When the third place American gets most of the coverage and the first and second place non-Americans get no coverage at all, it shows a drastically skewed priorities.

          Highlighting the performan
          • Americans want to watch Americans, whether they are in third place, or don't place at all. American TV is for Americans. This isn't rocket science, and it is not in any way wrong. It's the way it is and should be.

            I suppose you can keep asserting it's wrong, but that doesn't make it so. Perhaps *you* don't want to see primarily Americans. So what? I don't want to see any figure skating. I don't expect the networks to care what I want and don't want.
            • Americans want to watch Americans, whether they are in third place, or don't place at all. American TV is for Americans.
              Speak for yourself, bucko! I'm an American, and all I want to watch is hot amateur Russian action. Athletic action, that is. Mostly.
        • 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.

          I'm the World Champion of shovelling driveways on Hillview Crescent, Pickering.

          If something is only done in one small part of the globe, the phrase "world champions" is self-aggrandization.

          For 90% of the world's population, football is implicitly "soccer", and American Fo
          • If something is only done in one small part of the globe, the phrase "world champions" is self-aggrandization.

            Perhaps. On the other hand, much of the world actually watches the Super Bowl. You don't like that they are called World Champions? *shrug* I don't like that they eat raw fish. I don't complain.

            For 90% of the world's population, football is implicitly "soccer", and American Football is something that is relatively unimportant (for most of them it is totally unknown).

            I can't see what the
        • 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.
          • Sure they have. Millions of Americans watched the World Cup games in 1994. How is that not "significant"?
            • 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.
              • 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
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