I see a lot of debate lately about "World Champions" as it pertains to Olympic basketball and the NBA Championship. To me it seems radically different sport to sport. What does everyone else think?
Football - Seems cringe to say "world champions" because so few countries play. If you had to say it, it's Superbowl Champions who are "world champs" but I'd rather it wasn't a thing people said. It's just an American thing that's popular to watch some other places too.
Baseball - It is at least a widely played sport on three continents so I don't mind "World Series" as much since MLB is by far the best level of play. World Series champ is definitely the best pro baseball team that year and a decent % of MLB is international. The World Baseball Classic is cool and I don't have any problem calling that a world championship but it's not actually the highest level/achievement of baseball right?
Basketball - I think the Olympic champ can be called "World Champ" because most of the best players in the world try to qualify and play for their country. I have a REALLY hard time calling FIBA worlds "world champ" when so many of the best players don't even play. I'm totally fine calling NBA Champ "World Champ" when the top 4 MVP vote getters this year were not even American. This sets European sports fans into rage mode which is what sparked the whole topic for me. The NBA champ is very clearly the best pro team in the world and competing against global competition even if the games are all in US/Canada.
Hockey - know nothing about international hockey
Soccer - The World Cup champ is obviously a very pure "World Champion", Olympic soccer really is not for men for the same reasons I struggle with FIBA worlds. For women Olympic soccer does seem more like a true world champ. I see a lot of people arguing that being EPL champ isn't world champ because it's just one country, but to me Champion's League champion really is the best pro team in the world of a given year since Italy, Spain and Germany often have clubs that are just as good or better than top EPL clubs. I get that Europeans hate the idea of calling Champions's League Champ "World Champ" because of the World Cup, but hey, that's the "best pro team in the world" and the players are incredibly global.
Golf/Tennis - it's about the majors and maybe the world ranking?
Most other sports - seems like it's just the Olympics with their own annual "worlds" also being world champ once a year?
Football - Seems cringe to say "world champions" because so few countries play. If you had to say it, it's Superbowl Champions who are "world champs" but I'd rather it wasn't a thing people said. It's just an American thing that's popular to watch some other places too.
Baseball - It is at least a widely played sport on three continents so I don't mind "World Series" as much since MLB is by far the best level of play. World Series champ is definitely the best pro baseball team that year and a decent % of MLB is international. The World Baseball Classic is cool and I don't have any problem calling that a world championship but it's not actually the highest level/achievement of baseball right?
Basketball - I think the Olympic champ can be called "World Champ" because most of the best players in the world try to qualify and play for their country. I have a REALLY hard time calling FIBA worlds "world champ" when so many of the best players don't even play. I'm totally fine calling NBA Champ "World Champ" when the top 4 MVP vote getters this year were not even American. This sets European sports fans into rage mode which is what sparked the whole topic for me. The NBA champ is very clearly the best pro team in the world and competing against global competition even if the games are all in US/Canada.
Hockey - know nothing about international hockey
Soccer - The World Cup champ is obviously a very pure "World Champion", Olympic soccer really is not for men for the same reasons I struggle with FIBA worlds. For women Olympic soccer does seem more like a true world champ. I see a lot of people arguing that being EPL champ isn't world champ because it's just one country, but to me Champion's League champion really is the best pro team in the world of a given year since Italy, Spain and Germany often have clubs that are just as good or better than top EPL clubs. I get that Europeans hate the idea of calling Champions's League Champ "World Champ" because of the World Cup, but hey, that's the "best pro team in the world" and the players are incredibly global.
Golf/Tennis - it's about the majors and maybe the world ranking?
Most other sports - seems like it's just the Olympics with their own annual "worlds" also being world champ once a year?
