I'm pretty sure the only comp the yanks mention 'world' in is baseball, and I'm pretty sure it's only called the 'World Series' as it was sponsored by the 'World' publication.

Have to agree though, Americans are a strange breed!

To quote Top Gear when talking about American cars.....

"In European cars they'll have symbols for the wipers and headlights etc because we acknowledge that other countries speak different languages. Where as in America it'll just say 'WIPERS' on the button because.....what is French???"

I heard this years Super Bowl NFL winners called the world champions by the commentators and the celebrating players too

Are there any teams outside of America that could beat them? No so they are the best team in the world.

Quite right too - only the very myopic actually believe that when Leeds won the WCC they were actually the best team in the world. The WCC is a joke - the British sides have all the advantages and still struggle to get over the line. When an NRL take it seriously seldom does the SL side cover themselves in glory. When Wigan beat Brisbane in Australia yes they were the best team in the world at that time.

The same goes for Kevin Sinfield when some guys in Brighouse awarded him the golden boot - did anyone really believe he was the best player in the world?

that is the explanation although they've been using that term since the sports were only played in the USA

Fair play to JP for taking a clean slate approach i thought we'd dropped a huge clanger not retaining him until it was revealed he'd turned the opportunity to stay down and his reasons for doing so.
I'd still have him in a heart beat but if he sees his future and challenges elsewhere good luck to him.

Living in the US as I know you do, maybe you can confirm or refute my thoughts that I have picked up as a regular visitor there.
The world is America to the Americans therefore any sporting champs in domestic competitions are per se (sic) world champions.

that is correct I think they also call the the Hockey and Basket ball winners world champs too

I've only ever heard the term "world champions" in common usage in the NFL and MLB, both of which are sports where US "clubs" are clearly the world leader.

I can't say I've heard it used with any regularity to describe the Stanley Cup or NBA champions. Not to say it doesn't happen, but again you could excuse the belief that no other professional league contains a team that would compete with the best in the NHL or NBA.

It's certainly not used in other US sports such as football, rugby etc.

I am not certain about it but I will check it out.They are basically ok but being as insular as they really are it is a bit frustrating trying to explain to many of them that there is a sport of RL in the first place let alone the differences between RL and RU.

Baseball is big in Japan (as a song once said) so I would argue it is more exaggerated American patriotism more than anything else - 'we are America, how could it possibly be BETTER anywhere else?!' Team America is quite good at capturing and mocking that insularity. British people can get it too though - see those who only go to English pubs for English food and drink on their foreign holidays!

Ice hockey is naturally big in Scandinavia and Russia way - there was that thing of the USA not winning gold in the winter Olympics since the 70s or so, I seem to remember when they were last on. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean leagues in other countries are better - I imagine the NHL is most financially lucrative - but to automatically call the league champions 'world champions' is just American insecurity in action as they strive for identity, being a relatively young nation compared to some.

IIRC South Korea won the gold medal the last time baseball was an Olympic sport, in fact the USA only won 1 gold medal out of the 5 Olympics that baseball was an Olympic sport.

Something like 28% of the MLB rosters in 2013 were made up of players who were born outside the US.

Weren't most of the 2008 US baseball squad from the minor leagues and college? Certainly pretty sure they don't go the same route as the basketball and pick an all-star Dream Team.

Either way up, there's very little doubt that the MLB is the strongest league in the world by some distance.

Yes