The answer: It shouldn't. Some people might take great offense to this, because I have insulted their sport. But the reality is that I don't give a shit.
The basis for this claim that the national championship shouldn't be called the World Series, is that it is not a world--even multinational--competition. In fact, it's barely even a bi-national competition as the Blue Jays (of Toronto) are the only non-American team in the MLB organization. Although there is a baseball league in Japan and a few other countries, they cannot participate in the World Series because they are not part of MLB.
I'm not here to rip on baseball--a sport as American as apple pie--but rather, I'm here to talk about a REAL world series. Yes, that's right. The FIFA World Cup.
For those of us who are ignorant Americans and may happen to read this blog, the FIFA World Cup is the world soccer (or, depending where you are from, football/futbol) tournament which takes place every four years. In 206, 198 countries attempted to qualify. This year, 204 countries attempted to qualify. 32 teams will participate in this year's World Cup: Australia, Japan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (aka North Korea), Korea Republic (aka South Korea), Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Honduras, Mexico, United States, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, New Zealand, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Switzerland.
This is the first time since the start of the tournament (this is the 19th FIFA World Cup) where the World Cup will be held on the continent of Africa. Specifically in South Africa. Although this is a great accomplishment to see South Africa hosting the World Cup, it does come with a sense of ethical questionability. That is, although South Africa has veered away from apartheid, South Africans still live in a very unfair and divided world. The question is, how can South Africa spend millions upon millions of dollars on building new stadiums when there are people living below the poverty line.
In any event, this marks the first day of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. That is, an event that brings the world together under one sport. I would like to emphasize this idea--that seems so lost to Americans--of the World. That which isn't the United States.
64 games. 32 countries. 30 days. 10 stadiums. 1 world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhM-cpSwrmM
Your moment of zazen.
