Best Rivalries in Sports

9 March 2009 Posted by David 1,938 views 7 Comments

Every year when your favorite team’s schedule is released, you always look through it and circle one game. The biggest rivalry game of the year. All teams have their rivals, but with some teams the rivalry hatred runs deep. A loss to your rival will scar you for a whole season… maybe longer.

Rivalry games bring out a certain excitement and passion from the fans and players that a normal game can’t deliver. The best rivalries in sports have usually lasted for decades. In today’s post we’ll look at one of the best rivalries from each league. I’m not basing these rivalries off any type of stats… they’re just my personal opinion.

National Collegiate Athletic Association
Football – Florida Gators vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Given the name ‘The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party’, I’m not sure if it’s the fans or the players that enjoy this rivalry more.

Hoops – Duke Blue Devils vs. UNC Tar Heels
This could be the best rivalry in all of sports. The players, coaches and fans are so intense… probably because these two ACC powerhouse teams are only 10 miles a part.

Major League Baseball
New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox
This rivalry dates back to the Babe Ruth era. Every year baseball fans tune in to watch this rivalry. It also helps that both teams are usually near the top of the division, so the game means a little bit more.

National Football League
Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins
This division rivalry dates back to the 1960s. Even though neither team has won a Super Bowl in 15 years, their matchups are always must see events.

National Basketball Association
L.A. Lakers vs. Boston Celtics
I can’t even count how many times these two teams have met in the NBA Finals. From Chamberlain vs. Russell to Magic vs. Bird and now Kobe vs. Pierce. East Coast vs. West Coast at it’s finest.

National Hockey Association
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens
This rivalry has been going on since the NHL was created in 1917. it started out as a way for the teams/fans to act on the tension between English and French speaking Canadiens.

Did I miss your favorite rivalry game? Post a comment and let me know!

7 Comments »

hokieg said:

Florida / Georgia is not close to Alabama / Auburn. Frankly, its below OSU / Michigan, USC / Notre Dame, and a few others as well.

Mike.

# 9 March 2009 at 8:39 pm

Jimmy said:

Are you talking the biggest rivalries in Sport or in US Sport? To me the biggest rivalries in US Sport are the Red Sox v Yankees and Duke v UNC but these rivalries don’t really compare to some overseas rivalries.

The biggest Rivalries in world sport (in my opinion) are:

(not in any order.)

1). Celtic vs Rangers. (Soccer.) The city of Glasgow can be divided right down the middle when it comes to this intense rivalry. The first game between these two clubs took place in 1888 and since then these two teams have been the power houses of Scottish Soccer. The game has a very strong religious and political background as well. Rangers are traditionally supported by Protestants whilst Celtic represented the Irish Catholic community. Rangers have also been Strongly associated with Northern Irish Unionist and Loyalists and Celtic with the Irish Republican movement. So the hatred is set beyond the sport itself. However even without these political divides Celtic and Rangers’ sheer dominance would have ensured that this rivalry would have been fierce. There are only a handful of times over the last 130 years that any other team, besides the Glasgow two, in Scottish football have been crowned champions.

2). Real Madrid v Barcelona. (Soccer: Spain) Nicknamed “El clasico” this rivalry also has deep political divides. This time dating back to Franco’s Spain. Fascist dictator Franco took a deep interest in the Real Madrid and they became an icon of his Spain, winning a handful of European Cups (club soccer’s highest prize.) in the 1950’s. Whilst Barcelona become a symbol of anti fascist Catalan nationalism. These teams are make up on of the fiercest rivalries in European football, and that is saying something.

3) Boca Juniors v River Plate (Soccer: Argentina.) Two of the biggest South American clubs both from Buenos Aires. Boca Juniors are said to represent the working class community while River Plate are nicknamed Los Millonarios and boast a more upper class support base.

4). India v Pakistan (cricket.) If you don’t know why Indian’s and Pakistanis hate each other pick up a book. If you don’t know that Indians and Pakistanis both love Cricket watch a game (well don’t its boring.). If you can’t comprehend why this rivalry is so huge then I can’t help you.

5.) Serbia v Croatia (soccer) See India v Pakistan but replace the word cricket with soccer (also delete the boring part.)

6.) England v almost anyone. (soccer) The Germans, Welsh, Irish, Scots, Australians, Argentinians, Portuguese, French, Croatians and anyone else really love beating England. Why? Because they are English and why the hell not. Some have historical significance (Scotland, Wales, Germany, Ireland, Argentina.) some are more recent dislikes (Portuguese and Croatia) but there is little doubt that everyone likes beating the English.

7.) Argentina v Brazil. (soccer of course.) The two powerhouses of South American soccer. Brazil gave us Pele, Argentina gave us Maradona. This a local rivalry that comes from a long history of competition and mutual animosity.

I won’t go on because I’m sure in the true style of being American (I know I am one.) we won’t like to be told that our rivalries aren’t the biggest. But they aren’t.

The reason being is that the political and historical backgrounds aren’t really there in American sports. Most cities in England have at least 2 soccer teams. This usually leads to their being a big divide on game day. In the US, with a few exceptions, most Cities support the one team. Also as many clubs in europe are very old they have developed down class lines, which isn’t the same here in the US.

# 17 June 2009 at 8:04 am

tech said:

In major league soccer which is american soccer the oldest biggest rivalry is L.A GALAXY versus D.C UNITED

# 23 June 2009 at 12:32 am

natalie said:

Michigan v ohio state

# 3 August 2009 at 2:03 pm

Angel1 said:

Jimmy, let’s be perfectly honest, any claim to be the Greatest Rivalry in US Sports aside from the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is a joke. I’d also say that Ohio State-Michigan is easily in the top 10 of sports rivalries in the world. I don’t know how you judge sports rivalries, but I judge them based on history (including origins of the rivalry). Very few rivalries can be said to truly go back to wars or near wars between the people involved. The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry involves all the people from those states and has origins in a near war between the State of Ohio and the Michigan Territory. Militia forces were literally deployed and searching for each other. The rivalry is deep and bitter and especially beneficial to local charity in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Columbus, Ohio.

# 18 September 2009 at 3:17 pm