As I type this, both washed and unwashed masses of people crowd around the steps of our state capitol building, eager to catch a glimpse of their transient idols, the players of the Denver Broncos. If you haven’t heard, the Denver Broncos made it all the way to the last American Football game of the year and had more points at the end of the game than the other team, so they now have a parade thrown in their honor and get to shut down the local economy for half a day.

Please don’t misinterpret: what these fellows do is tremendously difficult and I have nothing but the utmost admiration for athletes of their calibre. This is especially prescient due to the high probability that they will knowingly and willingly continue to suffer irreversible brain damage for as long as they play the sport.

The reason for this post is that I take umbrage at calling our local sports franchise “World Champions.” When you have a contest and players from only your nation-state are invited, you have no right to call it a global contest. The United States has won truly global sports competitions, but the American Football is not one of those competitions. To truly deserve the title of “World Champions,” we must compete quite literally head-to-head with teams from other nation-states. Only then can we call them World Champions. For now National Champions must suffice. Otherwise we come across as arrogant assholes to the rest of the world.

Oh wait – we do that anyway. Nevermind.