World Champions?

Today I saw a headline on the internet that
former major leaguer Jim Lefevbre will be
coaching China's national team in the
Beijing Olympics. So that made me wonder.
Bobby Valentine manages pro baseball in
Japan, and the KC Royals newest manager
Trey Hillman did as well, the NBA is full of
foreign players, and Major League baseball
has been for much longer than that, though
Asians are only now starting to really make
their presence felt. Hockey aside from the
Canadian influence is full of foreigners, and
Soccer needs to be in order to survive, at
least in this country. It seems that the NFL
is the only "Major" sport in this country that
has been able to elude true foreign influence,
and that may stay that way for awhile, though
some foreigners have been sprinkled in during
recent times.

I guess the whole point of this is, Is any team
truly a "World Champion" if they only face teams
based in this country/continent? The Stanley Cup
in name alone does not pretend to name the
"World" Champion, and neither does the "Super
Bowl", and I guess the NBA Championship gets
a pass as well, but is it time to change the title
of "World Series"?, or is it even fair to say that
the others should not be considered "Champions"
of the "World" as many athletes often like to say
soon after winning their respective titles?
Remember theses leagues began in a time where
travel by bus was considered rapid transit,
so it is understandable that you couldn't really
face opponents from other countries, let alone
incorporate them into your leagues, and that
was probably an even better reason not to be
considered world champs.

It is fair to say that it might now be time to
get the Champions of the best leagues around
the globe to face each other to decide the
best of the best. Soccer does something similar
in Europe with it's Champions league tourney,
and even beyond that. The World Cup of Soccer
goes beyond that to show National supremacy
ala the Olympics, but a little more interesting
because the names are more familiar. Other
World Cups don't seem to draw the same amount
of interest, with the exception of Rugby in other
parts of the world. Let's face it, the money will
be made, and American audiences will certainly
get into something like this if you can package
it right, and hopefully not water it down with
glitz and glam. The World Baseball Classic was
a nice start, but this was like the Olympics with
pros, now we need something with club teams.
You know like the Detroit Tigers vs the Yomuiri
Giants for the whole ball of wax. Then their
will be a true "World Series"