John Dybvig: 'Tis the time for all true Americans to step up to the plate

John Dybvig. Photo / Supplied

Opinion

Pleae stop it. I mean it ... just stop already. It's that time of year again when it's pure hell for an American to live here.

Every October and now in November, Dante's inferno meets Groundhog day for me as I get swamped with the same question over and over again: "Why do they call it the World Series when the rest of the world can't compete?" Even my beautiful New Zealand wife Jennifer can't help herself. Whenever I mention the World Series she quips: "Would that be the World Series that's only played in America?" (It seems everyone is a comedian). "Yes, dear."

Even professional funnymen want to get in on the act - John Cleese in his ever so manic way of expressing himself once pointed out that the difference between the US and the UK is that when the UK holds a world championship they actually invite other countries. Puhleeeese. Cleese did qualify his broadside by declaring that since only 2 per cent of Americans are aware that there is a world beyond their borders, their error was understandable. Ha. Ha.

I just turn the question back on them: "Why do you care what we call our sports?" It's an American thing, don't worry about it. A squillion things are misnamed - death for instance. According to the Dalai Lama, only our bodies die.

And is Miss Universe REALLY the most beautiful woman in the entire universe? How do we know? Have we ever seen the competition? For all we know maybe there's a flaming redhead from Mars who's drop dead gorgeous, or an ice-maiden from Pluto or a hotter than hot babe from Saturn who'd run rings around Earth's entry. The slogan Miss Universe is just another example of the arrogance of earthlings. Yeah, I know I ramble: Blah, blah, blah.

But eventually I get to the point: In defence of the World Series I explain that there's a Canadian team. They're not American (well, not officially, Canadians are more like US light). But, truth-be-known, the World Series is one of the only true world-sporting events, where the best teams play in the best league with the best players. In professional baseball the World Series is the Mt Olympus. Over 50 nations from around the globe send their absolute best players to compete in America both for money and prestige, making American Major League Baseball with over 1200 players the most mixed league in the world.

Getting down to the nitty gritty - it's called the World Series because baseball was invented in America. So, at one time, the champions of the American leagues were the world champions. We have a legitimate claim to the history, if not the modern reality.

The reason it's called the World Series is because when it was first played in 1903 (Boston Americans - today's Red Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates), no one else in the world was playing EXCEPT Americans.

They called their championship series the "World" Series, because the team that won it could rightly call themselves the World Champions and it was a marketing ploy that sounded so much better and a hell of a lot more majestic than "Baseball Championship" and the name stuck.

Hopefully this will finally put an end to the urban legend that the World Series was named after a newspaper, the New York World, it wasn't. It's all about "tradition" so why would you debunk such a strong brand name with over a century of history behind it. You wouldn't. Play ball!

* John Dybvig is an Auckland actor and sports commentator