Ask Mike: Naming the big games
Hey Guys,
The World Series, the Super Bowl, and college basketball’s March Madness are three of the biggest events in sports. They’re all so popular, that it’s hard to imagine ‘em being called anything else. Each term is now a part of the average American’s vocabulary, but who deserves the credit?
According to various sources across the Web, the Spalding Guide, a magazine put out by the sporting goods company, was responsible for coming up with the name “World Series.” Why the word “World,” when the first baseball teams were American? According to a blog from Road Side Photos, the National League’s Chicago squad and the American Association’s St. Louis team could both be considered champs back in 1887. So, “a more grandiose name was required to describe the postseason showdown” between the two leagues. The name “World Series” stuck.
The Super Bowl has an even more interesting history. A blog entry from Doc’s Sports explains that it was Lamar Hunt, one-time owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, who coined the phrase. Mr. Hunt came up with the “unofficial nickname” for the NFL-AFL World Championship Game after watching his daughter play with a “Super Ball” toy. After a few years, the name Super Bowl officially replaced the more formal “World Championship Game.”
And what of March Madness? Slate.com hosts an excellent article on how the name came to exist (and all the legal battles that would later ensue). Back in 1939, a chap named Henry Porter wrote an article called “March Madness” for the Illinois High School Association. Slate explains that “the phrase was confined to Illinois high-school ball until 1982, when CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during his network’s NCAA tournament coverage.” The phrase “Final Four,” meanwhile, was coined by Ed Chay, a sportswriter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
On a somewhat related note, I’d like to pose a question to you guys–how did an Academy Award get to be named an Oscar? Got any ideas? Please leave a comment and link below.
Thanks for reading,
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FEEDBACK & CORRECTION:
WWE’s WrestleMania is bigger than the Super Bowl, & yes I am aware WWE is scripted.
to the first commenter, wrestlemania is bigger than the superbowl??????? what are you smoking? it’s on pay per view. nothing on pay per view is bigger than the super bowl, sorry. And not even half of the people that watch the super bowl watch wrestlemania.
as a matter of fact, all those 3 that he said are bigger than wrestlemania.
wwe? try some real fighting, ufc style
World Cup
“This is football we’re talking about here, which you call bananas and you’re reluctant to play it. But you play baseball, the World Series. You’ve won every year, America’s won every year in that. Well done America. ” —Eddie Izzard
I heard Oscar is after someone’s Uncle Oscar because it looked like him.
and Dalton you’re crazy. WWE = joke. WrestleMania isn’t practically a national holiday. No one cares about it.
the statuette looks like uncle Oscar
“The name ‘Oscar’ wasn’t officially adopted until the 1939 ceremony. The rumour behind how it got its name is that the Academy librarian Margaret Herrick thought the statuette bore an uncanny resemblance to her Uncle Oscar and so the in-joke with the staff at the Academy was to name it Oscar. The name was first used in print by columnist Sidney Skolsky to describe the first of Katherine Hepburn’s wins for Best Actress in 1934.”
correction this is lifted from another URL
“The name ‘Oscar’ wasn’t officially adopted until the 1939 ceremony. The rumour behind how it got its name is that the Academy librarian Margaret Herrick thought the statuette bore an uncanny resemblance to her Uncle Oscar and so the in-joke with the staff at the Academy was to name it Oscar. The name was first used in print by columnist Sidney Skolsky to describe the first of Katherine Hepburn’s wins for Best Actress in 1934.”
What about the World Cup in soccor,cricket and rugby?What about the ashes? What about the Champions League?
Methinks Mike needs to widen his world view,America is not the be all and end all that Americans think it is. In fact America has a bad reputation on the world stage.
elow
Somebodys mad because they didn’t consider acting a sport
To the guy CLAIMING WWE has a bigger event want to show the numbers that PROVE it? I have a hard time buying that Wrestlemania is getting that many viewers. The NFL has the numbers PROVING the top rated programs of all time include the Super Bowl, where is the WWE’s numbers to show it is that big. Oh yeah they don’t exist.
I don’t know the names or anything, but I remember reading somewhere once that one secratary of some big cheese from AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) told him right after looking at the statue: “It looks just like my uncle Oscar”. That was it, the name stuck…
hi!! guys can i join? i like your community
Actually you are wrong, the World Series, the Super Bowl, and March Madness are not the biggest events in sports. Maybe in your country, the USA, but not in the rest of the world. Plus how can they be the biggest events when only Americans are allowed to participate?
Next time try the Olympics and the World Cup. They are infinitely bigger.
Of all those sporting events mentioned, none even comes close to being popular and bigger than the FIFA World Cup. The NFL, MLB and NBA should not label their champions as World Champions when they are not. The NHL has it correct to name their champions Stanley Cup Champions. The FIFA World Cup truly does crown a World Champion. The others don’t!
Oh and last to those whining about this remember it is a U.S. BASED site. That means when we say the biggest sports we MEAN the U.S.
Are you kidding me?? Nothing is bigger than the WORLD CUP, that literally constitutes almost all countries of the entire WORLD and not just the country of the United States. I agree that Superbowl is huge, and it is viewed by over 90 million people. But world cup is viewed by over 2.2 billion people. THATS BILLION WITH A B.
Dalton, the attendence for Wrestlemania was 72,000
Super Bowl for 70,000. Raymond James Stadium is the smallest in the NFL.
And what about Georgia vs. GA TECH. Clean old fashioned hate
Naming (from Wikipedia Nov. 4, 2009)
The root of the name Oscar is contested. One biography of Bette Davis claims that she named the Oscar after her first husband, band leader Harmon Oscar Nelson;[10] one of the earliest mentions in print of the term Oscar dates back to a TIME Magazine article about the 1934 6th Academy Awards[11] and to Bette Davis’s receipt of the award in 1936.[12] Walt Disney is also quoted as thanking the Academy for his Oscar as early as 1932. Another claimed origin is that of the Academy’s Executive Secretary, Margaret Herrick, who first saw the award in 1931 and made reference to the statuette reminding her of her “Uncle Oscar” (a nickname for her cousin Oscar Pierce).[13] Columnist Qiang Skolsky was present during Herrick’s naming and seized the name in his byline, “Employees have affectionately dubbed their famous statuette ‘Oscar’” (Levy 2003). The trophy was officially dubbed the “Oscar” in 1939 by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.[14] As of the 81st Academy Awards ceremony held in 2009, a total of 2,744 Oscars have been given for 1,798 awards.[15] A total of 297 actors have won Oscars in competitive acting categories or been awarded Honorary or Juvenile Awards.
Nba finals ha
Coolio
Erm your all wrong the biggest sporting event is the soccer world cup because russia europe America and asia are all in it making it the whole world hence the name world cup
the most watched super bowl ever had 96 million people view it in its entirety. the UEFA cup final and world cup final dwarf those massively, with audiences around 265 million who watched the whole thing respectively. The olympics are more watched than both, with 211 million americans alone watching the 2008 beijing olympics, which were the most watched US television event ever.
Are you serious? Really? “March Madness”?
What the #@!# happened to The@#$%ing FIFA WORLD CUP,or even the UEFA champs league.
I am American an I love soccer, so you cannot say this is American, this is bull
wow non-Americans need to ctfo. So defensive all the time. Guess what guys? Soccer is BORING
Also, it’s an American website. Stop complaining and go make your own websites if you don’t want the American point of view.
Additionally, it’s obvious where the names for the World Cup and the Olympics come from. You all missed the point of the article.
eh, America may have a poor rep on the World stage, but, people are dying to get across our open border every day.. how many countries can say that! if the NFL allowed teams from other counties it would trump soccer ratings the first year.. England seemed to love the NFL a few weeks ago!