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Originally posted by sally cinnamonIt is the National Football League and people from all over the world are welcome to join the NFL. It just happens to be played here in the USA.
Ive often heard american commentators refer to the superbowl champions as the "world champions". How exactly do they come to this conclusion?
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Originally posted by sally cinnamonLook, you can't have it both ways. You say American football is nowhere near as popular anywhere else in the world as it is in America, and no one will dispute that. So it stands to reason that no other country will be able to produce a team capable of competing with the best teams in the NFL, or for that matter even the worst ones. The best teams in the world reside in America; that will always be the case until the sport catches on and really takes hold in other parts of the world. So it was with basketball. So we have every right to label the winners of the Super Bowl, World Champions. We don't call the champions of Major League Soccer, World Champions, because we know we'd be sadly deluding ourselves.
So why is their only american teams playing in it?
There is something called the International Federation of American Football, which hosts the World Cup of American Football every 4 years, starting in 1999. Did you know that? Until recently, I didn't. I don't know what kind of coverage this thing gets in the rest of the world, but it gets absolutely none over here.
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Originally posted by rooktakesqueenYou mean instead of NFL? Why? The National Football League's 32 teams all reside in the US.
shouldn't it be called the ifl (international football league) then?
Anyway, see my above post about the International Federation of American Football. That's about as close of an international governing body as we're going to get for now. It'd be nice if more people knew about it.
Originally posted by Natural ScienceNever heard of it.
You mean instead of NFL? Why? The National Football League's 32 teams all reside in the US.
Anyway, see my above post about the International Federation of American Football. That's about as close of an international governing body as we're going to get for now. It'd be nice if more people knew about it.
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Originally posted by Natural Sciencehmmm, stinks of american arrogance if you ask me. How do you know their is no team out their outside the usa that could be the "worlds champions".
Look, you can't have it both ways. You say American football is nowhere near as popular anywhere else in the world as it is in America, and no one will dispute that. So it stands to reason that no other country will be able to produce a team capable of competing with the best teams in the NFL, or for that matter even the worst ones. The best teams ...[text shortened]... f coverage this thing gets in the rest of the world, but it gets absolutely none over here.
Unless you actually compete against these teams or let these teams compete against you, which you dont do, then you dont know s**t. You declare your teams as world champions but your not actually willing to let the world callenge for the title. Please explain?
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Originally posted by sally cinnamonIt seems pretty self-evident to me. The more popular a sport is in a particular country, the better quality team that country will be able to produce. American football is far lass popular in other countries, so they have a much smaller talent pool from which to draw players. And, an even smaller pool from which to draw coaches. Good coaching is essential to American football, because as simple as the game may look, it is maddeningly complicated.
hmmm, stinks of american arrogance if you ask me. How do you know their is no team out their outside the usa that could be the "worlds champions".
Unless you actually compete against these teams or let these teams compete against you, which you dont do, then you dont know s**t. You declare your teams as world champions but your not actually willing to let the world callenge for the title. Please explain?
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Anyway, how do you propose we invite other teams to compete against us? NFL Europe consists largely of, as Phlababit stated earlier, 2nd string NFL players. What would be the point? Many of the countries which are members of the obscure International Federation of American Football, still don't have a football team at the professional level. In South Korea, for instance, American football programs only exist in universities. What would be the point?
My point is, if there are actually people in the world who care that we crown our Super Bowl winners World Champions, and they want to challenge us for that right, then we need to follow the example of Major League Baseball and put together a World Cup. (one that will actually be watched by people) But first, the sport has a long way to go in terms of popularity in the rest of the world. A long way to go.
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This is the most inane argument I have ever read.
Most of the comments by non-Americans could be answered with a single word response: "Cricket"
Talk about an obscure game that no one plays!?
Look if you Brits want to send over a football team to take on our American lads, go ahead. We'll whip your boys just like we whipped 'em at New Orleans, Yorktown, Princeton, Trenton, Saratoga, Cowpens, etc.