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(Sun Times)		The 20 greatest sports rivalries (suntimes.com)		359
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27664 clicks; posted to Main » on 09 Jun 2004 at 12:51 PM | Favorite | share:

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Hydro-X		2004-06-09 12:20:00 PM

What?! No Leafs-Habs?

puffy999		2004-06-09 12:22:00 PM

Let me guess, some overrated rivalry like Yankees-Red Sox is at the top, whereas a GREAT rivalry, between SUCCESSFUL teams, is nowhere near the top (see: OSU-Michigan football).

Oh, they aren't in order. Nevermind.
However, this list is REALLY crappy in the college basketball department. They're missing a few, it seems. As well as hockey... (both in the Old category)
Oh, and White Sox-Twins as a new rivalry? WTF? I would have taken the Mariners-A's over that, even though the Mariners suck this year.

Jules_Winnfield		2004-06-09 12:28:53 PM

Which part of the OSU-Mich rivarly makes those "successful" teams versus the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry?

Just curious- I think both are great.

/And I second the "WTF" on White Sox-Twins

Jules_Winnfield		2004-06-09 12:29:36 PM

Ooops should have directed that to you puffy999

coyote71		2004-06-09 12:32:20 PM

I think that college football rivalries are the greatest and you could probably make a top 20 list with just those.

Examples:
Texas-Texas A&M
The Red River Shootout
Bama-Auburn
Georgia-Florida
OSU-Mich

Jules_Winnfield		2004-06-09 12:34:58 PM

I agree coyote71

curlinggod		2004-06-09 12:39:12 PM

with changes in the NFL and MLB in the last five years, there are some potential GREAT rivals forming.

A Brewers/CUBS rivalry could turn interesting if the Brewers organization would ever spend the money for some talent. They are scrappy this year, and hanging tight so far but there are a lot of games left to play.

puffy999		2004-06-09 12:51:18 PM

Which part of the OSU-Mich rivarly makes those "successful" teams versus the Red Sox-Yankee rivalry
Look no further than championships won. OSU and Michigan, both, have won national titles in the last decade, in a FAR more difficult sport to win a championship in (even if it isn't a "real" championship). Both teams have multiple national championships in the past few decades.
The Yankees are winners... but the Red Sox haven't won a championship in over 80 years.
Rivalries should be about more than championships... but to be the greatest rivalry in sports, I would assume both teams would have championship success in recent years. The Sox haven't had that.
The OSU-Michigan rivalry has seen two national champions in the last decade, as I said. Also ,a couple other championship-bound teams in the rivalry have seen their hopes go down the drain with a loss at the end of the year.

Somebody_Someone		2004-06-09 12:54:42 PM

Uhh, I think it would be Vikings/Packers before Bears/Packers....but this is a Chicago web site, so it's biased into thinking they have some great rivalry with all their teams.

puffy999		2004-06-09 12:56:08 PM

And I question how big the Sox-Yankees rivalry would be if they, say, played elsewhere.
Imagine if it were the Cubs-Cardinals (say the Cardinals have all the rings, and always seem to beat the Cubs when it really matters). Do you think the media would care nearly as much?

elektronic		2004-06-09 12:56:36 PM

Florida isn't the University formerly known as Georgia's rivalry.

If anything, it should be under "new" and Tech-UGA should be under "old."

/obligatory

Pocket Ninja		2004-06-09 12:57:14 PM

This would have been much more interesting if it was a list of the greatest rivalries, period. Sports rivalries are so manufactured. Give me some good ol' Hatfield/McCoy action anyday.

/or North/South
//or Germans/French
///or tastes great/less filling

Greenisus		2004-06-09 12:57:14 PM

The college rivalry I heard about most as a kid was Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State. They have the Egg Bowl everything Thanksgiving, and it's a really big deal in Mississippi and western Tennessee.

puffy999		2004-06-09 12:58:04 PM

Uhh, I think it would be Vikings/Packers before Bears/Packers
I disagree. Lately, the Vikings/Packers has certainly been more interesting... but the Bears/Packers rivalry helped build the sport of professional football, IMHO. A historic rivalry.

kelt		2004-06-09 12:58:06 PM

Oilers & the Flames

Sunday_Gamer		2004-06-09 12:58:07 PM

Leafs - Habs was never has intense as Boston-Montreal...

Boston and Montreal have been fierce rivals for as long as I've known about Hockey... and being Canadian... that's about since the age of 2.

Sunday

BabyFaceFinster		2004-06-09 12:58:49 PM

There's no more heated rivalry than Kentucky-Vanderbilt in football.

Whhooooaaaa Nellie!

/sarcasm

JerryWoody		2004-06-09 12:59:18 PM

Where's Hulk/Andre?

Jules_Winnfield		2004-06-09 01:00:02 PM

What makes the OSU-Mich match up a rivalry is that even when one of the teams has a down year (which has certainly happened over the last few decades). That team still seems to fark it up for the one with a chance.

And I disagree with the casual "Far" more difficult.

2 totally different structured championships, and only one of the two sports has an actual playoff system, where you win and advance.

BabyFaceFinster		2004-06-09 01:00:44 PM

Best rivalry ever: Mean Machine vs. the Guards

Thor's Hammer		2004-06-09 01:00:59 PM

Yankees vs. Redsox is not a rivalry, it's a cursed reality!

Saying this is a rivalry is like saying that Cortez vs. Montezuma was a rivalry.

Here's one for all you chowderheads:

What's the difference between a Yankee hotdog and a Fenway hot dog?

You can't get a Fenway dog in October!

thephirm		2004-06-09 01:01:11 PM

Greenisus:

I'm sure Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State is huge in Mississippi, but the truly great rivalries (Michigan vs. Ohio State, Notre Dame vs. USC) are huge nationally.

docilej		2004-06-09 01:01:18 PM

(under hockey: old school) Montreal - Quebec.

dedigger		2004-06-09 01:01:42 PM

ehhh what about Broncos/Raiders?

/Raiders SUCK

betona		2004-06-09 01:02:01 PM

I'd echo coyote71 and say that college football rivalries is a genre of its own.

As a Sooner grad, I always thought OU-Texas was a bigger rivalry than OU-Nebraska.

scarylonghair		2004-06-09 01:02:13 PM

Philly peeps know about this one: Harry Calas Vs. Chris Wheeler

HungryHungryHippo		2004-06-09 01:02:35 PM

There is a rivalry between the Sox and Yanks?

Stevie_Boots		2004-06-09 01:02:48 PM

They forgot Cubs/Cards. THose are always fun to watch. Especially when Sosa turns evil and the dugout and just stares everyone down. And the beanballs liven it up.

/Glad he's not 3Horn

holierthanthou		2004-06-09 01:02:53 PM

The Jews and the Arabs have always had a pretty good rivalry.

gwowen		2004-06-09 01:04:07 PM

Wow, what are the chances that they'd all be American teams.

No England v. Australia cricket matches.
No El Salvador v. Honduras football (soccer) matches [it started a bloody war for farks sake].
No sign of Holland and Germany, and Rijkaard spitting at Rudi Voller.
No Celtic v. Rangers (ahh, the healthy sound of sectarian violence).

Spooky.

Ignorant, but spooky.

waitaminute...		2004-06-09 01:04:09 PM

Feh. Bad list. Where's the Globetrotters-Generals? Now that was a rivalry!

fisherman62		2004-06-09 01:05:09 PM

Florida vs. Florida State
Florida vs. Georgia
Florida vs. [insert name here]

Florida's the best
All the rest suck
Florida, Florida,
Rah rah fark!

Peruvian Fried Chicken		2004-06-09 01:05:22 PM

Pah!

That list is so boring and with the exception of Ice Hockey only lists insignificant sports...

Under real football how about:

The great rivalries of Liverpool vs Everton or Manchester United vs Leeds United.

For cricket you would have England vs Australia

Rugby: New Zealand and Australia.

Stompn_Tom		2004-06-09 01:05:31 PM

boxman		2004-06-09 01:05:34 PM

HHH:

Only if you consider the relationship between a hammer and a nail a rivalry.

blitzd		2004-06-09 01:05:46 PM

Bah, they missed "Philadelphia - Everyone"

CanadianCommie		2004-06-09 01:05:54 PM

where is the Edm Oilers-Dallas Stars?

/still hate the Dallas Stars

Peisersoze		2004-06-09 01:06:04 PM

No Notre Dame- ANYONE? (Michigan, Army, OSU, BC, whoever they rivalryize with)

brodyvess		2004-06-09 01:06:04 PM

OU-Texas. Christ, emotions run so high that have to play it on a neutral site and some fans still manage to tear the shiat out of fair park.

That being said Texas-TAMU is the only one that I can think of recently that has a death toll attached to it.

mryoop789		2004-06-09 01:06:11 PM

THEY FORGOT CHARLIE BROWN VS. LUCY!!!

Teekno		2004-06-09 01:06:55 PM

So I see one that they listed was "Oklahoma-Nebraska." Now, I don't know much about Nebraska... it may be that Oklahoma is their biggest rival. But having lived in Oklahoma -- and employed by OU for a few years -- I can confidently state that the Nebraska rivalry doesn't even come close to the rivalry with Texas.

When the Big 12 was formed and OU wound up playing the Huskers half as much, people were disappointed, but said "Thank God we're still playing Texas every year."

Livewire		2004-06-09 01:07:00 PM

Batman vs Joker?

Also cosign on Cubs/Cardinals. Im a Cubs fan, so I guess I am sort of biased, but the Cubs/Cards games are always hyped on WGN.

Hang On Voltaire		2004-06-09 01:07:07 PM

gwowen
"Wow, what are the chances that they'd all be American teams."

It's a friggin American newspaper. I wouldn't expect the Sun to include Alabama-Auburn as one of the top twenty sports rivalries.

unyon		2004-06-09 01:07:09 PM

Anything Calgary-Edmonton...

Hockey, Football, baseball, spelling bee, it doesn't matter.

All the Oiler fans that joined the Flames bandwagon in the last two months in order to cheer on a small market franchise from Alberta, are now silently kinda glad that the Flames didn't win- They thought that they'd never hear the end of it, and they were probably right.

Sure, we'd try to be gracious about it, but eventually we'd rub it in, it's in our nature. And then they'd remind us that 'dynasty' isn't spelled O-N-E, and we'd remind them that the last time they had a dynasty Reagan was alive, sane, and in office, and they'd ask how our football team did last year compared to the 2003 Grey Cup champion Edmonton Eskimos, and we'd ask how that whole 'City of Champions' thing was working out... uuugghh.

Like twin girls fighting over the same doll, all the time. Same size cities 3 hours apart, with no other natural rivalries, one has all the political power, the other has all the economic power, both are complete attention whores.

Frankly, It's great. ;)

Alexis		2004-06-09 01:07:42 PM

Surprisingly enough, I've heard of most of those sports teams. They shouldn't've limited it to the major players, though. Like, there was this one time, I was playing pool with this girl I met in this bar, and she totally kicked my ass, even though I'm pretty good at pool. Suck on that, Sun Times.

puffy999		2004-06-09 01:08:00 PM

How did I miss the Cubs-Cards not even being listed? Hell, that's the NL version of the Yankees-Sox.

And I disagree with the casual "Far" more difficult.
Here's my reasoning:
A. College sports championships are more difficult to win, as you don't get to keep the same team around for years at a time. Four years, and a player is gone (sometimes less... usually, a guy will play a decent amount of time for a team for only a year or two).
B. There are far more college teams to compete with.
C. One loss, and you're often out of the running for a title, meaning you have to play perfect ball the ENTIRE season. Unlike baseball, where you can slump for two months.
D. As you said, baseball has a playoff. College football has a crappy system that goes entirely off of record and opponents played. Certainly makes it more difficult for teams to succeed.

Ouroborus		2004-06-09 01:08:15 PM

This article is crap. As betona mentioned, Texas-OU is bigger than OU-Nebraska (isn't CU-Nebraska bigger than OU-Nebraska?). Plus, the game of the century was the '69 Texas-Arkansas game.

ShereKhan		2004-06-09 01:08:40 PM

WTF? No Vikings-Packers.... Who are these potheads? As Chance the Gardener would say "I like to watch." The North Stars and Blackhawks used to be a great rivalry, but Norm Green farked it up for everyone by sending our team to North Mexico.

RDS		2004-06-09 01:08:44 PM

This writer has obviously never attended a Leafs vs. Habs game in Toronto, or Montreal...or had the pleasure of wearing a Leafs jersey in a Montreal bar and having plenty of beer thrown at them.

Radworld4		2004-06-09 01:09:01 PM

The Vikings/Packers has surely replaced the Bears/Packers...There at least was some nodding respect to the Bears. I hated them but I gave a nod to their play as a team. And they showed some respect when they came to Lambeau. The vikes fans come and shoot off their mouths and then are surprised when they get a beer tossed at them.

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