By Staff Sgt. Michael Molinaro
4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
CAMP LIBERTY, Iraq –
I believe that rivalries are what transcend sports from entertainment into something we really care about. You have to take it with a grain of salt and realize it is entertainment, and if your team loses, it's not life or death. However, it isn't like watching a movie and forgetting about it two minutes after you walk out of the theater. Many times, there are territorial rights involved, such as with high school and college sports. And when it comes to professional sports rivalries, the results often relate to your team's chances of making the postseason. There are some great rivalries today that even you aren't a fan of either team, you are glued to the set to watch the game unfold.
Since it's fall, let's begin with football rivalries. College football feasts off of rivalries. Some go back as far as the 19th century. They get so heated because they play year after year. Often times, they are playing for not only bragging rights but championships – and maybe most important of all, recruits. In-state rivalries often carry over grudges from high school games. It is awesome!
Ohio State-Michigan is one of the best rivalries and of late has had the most on the line when the fierce rivals have met. "The Game," as it is known, usually has one, if not both, teams ranked in the top five. The stakes? Normally, the victor moves on to a BCS bowl and, as we have seen with Ohio State and the past two years, the BCS championship.
Down south, a number of rivalries are as good as any you will find. "The Iron Bowl" between Alabama and Auburn is as heated as any and often is the deciding factor for top recruits from the state for which school they will attend. Florida and Georgia play at a neutral site every year in what is known as "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." Texas and Texas A&M duke it out every year in a battle for bragging rights as the best in the Lone Star State. Out west, "The Civil War" between Oregon and Oregon State sometimes literally pits brother against brother, and the "Big Game" matches up Stanford and California. And who can forget the always-classic annual Army-Navy game.
Pro football has some established rivalries as well. Some or these are born over a period of time due to the two teams' success. Jumping out at me are two obvious ones – Green Bay-Chicago and Pittsburgh-Cleveland. The Packers-Bears have the longest rivalry in the league with some of the most intriguing matchup in the game's history, such as: Butkus-Nitchske. Halas-Lombardi. Soldier Field-Lambeau Field. It is a storied tradition, and the two teams face off twice a year. Also facing of twice a year are the Browns and Steelers. Separated by a mere 140 miles and a turnpike, these two franchises hate each other with a hidden respect. Fans would never, ever suggest that they root for the other team at any point of a season, but the two cities are so similar and the fans made from the same DNA that it is like they are looking at a mirror – except the Browns have those ugly uniforms. The Colts and Patriots have formed a rivalry this decade, much like Dallas and San Francisco did in the 90s.
But all sports have rivalries, not just football. Perhaps the biggest rivalry of them all is found in baseball between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. I personally believe it is a media-driven rivalry that soothes TV executive's needs during the summer. But, you can't deny the fact that the fans of each team despise the other, which began when Babe Ruth was sold to the Yanks by a greedy Red Sox owner. Of course, the fans then witnessed as the Bambino helped create the Yankees into maybe the most well-known sports franchise in the world. The second city also has a great rivalry between the Cubs and White Sox.
College basketball has one of the fiercest and best rivalries in all of sports between North Carolina and Duke. The two schools, separated by a mere seven miles, battle it out every year for supremacy in the ACC – and for potential recruits. The NBA on the other hand saw the revival of the great Boston-Los Angeles rivalry this past summer in the finals.
Rivalries don't belong only to team sports. Individual sports have their rivalries as well. Golf has attempted for years to market a rival for Tiger Woods, but let's face it, Phil Mickelson is his rival – even though Tiger almost always has his way with Phil on the course. In Tennis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer own the sport right now, not only with their talent, but with fan's desire to see the two rivals meet in every tournament's final match. NASCAR may have seen a rivalry sprout this summer between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards that could be worth watching for years to come.
Rivalries keep us coming back year after year. Some say that a rivalry only exists if both teams win from time to time, but I disagree. Rivalries are created by the traditions and disgust for the other team. When your team wins the big game against the cross-town rival, no matter what the records are, you carry that happiness into the offseason for months of gloating and flexing those muscles. Until next time ... .
| Date Taken: | 09.20.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 09.20.2008 05:47 |
| Story ID: | 23913 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 82 |
| Downloads: | 75 |
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