technically he’s right the Olympic or fiba champions are technically world champions. I think he does have a complex though working hard and calling his double then achieving it only to be met with underwhelming applause. Meanwhile the rest of the US goes nuts for college kids when they win the national championship in all sports across the board including track. Heck they even cheer louder for little league baseball and poker. I don’t blame him.
Noah is right. The winners of the NBA championship aren't the world champions. They simply aren't. The might be the winners of the best basketball competition in the world - but they aren't the world champions.
And these privileged, overpaid, over-idolized idiot basketballers - the majority of whom have not lived a minute in the real world and have been slurped and mollycoddled since it was apparent they could become someones cash cow, getting all overly defensive and territorial about this is absolutely comical. Kendrick "it's okay to be racist because I'm black" Perkins? Kevin "Angry because I can't get someone to really love me so I bang pornstars" Durant? Austin "My dad legitimately doesn't like me" Rivers? Yeah okay guys - defend your precious "turf".
Now that being said, this is such an overused, cliched perspective it just really isn't worth getting involved in. "The NBA champs aren't world champs, ugh how American" - yeah haven't heard that one before. And it really doesn't look good when you go to your social media and find pictures of you posing in designer fashion and walking into the stadium which look eerily like the exact pictures NBA stars have all over their social media. Because now it appears like you want to be like these guys but are just envious that you aren't (in terms of fame and the bank balance).
In summary - I don't know what prompted him to (obviously) prepare this "media gem" and go after it, but even though it's generated publicity I don't think that means it's good or will help him. As for Stephen A Smith? Ignorant? What's the ignorance - not understanding these immature idiots would get their panties in a twist? The world doesn't revolve around the NBA Stephen.
The NBA is not just the best players in North America; the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. The same can be said for MLB and the NFL as well.
I hate ESPN and the way it presents sport in general (not that NBC does a particularly good job) but I hope Noah can translate it into more attention and revenue for track and field, even if it means having to deal with all the stupidity that comes along with modern sports broadcast
Finally an American World Championn said it. Just stop it with this "World Series' for your baseball etc...no one gives a s**t, it doesn't matter how many foreigners you have, you are not world champions.
It is evident from posts like that of Wiggins 2.6K, where he says good countries should have more than 3 in race, and no 2:04 in a WC 800m. Its like "lets invite only the good countries, as many as they can send, and call it WC".
How about Aussie AFL (Aussie Rules) playing against their B team for world champs, or Rugby League against 8 other countries...hang on, they are already doing that one.
Very few sports, Soccer included, can claim to have a world champion. No matter how good you are in Jukskei, Bocci, Curling or even 'pick up sticks', you are not the world champion.
Once again, well done Noah Lyles, proof that you have as much sense as your athletic ability too.
Noah is right. The winners of the NBA championship aren't the world champions. They simply aren't. The might be the winners of the best basketball competition in the world - but they aren't the world champions.
And these privileged, overpaid, over-idolized idiot basketballers - the majority of whom have not lived a minute in the real world and have been slurped and mollycoddled since it was apparent they could become someones cash cow, getting all overly defensive and territorial about this is absolutely comical. Kendrick "it's okay to be racist because I'm black" Perkins? Kevin "Angry because I can't get someone to really love me so I bang pornstars" Durant? Austin "My dad legitimately doesn't like me" Rivers? Yeah okay guys - defend your precious "turf".
Now that being said, this is such an overused, cliched perspective it just really isn't worth getting involved in. "The NBA champs aren't world champs, ugh how American" - yeah haven't heard that one before. And it really doesn't look good when you go to your social media and find pictures of you posing in designer fashion and walking into the stadium which look eerily like the exact pictures NBA stars have all over their social media. Because now it appears like you want to be like these guys but are just envious that you aren't (in terms of fame and the bank balance).
In summary - I don't know what prompted him to (obviously) prepare this "media gem" and go after it, but even though it's generated publicity I don't think that means it's good or will help him. As for Stephen A Smith? Ignorant? What's the ignorance - not understanding these immature idiots would get their panties in a twist? The world doesn't revolve around the NBA Stephen.
The NBA is not just the best players in North America; the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. The same can be said for MLB and the NFL as well.
By what metric? Money? Because they get paid the most they are the best?
Are the champions of La Liga or the Premiership the World Champions? No they aren't - whoever wins the world cup are the world champions. It's a remedial argument.
Again Noah isn't wrong at all - but the topic is too cliche and unoriginal, and you aren't going to win against in the court of public opinion vs a bunch of dickbag players that people irrationally idolize - especially when you can't even deliver the punchline in a non-contrived manner.
Noah is right. The winners of the NBA championship aren't the world champions. They simply aren't. The might be the winners of the best basketball competition in the world - but they aren't the world champions.
And these privileged, overpaid, over-idolized idiot basketballers - the majority of whom have not lived a minute in the real world and have been slurped and mollycoddled since it was apparent they could become someones cash cow, getting all overly defensive and territorial about this is absolutely comical. Kendrick "it's okay to be racist because I'm black" Perkins? Kevin "Angry because I can't get someone to really love me so I bang pornstars" Durant? Austin "My dad legitimately doesn't like me" Rivers? Yeah okay guys - defend your precious "turf".
Now that being said, this is such an overused, cliched perspective it just really isn't worth getting involved in. "The NBA champs aren't world champs, ugh how American" - yeah haven't heard that one before. And it really doesn't look good when you go to your social media and find pictures of you posing in designer fashion and walking into the stadium which look eerily like the exact pictures NBA stars have all over their social media. Because now it appears like you want to be like these guys but are just envious that you aren't (in terms of fame and the bank balance).
In summary - I don't know what prompted him to (obviously) prepare this "media gem" and go after it, but even though it's generated publicity I don't think that means it's good or will help him. As for Stephen A Smith? Ignorant? What's the ignorance - not understanding these immature idiots would get their panties in a twist? The world doesn't revolve around the NBA Stephen.
The NBA is not just the best players in North America; the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. The same can be said for MLB and the NFL as well.
The best football players in the world play in England, Spain, Germany and Italy. And yet the winners of the European Champions League still compete in the FIFA Club World Cup against the best teams in Oceania, Asia, South America, North America etc to earn the title of 'world champion', despite those teams being many levels below (with the exception of the odd South American team, and even then there's a chasm).
A lot of countries scratch their head wondering why the U.S. calls themselves ‘World Champions’ for their own league championships.
I remember watching the World Series with an Aussie once and he asked the same thing. It doesn’t make sense to non-U.S. folks that U.S. leagues with at best one or two Canadian teams can call themselves ‘World Champions’. To them it is just another thing where the U.S. thinks the world revolves only around us.
It was funny that Durant responded with pictures of his Olympic medals. That was not what Lyles was questioning, it was the use of World Champion for a Finals Championship.
The fact is that most top level NBA players would rather have an NBA title than a gold medal. A lot of them, like KD, have both but the NBA championship means a lot more to him. It also makes Noah look foolish because he devotes his whole life to winning a gold medal at the Olympics and doesn’t have one, yet the Team USA basketball players have one or more as a side hustle. I see what Noah was trying to say but the NBA players clearly have a different point of view. They want their primary gig to be well-respected just like Noah wants his to be.
edit: looks like Coach Pop agrees with Lyles! Article from 2010-
The NBA is not just the best players in North America; the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. The same can be said for MLB and the NFL as well.
Almost no other countries care about basketball, baseball, and American football, so your points are silly.
Who likes basketball other than the US? The Philippines and Lithuania? Who likes baseball? Like, the the Dominican Republic and Japan? Who likes American football? No one else, right
The US is almost the only country to invest in a culture of these sports, some more than others, baseball being the most "global" of them if I had to guess. Couple that with the US' massive population and our NCAA system, and you have a basketball/baseball/football machine that other countries don't have.
Good players from other countries make their way to the NBA or the MLB, almost no one got their start in football outside America. So saying "World Champion" is silly because you're playing against other Americans and very few other people care.
The American public does not like true world wide competition. The most popular sports in the US are all sports leagues contained to our borders.
Americans hate the idea of losing to some country that's smaller than one of our states, so we invent sports where no matter who wins, they are always "American".
Almost no other countries care about basketball, baseball, and American football, so your points are silly.
Who likes basketball other than the US? The Philippines and Lithuania? Who likes baseball? Like, the the Dominican Republic and Japan? Who likes American football? No one else, right
The US is almost the only country to invest in a culture of these sports, some more than others, baseball being the most "global" of them if I had to guess. Couple that with the US' massive population and our NCAA system, and you have a basketball/baseball/football machine that other countries don't have.
Good players from other countries make their way to the NBA or the MLB, almost no one got their start in football outside America. So saying "World Champion" is silly because you're playing against other Americans and very few other people care.
I’d just like to point out that basketball and the NBA are the most popular sport and sport’s league in China, pop 1.5 billion.
As long as the NBA Playoffs are exclusive to its own league, which has competitive balance measures in place such as salary caps, veteran incentives, ordered draft picks, max deals, trade deadlines, etc., and then has the audacity to claim world titles, then I'm claiming there are 5 dudes in Serbia that could clap the Nuggets and there's no way to disprove that because they're not welcome to try which means it's not open to the world which means it can't be considered a world championship. Let's go, NOJO!!
Noah is a big mouth. We all know that. He would have made his point much much better if he said NFL. The NBA plays in the olympics. They are world champs. And lets be honest, if the Olympic team spent the whole year together, they would win by 50 every game. Much like they did the first time we let NBA players in with almost no practice. So, he's wrong, we know what he was trying to say, but maybe say nothing. Is their anything likable about him? Being the biggest loud mouth jerk is now = "bringing much needed attention" to the sport. How sad.
Noah is right. The winners of the NBA championship aren't the world champions. They simply aren't. The might be the winners of the best basketball competition in the world - but they aren't the world champions.
The NBA is not just the best players in North America; the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. The same can be said for MLB and the NFL as well.
I wish he had picked MLB and the "World" Series to make his point.
1) It isn't a" World" Series, so the name is just stupid on its face.
2) There is no guarantee that the winner of the World Series could beat the champions from Japan in any given year, in a seven game series.
The Denver Nuggets weren't the best basketball team in the world, so they're not world champions. I'm pretty sure one of the all-star teams would have beaten the Denver Nuggets. Same with the super bowl champions. The pro-bowl team would beat the chiefs. The winner of the NBA finals or super bowl isn't the best team, it's the best team when you scatter the best talent amongst nearly 30 cities in the United States. So yeah, it doesn't really mean you're the best in the world, it means you're the best subset of players out of 30 subsets. And those subsets will change next year.
Noah is right. The winners of the NBA championship aren't the world champions. They simply aren't. The might be the winners of the best basketball competition in the world - but they aren't the world champions.
And these privileged, overpaid, over-idolized idiot basketballers - the majority of whom have not lived a minute in the real world and have been slurped and mollycoddled since it was apparent they could become someones cash cow, getting all overly defensive and territorial about this is absolutely comical. Kendrick "it's okay to be racist because I'm black" Perkins? Kevin "Angry because I can't get someone to really love me so I bang pornstars" Durant? Austin "My dad legitimately doesn't like me" Rivers? Yeah okay guys - defend your precious "turf".
Now that being said, this is such an overused, cliched perspective it just really isn't worth getting involved in. "The NBA champs aren't world champs, ugh how American" - yeah haven't heard that one before. And it really doesn't look good when you go to your social media and find pictures of you posing in designer fashion and walking into the stadium which look eerily like the exact pictures NBA stars have all over their social media. Because now it appears like you want to be like these guys but are just envious that you aren't (in terms of fame and the bank balance).
In summary - I don't know what prompted him to (obviously) prepare this "media gem" and go after it, but even though it's generated publicity I don't think that means it's good or will help him. As for Stephen A Smith? Ignorant? What's the ignorance - not understanding these immature idiots would get their panties in a twist? The world doesn't revolve around the NBA Stephen.
The NBA is not just the best players in North America; the best players from all over the world play in the NBA. The same can be said for MLB and the NFL as well.
Fifteen per team x 30 = 450. You can say N.B.A. has most of the best players. Of course there are some international players whom are better than some N.B.A. players. Same for M.L.B. Twenty-five x 30= 750. There are contractual agreements preventing both N.B.A. and M.L.B. from taking all the best players from all the countries. It cost M.L.B. millions for a Japanese player, same for a Korean baseball player.
The Denver Nuggets weren't the best basketball team in the world, so they're not world champions. I'm pretty sure one of the all-star teams would have beaten the Denver Nuggets. Same with the super bowl champions. The pro-bowl team would beat the chiefs. The winner of the NBA finals or super bowl isn't the best team, it's the best team when you scatter the best talent amongst nearly 30 cities in the United States. So yeah, it doesn't really mean you're the best in the world, it means you're the best subset of players out of 30 subsets. And those subsets will change next year.
None of this matters. Lyles is simply trying too hard to stand out and this opinion and his delivery were embarrassing for him and for T&F. Maybe it was all a plot to get his name and the sport out in front of people who don’t know either, but it wasn’t worth it. Whether or not he was correct technically doesn’t matter, he looked and sounded foolish.
The Denver Nuggets weren't the best basketball team in the world, so they're not world champions. I'm pretty sure one of the all-star teams would have beaten the Denver Nuggets. Same with the super bowl champions. The pro-bowl team would beat the chiefs. The winner of the NBA finals or super bowl isn't the best team, it's the best team when you scatter the best talent amongst nearly 30 cities in the United States. So yeah, it doesn't really mean you're the best in the world, it means you're the best subset of players out of 30 subsets. And those subsets will change next year.
None of this matters. Lyles is simply trying too hard to stand out and this opinion and his delivery were embarrassing for him and for T&F. Maybe it was all a plot to get his name and the sport out in front of people who don’t know either, but it wasn’t worth it. Whether or not he was correct technically doesn’t matter, he looked and sounded foolish.
Noah's comments here reflect what the rest of the world have joked about for 50+ years. He hasn't looked or sounded foolish to us. Why are US NATIONAL champions declaring themselves to be WORLD champions?
The fact this is so difficult for people from the US to comprehend highlights his point. It's utterly hilarious. It's even in the name of the organisations - the NATIONAL Basketball Association. The NATIONAL Football League.
It's not a knock on the NBA or it's stars, it's true.
He he could have said the same thing about the Super Bowl and the World Series.
IMHO he shouldn't have made any comparison or he should have sounded disparaging towards the other sport. He's right about USATF and WA. They don't market the athletes, especially USATF.
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