Finals vs. championship

It's only a "finals" if there's more than one game right?

The NBA Finals is correct, since they play a series of games. But, say, a state title game is not a finals since there's only one game to decide the championship.

 

Correct. The NHL gets it wrong by calling it the "Stanley Cup Final."

 

It's only "finals" colloquially or by tradition. Even if there's more than one game, it's still just a final (hence Stanley Cup Final). Not that there's anything wrong with colloquialism or tradition deciding it.

But for anything that's not traditionally called "finals," it's "final" no matter how many games they play in the final round.

 

Agree with Stain on this one.

It's the final series. Only one series, thus singular.

 

How can you have multiple finals?

 

Exactly right.

Conference finals.

 

multiple games, multiple weight classes.... more than one final.

 

Multiple weight classes, that would definitely make sense.

Multiple games, those are still just part of a single final.

 

In my neck of the woods, the papers I've worked for used "Division I final" but "section finals" when talking about multiple games.

 

If you have four, six, eight classes at one tournament, they make up the state finals.


If it's an all-comer tournament like Indiana used to hold for basketball or Minnesota used to hold for hockey, it's a state final -- one game
Stanley Cup is a series, no one particular game -- should be finals.

 

Maybe the same way the NCAA buffoons can have an opening round and a first round.

 

In a somewhat related matter, hate hate HATE the terms "districts" (in reference to a single district tournament), "regionals" and especially "states."