"World" Champion?? Please define....

[Kipobe]

American sports are open to the world even if no one else plays them.

 

[November Rain]

That's kind of dubious if you ask me. How do we do this with every sport? Football (soccer) is the only sport that is played on a global level. That is played all around the world... but baseball, american football, hockey, and basketball don't have this type of following all around the world. Can you even name any other large baseball, american football, hockey, or basketball league outside of North America? If a large league arises out there that can rival either the MLB, NFL, NHL, or NBA then I say fine.... do it if you can arrange such a thing. But until then, what are we supposed to travel all around the world in the players offseason to play every league in every different nation?

it's not a problem if its not feasible, just simply take out the use of the word 'world' and become national or continental champions etc...

personally i think that only a country team can be world champions just because if we were to get all the teams from around the world to participate in a competition it would take far too long to organise, a cup based on countries alone takes far too long to organise.

 

[Slipknot]

it's not a problem if its not feasible, just simply take out the use of the word 'world' and become national or continental champions etc...

That's stupid though. That's saying that there is an actual league out there that has a team that is better than the NBA, NHL, MLB, or NFL champions. Can you seriously name a team better from any such league in the world? I keep asking and yet I never seem to get a response...

personally i think that only a country team can be world champions just because if we were to get all the teams from around the world to participate in a competition it would take far too long to organise, a cup based on countries alone takes far too long to organise.

Only a national team can be declared champion of the world? Pfft. If a team is the best in their sport in the best league in the world then I think they can declare themselves the champions of the world in that particular sport. As I said before... it is very hard to actually say some of the winners in the Olympics and such are actually the best national team in the world. It is hard because they get together and play about a week to a months worth of games. How can you really say that is a better measurment of a champion than a team that plays for half a year or even longer to win their championship? Like I said... the best players in the world come to play in the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL. That is why the "world" champion title is not all that bad.

 

[Iceman]

I'm not disputing that the best baseball, american football and basketball teams in the US are the best in the world but that doesn't mean that they should be called world champions. Even if you are the fastest 100m runner on the planet by half a second or the best sports team in the best league in the world you cannot be crowned world champions until you prove it in a worldwide competition (which should be called something along the lines of the world championships).

Being best in the world and being world champions are not the same thing. The best individual can be injured and the best team can be horrendously out of form during a world championship.

 

[November Rain]

That's stupid though. That's saying that there is an actual league out there that has a team that is better than the NBA, NHL, MLB, or NFL champions. Can you seriously name a team better from any such league in the world? I keep asking and yet I never seem to get a response...

Not being rude but i don't care enough about any of these sports to care so much. The fact still remains that being a world champion is still being presumptious because challenges haven't all come from across the world rather than a different continent. heck in basketball the rules in europe differe slightly from NBA rules (i think the same with some football leagues, or at least they started off differently) so declaring a winner based on a system where rules differ could cause problems with adapting to a certain system.

I mean the reason these cups and titles are called what they are are all purely due to tradition and they wanted to see larger and on a grander scale, it's only after time due to the fact that these sports are concentrated in certain locations in the world that a claim to being a 'world' champion isn't so far off. I feel it started out being pretentious but evolution of the sport doesn't make the titles any less pretentious.

Only a national team can be declared champion of the world? Pfft. If a team is the best in their sport in the best league in the world then I think they can declare themselves the champions of the world in that particular sport. As I said before... it is very hard to actually say some of the winners in the Olympics and such are actually the best national team in the world. It is hard because they get together and play about a week to a months worth of games. How can you really say that is a better measurment of a champion than a team that plays for half a year or even longer to win their championship? Like I said... the best players in the world come to play in the NBA, MLB, NFL, and NHL. That is why the "world" champion title is not all that bad.

again what i would consider a great team is filled with great individuals that are all willing and are able to adapt their game play to the others around them for the best of the team, which is really only shown by selecting the elite from a large number of players from a certain sporting nation.

obviously bravado, money, sponsoring, peer pressure and other things as well as bad management and injuries don't always allow this situation to occur but that's part of the sport.

i personally think any national elite team could beat the best of a club side, even with significantly less training behind them.

 

[xcan28]

Can you really say that the NFL champion is not the "world" champion of football? Who is the winner of the league supposed to play? Is there even any other American football league in any other country other than NFL Europe... which is basically just a minor league NFL affiliate.

Funny enough there is a glimmer of hope for you! I just wanted to bring up that fact as well.

I conceed that the NFL Super Bowl winner CAN be named World Champ. There is no other country outside of North America that has kids playing that sport, even minimally...but we MAY have to have a CFL v. NFL final if people still aren't sure

And Slip...no more debating! Only NFL can do it, from here on in MLB, NBA and NHL must remove the word "World Champ" from any type of future promotions

 

[Mr. Walters]

That's kind of dubious if you ask me. How do we do this with every sport? Football (soccer) is the only sport that is played on a global level. That is played all around the world... but baseball, american football, hockey, and basketball don't have this type of following all around the world. Can you even name any other large baseball, american football, hockey, or basketball league outside of North America? If a large league arises out there that can rival either the MLB, NFL, NHL, or NBA then I say fine.... do it if you can arrange such a thing. But until then, what are we supposed to travel all around the world in the players offseason to play every league in every different nation?

I could name a dozen hockey leagues out side of North America, but to be honest with you, my post wasn't to be taken serious.

 

[reggiebar]

It is certainly okay for the NBA, NHL and NFL to call their league champion "World Champio" as they are the only professional leagues of their sport that play at the highest level. Further, the best talent from all over the World comes to these leagues to play (hockey - best International players play in the NHL, basketball - best International players play in the NBA, American football - well, that sport is pretty much only played in America - NFL Europe is a minor league). So, for football, hockey and basketball, it is more than okay to call that team World Champions as they are the only leagues of theur type playing at the highest level.

However, with basbeall, it is no longer okay to call the MLB champuon World Champion as the professional league in Japan is playing baseball at pretty much the same level as the US. So, until we have MLB teams in japan, I would say people can claim that it is bogus to call the MLB champion World Champion. As for American football (NFL), hockey (NHL) and basketball (NBA). Yes, they can safely be called World Champions.

 

[Mr. Walters]

Watch an international Hockey game and then tell me that the NHL is the only league to play at the highest level. Half the NHL talent comes from Eruopean elite leagues. And the Swedish team that won a Gold Medal in Turin was not made up of entirely NHL players. Yes their were a few, but not all of them were NHL players.

 

[reggiebar]

Watch an international Hockey game and then tell me that the NHL is the only league to play at the highest level. Half the NHL talent comes from Eruopean elite leagues. And the Swedish team that won a Gold Medal in Turin was not made up of entirely NHL players. Yes their were a few, but not all of them were NHL players.

The BEST talent in the World plays in the NHL - period.

Teams that play olympic hockey that are made mostly of NHL players do not play long enough together to be a real tem - hence why Sweeden did so wll as they had longer to prepare.

Thos eother professional leagues are not NHL level in their talent - period. Can't be argued.

Any player who pays in Europe would jump at the chance to be able to play in the NHL.

 

[reggiebar]

For the record, the NHL does not even refer to their champion as "World Champion". The NHL calls their champion "Stanley Cup" Champion.

 

[Mr. Walters]

I'd say that sure, the best talent in the world plays in the NHL...now. It wasn't always the case. The Soviet team destroyed the NHL's best in 1979, and then three months later were upset by Team USA in the Olympics. I won't argue about odds and probabiltiy. I already said this in this thread that you take a 'world champion" team and pit them against any other team, then the "world champions" will more than likley win nine out of ten times. But a lot of people in this thread are just assuming that because a team has won at the NHL level that it is one hundred percent garunteed that they can beat any other team, and that is just not true. Sports is filled with incredible upsets and underdogs winning.

And while those other leagues in general are not up to par with the NHL there are certainly some players that can do major damage to NHL guys. Yuo think Alexander Ovechikin suddenly got good the day he came to the NHL. The things he does to forwards all oer the NHL last season he could have done for the previous two seasons.

 

[U.S War Machine]