All-Time Sports Champions Quiz

Right ... I surrender. (Although I gather that when it comes to Baseball, Football and Hockey, the American leagues essentially represent the best in the world. But I don't know too much about that.)

For a long time the Olympic gold didn't mean much in hockey because it was supposed to be an amateur competition. Plus the Soviets were sending in veteran professional players while America fielded a team of honest amateurs (as the Olympic rules up to Barcelona mandated). Yet they still managed to win that one year, the "miracle on ice."

Gandalf, I think you'd get a lot of arguments from the players themselves that a Stanley Cup win would be bigger than the Olympics. They're different of course, but I figure your post is just a dig at the US for some reason. (The last US Olympic team blew it, but in recent years, they have come very close to winning so you can't exactly say they are "far from winning".)

joeythelemur I can tell you that at least for most Canadian players, and probably for players from the states, Russia and other big contenders that the Olympics are seen as the bigger deal. Crosby has won the cup twice, but the moment every canadian remembers is the golden goal.

Any Canadian worth their salt would rather see their NHL team win the Stanley Cup than see Canada win another Olympic gold. We already know Canada as a nation has the best hockey players, the Stanley Cup (for fans at least) is by far the bigger prize.

Totally agree with this re: baseball, but for the other two, it's debatable anyway. For the NFL, there isn't a comparable league anywhere else, so it doesn't really matter. For the NBA, maybe the Euro leagues would be competitive, but I doubt it; most of the top players come to the US for the cash. So while it bugs me, it's probably fair to say the NBA champion is the world champion. NHL doesn't apply as they call it the Stanley Cup Champion.

The best baseball players in the world play in the MLB. 27.5% of the players are from outside the US. 18 different nations are represented and there are 238 total international players.

If you want to call the World Cup a more "representative" international event I might say that's one way to change it, but it would be the equivalent of the Olympics in hockey. Its a great achievement to win, but isn't the summit of its sport; the World Series is that.

It doesn't matter where the league is based. The best baseball, basketball, and hockey players in the world come to the U.S. Football is such a distinctly American sport that it would be preposterous to suggest any team from anywhere else could even compete. The KHL could probably assemble a team fit to complete in the NHL, but they're not beating a team the caliber of the Tampa Bay Lightning (a roster that includes players from Sweden, Finland, Slovakia, Canada, the US, Czech Republic, and Russia). Look at the national team rosters for all the countries that excel in a given sport: 100% of the Dominican baseball team plays in the MLB. 100% of the Canadian hockey team plays in the NHL (and about 75% of the Russian team). If you win the World Series, you are the best team in the world. If you win the Stanley Cup, you are the best team in the world.

(and math, not maths. Go figure..)

I may try to create some other quizzes, but probably not about sport. Which doesn't mean that I don't like sport and taking quizzes like this one. I'm sure you understand that it's rather frustrating for a Belgian that half of the answers of a quiz named "All time sports champions" are about mostly american sports. I'm just asking for slight adjustments. As for cycling, I understand your point of view, but Armstrong is not the only cyclist in history... if you change your mind, you could include Eddy Merckx or the country who won the most world championships, something like that ;).

I don't object to the inclusion of women's college basketball, but suggesting it warrants equal measure to the men's game is a little disingenuous. The men's game is vastly more popular. I just looked it up: in 2019, 19.6 million people watched the men's final. 3.7 million watched the women's. That's not even close.

Actually, Tsitsipas saved QM!

And Osaka. Guess we have to wait for the French Open.

This quiz will probably need updating in July, as Djokovic seems well on his way to reach 20.

Interestingly this is under "New and reset quizzes" today in February 2022 but the tennis question still has 3 players with 20 titles.