Gold Medalist Questions the NBA Champs Being Deemed "World" Champs

[Nuntius]

No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

Noah Lyles is American and he's the source since, well, it's his opinion that this thread is about.

[eyeatoma]

No I’m talking about football (soccer) there are other teams in other leagues that can beat for example teams in the premier league. There is no one football league that has a monopoly on the best teams like the NBA does.

I agree, but that doesn't mean you get to tout yourself as world champions lol? Just use NBA champions, why is it so hard for people to just do that. Just seems like the NBA, and US major sports leagues like the MLB are compensating for something. World has a global connotation to it. By global, many countries participating. Like the Olympics, the Winter Olympics, the FIBA world championships, the Cricket World Cup, the Rugby World Cup, the World Chess Championships, the FIFA Football World Cup.

Note the operative word here is "World", and in all cases you have many countries participating.

Look, everyone agrees that the NBA is the best collection of basketball players in the world, however, it is still a US national league, that despite it's global status, mainly markets itself to the United States. This is something that has been done for 40-50 years, and I think it's mostly done because it was done in the past. That doesn't mean that there was ever any logic to it. Trying to rationalise it just comes off as being overly sensitive and defensive.

The fact that a US athlete says this shows that the problem is mainly coming from the United States and the dominating mentality they have had since World War I and II. I for one love many things about America, my wife and kids are American, my sister is an American citizen, and I will always be connected to that country, but as an outsider looking in, there are so many things that the US does right, but just as much that it can improve on. Trying to tone down the rhetoric, and appearing to be more humble would be a great first step.

Yeah these are good points I just don’t think it’s all that deep and the NBA is somewhat unique in being the best teams in the world without real competition that I don’t think it matters that much if they want to call themselves world champs. Another team can step up and issue a challenge to NBA teams if they don’t like it. Would be a great marketing opportunity for everyone. I think this is kind of like that Mad Men meme to be honest.

Again, I think it brings down the prestige of actual global tournaments and competitions, when a national league touts itself as a World champion. I get that it's semantics, and if it is,why not change it? Why do many insist on keeping it as it is.

[eyeatoma]

The NBA doesn’t call its champion the world champion so what does it matter? No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

It is called football.

Soccer is a name used by Americans (initially actually created by the Brits to differentiate between Rugby and Football) to differentiate it from their own, American football. They had to call it American Football, because Football was already taken.

Some interesting background history...

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/25/world-cup-2022-why-americans-call-football-soccer


This is like the US using Fahrenheit when the rest of the world uses Celsius, and refusing to incorporate the metric system. Just all seems to be rooted in some weird superiority complex, where they try their best to differentiate themselves from the world in the most inane ways possible.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I do think the “standard” system is pretty hilariously and arrogantly named when it’s 3/200 countries that use it.

[Heat3]

I rest my case. Hung up on something someone else does that has absolutely no impact on your life. Living rent free in your heads.

[gavran]

No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

Noah Lyles is American and he's the source since, well, it's his opinion that this thread is about.

It's perplexing, how one can open a thread, literally being greeted with this image in the OP, and then make the claim that he made.

[TacoLord]

Nobody calls the NBA champs "World Champs", he must be thinking of baseball, which is understandable because he doesn't compete in a real sport.

[Nuntius]

I rest my case. Hung up on something someone else does that has absolutely no impact on your life. Living rent free in your heads.

My friend, the whole reason that this thread exists is because an American athlete made a comment about it.

As for the rent free comment:

Some international fans may care about this whole world champions things while others don't. There's no real consensus on it because at the end of the day it doesn't matter all that much. It's generally a good idea to not generalize.

[Heat3]

No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

Noah Lyles is American and he's the source since, well, it's his opinion that this thread is about.

It's perplexing, how one can open a thread, literally being greeted with this image in the OP, and then make the claim that he made.

You are perplexed after cropping out the Eurosport channel name? So perplexing.

[dhsilv2]

Calling the NBA champions the world champions is obviously completely absurd and totally ridiculous. like 99% of people outside of the USA think that's a ludicrous claim and just completely laugh at it, or even find it actually insulting and to be in very bad taste.

Regardless of what people in the US might think, it's considered an absolute joke by the vast majority of people elsewhere.

So what would the requirements be for a world champ?

I'll start with the most obvious. to be a world champ, there can't be restriction for who can be on a team. So you can't limit it by things like race, religion, nationality. What else would you require?

[Nuntius]

Noah Lyles is American and he's the source since, well, it's his opinion that this thread is about.

It's perplexing, how one can open a thread, literally being greeted with this image in the OP, and then make the claim that he made.

You are perplexed after cropping out the Eurosport channel name? So perplexing.

That's like saying that ESPN, ABC, Fox is responsible for whatever BS Kyrie says

[Nuntius]

Calling the NBA champions the world champions is obviously completely absurd and totally ridiculous. like 99% of people outside of the USA think that's a ludicrous claim and just completely laugh at it, or even find it actually insulting and to be in very bad taste.

Regardless of what people in the US might think, it's considered an absolute joke by the vast majority of people elsewhere.

So what would the requirements be for a world champ?

I'll start with the most obvious. to be a world champ, there can't be restriction for who can be on a team. So you can't limit it by things like race, religion, nationality. What else would you require?

Basically, a tournament like the one happening this very moment (the FIBA World Cup) but with clubs instead of national teams.

[dhsilv2]

But would the #1 team in the NBA beat the best Olympics teams? Probably not.

LOL

Why is that funny? There is no way in hell the Denver Nuggets can beat a typical Team USA in a 7 game series

Yeah, they likely would. They're an actual team. The US team is playing summer fun games.

[Heat3]

I rest my case. Hung up on something someone else does that has absolutely no impact on your life. Living rent free in your heads.

My friend, the whole reason that this thread exists is because an American athlete made a comment about it.

As for the rent free comment:

Some international fans may care about this whole world champions things while others don't. There's no real consensus on it because at the end of the day it doesn't matter all that much. It's generally a good idea to not generalize.

Buddy two people immediately responded to me about soccer and the metric system. That is who the rent free comment was for.

[Nuntius]

Nobody calls the NBA champs "World Champs", he must be thinking of baseball, which is understandable because he doesn't compete in a real sport.

Sprinting isn't a real sport?

So, Usain Bolt wasn't a real athlete?

Interesting take

[Xatticus]

Man City won both the Premier League (best soccer league in the world) and the Champions League (best club competition in the world).
Still didn't call themselves world champs though...

There is a mechanism by which world champions are crowned in club football. Real Madrid are reigning world champions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_FIFA_Club_World_Cup_finals

This hasn't been a very prestigious competition previously, but this will change with the expansion of the tournament in 2025. The point is that to make the claim in club football, you actually have to prove it in a sanctioned event organized by the sport's governing body.

The NBA exists completely outside of basketball's governing body. It plays under a different set of rules that it has created for the purpose of manufacturing stars that it can market and sell. Incorporating itself into a larger basketball ecosystem runs the risk of disrupting the current economic model, which is working just fine for the league's owners and players.

[dhsilv2]

Calling the NBA champions the world champions is obviously completely absurd and totally ridiculous. like 99% of people outside of the USA think that's a ludicrous claim and just completely laugh at it, or even find it actually insulting and to be in very bad taste.

Regardless of what people in the US might think, it's considered an absolute joke by the vast majority of people elsewhere.

So what would the requirements be for a world champ?

I'll start with the most obvious. to be a world champ, there can't be restriction for who can be on a team. So you can't limit it by things like race, religion, nationality. What else would you require?

Basically, a tournament like the one happening this very moment (the FIBA World Cup) but with clubs instead of national teams.

Clubs? Why wouldn't you have actual professional teams? But we already do just that. That's what the NBA is. It's an international professional league of the best players in the world.

[Nuntius]

I rest my case. Hung up on something someone else does that has absolutely no impact on your life. Living rent free in your heads.

My friend, the whole reason that this thread exists is because an American athlete made a comment about it.

As for the rent free comment:

Some international fans may care about this whole world champions things while others don't. There's no real consensus on it because at the end of the day it doesn't matter all that much. It's generally a good idea to not generalize.

Buddy two people immediately responded to me about soccer and the metric system. That is who the rent free comment was for.

You're the one who brought up football.

Here's your post:

The NBA doesn’t call its champion the world champion so what does it matter? No surprise this is pushed by a European source as they are always hung up about what Americans think and say for some reason. Right up there with “it’s called football not soccer”. Live your own lives and stop worrying about this stuff…

You came in the thread with the clear intention to bait non-American posters and then go "living rent free lUlz" when they reply to the points that you brought up.

If you didn't want people to reply to the football thing then you shouldn't have brought up. When someone brings a point up, other people have the right to comment on it.

[gavran]

Noah Lyles is American and he's the source since, well, it's his opinion that this thread is about.

It's perplexing, how one can open a thread, literally being greeted with this image in the OP, and then make the claim that he made.

You are perplexed after cropping out the Eurosport channel name? So perplexing.

I know you are trying really hard to make a point, but you can't. The Eurosport logo is still visible. As if that matters the point you made.

[eyeatoma]

I rest my case. Hung up on something someone else does that has absolutely no impact on your life. Living rent free in your heads.

My friend, the whole reason that this thread exists is because an American athlete made a comment about it.

As for the rent free comment:

Some international fans may care about this whole world champions things while others don't. There's no real consensus on it because at the end of the day it doesn't matter all that much. It's generally a good idea to not generalize.

Buddy two people immediately responded to me about soccer and the metric system. That is who the rent free comment was for.

Because it's another example of America trying to push their agenda of global superiority onto the rest of the world. The US dominated in the 80s and 90s. Since the mid 2000s, they have lost that crown, and now are in a recession with countries like India and China set to overcome them as the biggest economies in the world before the close of the century. The only people that are triggered by this stuff are people from the US, instead of seeing it as some slight, maybe try to relate on how the rest of the world thinks the US comes across as.