Bats, Balls and Goals

One of the oddities of the American sports scene (my opinion) is the habit of calling the baseball championship the “World Series.” Let’s see – when was the last time an international team played in this event?

2007 Boston vs. Colorado
1997 Florida vs. Cleveland
1987 Minnesota vs. St. Louis
1977 New York vs. Los Angeles
1967 St. Louis vs. Boston
1957 Milwaukee vs. New York
1947 New York vs. Brooklyn
1937 N.Y. Yankees vs. N.Y. Giants

And so on...

You are sharp, dear Reader. The answer is never before has an international team played in the World Series. So why do we insist on calling it what it is not? Probably “tradition” or simply no one has thought of a better name.

Obviously, this is not important enough to bring to the attention of the presidential candidates’ debate so I’ll drop the topic here and now.

On the other hand, nearly every county in the world gets a shot at soccer’s [football] World Cup - now there's a name - that is contested every four year. The next edition is scheduled for 2010 in South Africa.

On a smaller scale – but no less exciting for football fans – is the Euro 2008 competition that is now underway. Forty-eight countries (this is Europe in the very broad sense from Kazakhstan in the east to Ireland in the west) have just finished the preliminary rounds that began in August 2006. The matches were a Big Deal in Euro-land when I was there earlier this month. If you ever want to blend in while travelling 'round the continent, know what's going on with the various football leagues. Fourteen international teams now remain to kick it out next June for the championship.

The draw for the early rounds in June will happen on December 2nd. Watch this space for another comment about Euro 2008.