The Greatest Rivalry in Sports

[Strider]

Which one is it? Every sport has at least one, you know. Raiders-Chargers, Giants-Dodgers, Red Wings-Avalanche, Pistons-Pacers...

But which one tops 'em all, huh? Discuss.

[Agent Proto]

Probably the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

Most definitely the most storied rivalry that I know about. There are several others too.
Especially where I live, the Redskins-Cowboys is a well known rivalry.

[Strider]

Yankees-Red Sox is vastly overrated as a rivalry. Hammer vs. nail, for the most part.

That's my opinion, anyway. I forgot about 'Skins-Cowboys, too. :D

[Orestes]

Don't forget about UNC - Duke in college basketball.

[NM]

Football (soccer) has some very fierce rivalries, at both International level and at club level.

I couldn't pick just one as nearly every country/team has a rival. But here's a few of the biggest, in my opinion.

England Vs Germany
England Vs Argentina
Brazil Vs Argentina

Liverpool Vs Man United
Rangers Vs Celtic
Real Madrid Vs Barcelona
AC Milan Vs Inter Milan
Roma Vs Lazio

[Skogs]

Australia vs England in just about anything.

Wales vs New Zealand (rugby union)
Queensland vs NSW (rugby league)

Oxford vs Cambridge in rowing is a really great grudgematch, because I can think of no other instance where two clubs each exist only to race and defeat the other.

[Kirobaito]

Baseball - Yankees/Red Sox
Football - Cowboys/Redskins
College Football - Michigan/Ohio State
Basketball - Ever? Lakers/Celtics
College Basketball - Duke/UNC
Hockey - Wait...what's hockey?

[The Captain]

At the current rate our politics is going, it's only a matter of time before our sports are dominated by:

USA versus World. Never have I seen on such a large scale the NEED, it's not even a desire, it's become a NEED for one country to just win everything.


Red Sox- Yanks is still easily the most hyped rivalry and one of the better ones out there, even if it IS one-sided. With the Red Sox recent World Series victory, the rivalry should only continue to build.


Take care all.

[Sepho]

Red Wings-Avalanche

I'm from upper Michigan, and the majority of the townsfolk here are Wings fans, including myself, so I definitely feel this one the most (especially given that I don't really care about any other professional sports). My close friend is an Avs fan, which is bad news bears.

I don't know, though. I was watching this intense one-on-one darts game on ESPN or some channel about an hour ago. I was at the edge of my seat.

[Necronopticous]

That's a tough question but I'm going to have to go with the Kilika Beasts vs the Al Bhed Psyches, they aren't the best teams out there but their skills are just about equal and they always seem to be going at each other for those Mega Phoenix 1st place prizes.

[eestlinc]

College football: Georgia vs Florida. It's such a heated rivalry that they play at a neutral site in Jacksonville every year rather than ever give a team homefield advantage.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Cowboys/RedskinsMakes sense.

[edczxcvbnm]

Packers Vs. Bears
Sox vs Cubs

[Dingo Jellybean]

Baseball - Yankees/Red Sox
Football - Cowboys/Redskins
College Football - Michigan/Ohio State
Basketball - Ever? Lakers/Celtics
College Basketball - Duke/UNC
Hockey - Wait...what's hockey?

I agree with everything except the Yankees and Red Sox. Look at the Cowboys, 8 NFC titles, 5 SBs. Redskins, 5 NFC titles, 3 SBs and endless division titles between them. The Cowboys had Jimmy Johnson, Parcells, and Tom Landry. The Redskins had Gibbs, Lombardi, and George Allen.

Michigan and Ohio State have had a claim in 41 Big Ten titles. That should tell all.

Lakers - 14 titles. Celtics - 16 titles. Countless hall of famers, but the series is actually more lopsided than it looks, the Celtics beat the Lakers EIGHT times for the NBA title.

Duke and UNC both have 3 titles(currently) and like 8948578696 Final Four appearances. And have won the division title and tournament title numerous times.

Red Sox? Wow, 2 titles in the last 86 years. Yankees...26? Right. REAL rivalry. :rolleyes2

[edczxcvbnm]

Come on Dingo. You know the rivalry doesn't have much to do with how many titles and championships a team wins.

I don't think BBall really has a rivalry of anysort.

[Big D]

Rugby Union Super 12:
Canterbury Crusaders versus Otago Highlanders; Canterbury Crusaders versus Auckland Blues.

The Crusaders almost always win everything, so it's usually 'envy' rather than 'rivalry'.

Cricket:
Australia versus New Zealand.
The Kiwis are still bitter about that infamous under-arm bowl back in the '70s. Every three or four years we actually win a game against the Aussies, and all the TV sports shows talk about how we're "taking revenge for the greatest act of unsporting behaviour". :rolleyes2

India versus Australia. Two of the best teams in the world; the competition's always fierce when they're going at it.

Formula 1:
Minardi versus everyone else. They just keep trying.

[-N-]

Big D, I was just about to post about cricket! *scorn*

One you didn't mention was India - Pakistan. I think it's pretty obvious why - there've only been a couple of wars and a nuclear arms race between them. The 70s and the 90s were the worst.

[krissy]

I don't think BBall really has a rivalry of anysort.


ball vs. the basket
yeah baby

[Del Murder]

Come on Dingo. You know the rivalry doesn't have much to do with how many titles and championships a team wins.

I agree with that. I'd say Sox/Yanks is the most emotional rivalry of them all. Giants-Dodgers is good too.

Football: Broncos-Raiders, Packers-Bears, Cowboys-Redskins

There are plenty of good NFL rivalries due to the emphasis on divisional games.

In basketball there aren't as many. Right now Pacers-Pistons is probably the best one, but for the last few years you couldn't beat Kings-Lakers. Of course all time is Celtics-Lakers, and I doubt the NBA will have something like that again under its current format.

[Kirobaito]

The Cowboys-Redskins rivalry is horrendous nowadays, especially with the way the 'boys have dominated the Skins over the recent years. However, back in the late 70s and early 80s, it was doubtful you could find a better show in football than to see those two teams play each other.

[Dingo Jellybean]

Come on Dingo. You know the rivalry doesn't have much to do with how many titles and championships a team wins.

I don't think BBall really has a rivalry of anysort.

It's not that the Red Sox don't have 26 titles. It's that the Yankees prior to this year have beaten them out of the post-season or have won the division from the Red Sox so many times. I mean I think it's been 7 straight years the Red Sox have finished 2nd to the Yankees.

If there were more ALCS like the past 2 years, okay...it would be. But history has shown, prior to this past baseball year, that the Sox have wilted against the Yankees in the post-season. When the stakes are high, the RS haven't gotten it done prior to last season. That's why I don't think the Yankees and Red Sox are really a rivalry.

As for basketball, the only REAL rivalry in any league is probably Duke-UNC. Maybe not recently, because Duke is still 17-4 in the last 21 meetings.

The Lakers vs. Celtics wasn't that great of a rivalry, but since they've accomplished more than any other teams in the league and since they've gone head to head more often in the finals than any other 2 teams, they are the NBA's defining rivalry, even though it's a bit lop-sided in the Celtics favor.



The Cowboys-Redskins rivalry is horrendous nowadays, especially with the way the 'boys have dominated the Skins over the recent years. However, back in the late 70s and early 80s, it was doubtful you could find a better show in football than to see those two teams play each other.

I've had some customers that are Cowboy fans that don't like the rivalry right now. For each Cowboy win, the rivalry loses its luster. The Cowboys have won like, 13 out of 14...which is why it's like, 55-36 all time record or something in the Cowboys favor. I refuse to acknowledge the games as a rivalry game now.

[Jewels]

Australia vs New Zealand in any sport, basically.

[Masamune·1600]

The Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals/New York Nationals. I can never guess who's going to win.

[Loony BoB]

Australia vs. New Zealand - Any sport. No, really. Any sport.
England vs. Australia - Cricket.
India vs. Pakistan - Cricket.
England vs. Germany - Soccer/Football.
Auckland vs. Canterbury - Rugby.
Ferrari vs. Everyone Else - F1GP.
At the current rate our politics is going, it's only a matter of time before our sports are dominated by:

USA versus World. Never have I seen on such a large scale the NEED, it's not even a desire, it's become a NEED for one country to just win everything.
Only problem is that the only people who would watch such a game would be Americans, since they're the only people who play their sports. Let's face it - America doesn't play many of what I call 'global sports' - ie, sports where international games are more important than national games. If it was a more global sport, though, you could have any of these:
Brazil vs. The World (Football).
South America vs. Europe (Football - this would be awesome).
Australia vs. The World (Cricket - this has happened).
Northern Hemisphere vs. Southern Hemisphere (Rugby - this has happened).

...can't think of many other large team sports right now that are all that big on the international scene. There are probably loads though that I don't know much about because they're never televised.

EDIT: Although one good rivalry involving the US is in golf, with the Ryder Cup being played between Europe and America.

[Venom65437]

I don't know which is the best rivalry, I think a lot of that depends on who your favorite team is, but it is definitely NOT Sox-Yanks.

Yes the Sox FINALLY beat the Yankees last year. But that's just one time, in the grand scheme of things the Sox are the Yanks total bitch, and winning once doesn't make it a rivalry. If it wasn't for ESPN no one would really care, I know I don't.

[Old Manus]

Oxford and Cambridge boat race.

Arsenal vs Man. United
Man. City vs Man. United
England vs Wales

And that's all the ones that I consider to be exciting.

[Nod]

In my opinion the best rivalries are territorially based. For example in England:
Manchester Utd vs Manchester City
Liverpool vs Everton
Arsenal vs Tottenham. all in Football.
Other rivalries i think are England vs Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland............in any sport.

[The Captain]

"Only problem is that the only people who would watch such a game would be Americans, since they're the only people who play their sports. Let's face it - America doesn't play many of what I call 'global sports' - ie, sports where international games are more important than national games. If it was a more global sport, though, you could have any of these"

That's very true, though if the recent Olympics were any indication, global sports may be on a rise round these parts, especially if NYC gets the 2012 games which I hope we don't.

In a nutshell though, when you think about it, the very reason we take such pride in our sports is because we have the us versus world mentality. Why else do we consider our sports championships the "World Championships" in sports played within the country?

Take care all.

[Heath]

I'm not suprised Everton-Liverpool got mentioned, always a good match to watch, even if Everton lost the last one. England-Germany is always good, too.

I like BoB's idea of


South America vs. Europe (Football - this would be awesome).


It would certainly be interesting.

[Nod]

oh and we can never forget Derby County vs. Nottingham Forest. Dangerous rivalry there!!!!! :p

[boris no no]

John Flamsteed girls football team vs Belper town Womens team.
thats a harsh rival to be sure! :p

[Levian]

Well, I always enjoyed a good hockey match between Canada and Sweden. Oh, and the beauty and beast match in figure skating (Harding vs. Kerrigan) was quite entertaining. God, that beast is truly a beast. Wouldn't want to run into her in a dark alley.

[tomamar04]

In international football, every team seems to be a rival of England, especially Germany, France, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Argentina.

No offence to our American friends, but football (soccer) probably does have the biggest rivalries, considering that the English football league is almost 150 years old, and in internationals, instead of a few thousand supporters behind a team, it's a whole nation...very patriotic.

[Zell's Fists of Fury]

Packers v. Vikings is a much more vicious rivalry than Packers v. Bears. But in essence, it really is a Packers v. Vikings v. Bears sort of thing. And then there's the Lions, but who cares about the Lions?

[edczxcvbnm]

Packers v. Vikings is a much more vicious rivalry than Packers v. Bears. But in essence, it really is a Packers v. Vikings v. Bears sort of thing. And then there's the Lions, but who cares about the Lions?

Maybe it is because I am from Chicago but the vikings are just a good team right now. If they were bad it wouldn't mean anything. It has always been Packers VS Bears. I never really see any hype for Packers VS Vikings or Vikings VS Bears. Its just another match.

Granted the Packers have demolished the bears constantly over the past 15 years or so but that hasn't stopped it from getting more aggressive. Even more so here in Chicago.