Does any fellow Britnet buddies out there kind of giggle or get slightly ruffled when a team wins a competition over here like the Superbowl or The World Series or say NBA Playoffs or when an announcer or player or analyser calls a team The World Champions!!!
People who I talk to about it get quite annoyed when I bring up the subject and I was wondering if any of my britnet britnuts wanted to stand on their soapbox and air their views on the subject!! Maybe it vexes you! maybe it humours you! or maybe you just couldnt give a bigger crap!! just write and let us know!!
all my regards
from
Alan
(britnet's World Champion Worcester Sauce Consumer!!)
This is something I always point out, and when I mention it to work-assoiciates they respond with "Well there are some Canadian teams" (MLB) in a joking manner.
Fortunately where I work is very cosmopolitan so most people are more "World Knowledgable" than your average American, so I think they quickly see the point and can joke about it.
Just the other day we were talking about basketball in the Olympics and how the "All-Stars" never care about it that much, I said that in most major sports around the World playing for your country is a great honour and international competitions are very prestigous and very exciting. I think that a World Cup would be a good idea for any sport as long as countries are willing to participate. Obviously this would be difficult for baseball and US football - but would be great for Basketball and Ice Hockey(?) - I feel the variety of the Olympics dilutes the significance of each individual sport.
These are conversations I remember having at the pub with mates years back. I've not really heard an equivalent here from my American friends - perhaps they are being too polite on my behalf.
Someone did mention "soccer" in a jokey, critical way the other day during a formal lecture they were giving, as if it was an annoyance that you'd pat on the head and send on it's way, which made some of the group smile but I looked annoyed and so did two New Zealanders who were in the audience with me. It was a cultural joke though and the speaker had every right to make it from his point of view and to the vast majority of that audience.
I think I may be a little off the subject here, but what annoys me the most about watching sports on cable TV over here, is that no matter what the sport, you only get to see the American teams and those directly in competition with them.
No wonder the man in the street over here thinks Americans are world champs at everything....they never see any other countries perform!
And yes, I will be glued to my seat watching the winter Olympics, just in case they show England doing something!!!
(gotta get sattelite....)
After the Diamondbacks won the World Series, it was a big thing here in Phoenix as you can guess. The kids I work with were going around saying that we were the world champions evil
Being the nice bloke I am, i feel that it is my duty to raise them correctly seem as though there parents can't be bothered wink
so i sat them down and explained you can only be world champions if teams form many other countries from around the world take part. roll obviously!!
Well they understood what i meant, not trying to devalue their achievement, but merely stating they are major league baseballs champions.
how about we pertition the sports authorities and complain!! can you imagine the uproar in England, if after last season we said, Manchester united - World Champions!!
Chris
Manchester United World Champions ??? there is a World championship soccer match every year...played in Tokyo. This years champs were the German team that won the European Cup..was it Bayer Munich.....they beat a the south American Cup winners, a team from Argentina I believe. Even though only those two 'winners' play each other, they still call themselves World Champions. So you see, Europe and South America are just as bad as the Americans. It is after all...Just a name.
Actaully Polly, that cup has been renamed the Europe/South America Cup - The new World Club Cup is having trouble getting of the ground, its inaugural year was in Brazil (2000) and won by the host side 'Corinthians' (it was this tournament that sparked controversy when Man Utd pulled out of the FA Cup so they were able to compete), and clubs came from all continents. The 2001 World Club Cup was supposed to be held in Spain last summer but due to financial difficulties it was indefintely prosponed. I hope they can get this tournament going again because I think it has real potential.
Also, back in the early 20th Century, all British sides refused to compete in the World Cup as they believed the true World Champions were the winners of the British Home Nations Cup (where England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland played each other). However, we eventually saw the light and gave the rest of the World the respect it deserved.