Reason 4,592 to love Charles Woodson
So, a couple of minutes ago Charles Woodson is on an NFL pre-game show with other former NFL players.
The topic of greatest rivalry game you ever played in came up. The other guys rattle of games like Minn-Green Bay, Ravens-Titans, and so on.
Woodson's' turn comes up: He says "I gotta go with Michigan - Ohio State."
The other guys roll their eyes, but Charles don't care . . . he proceeds to wax eloquent about growing up with the rivalry and the meaning and intensity of it when he played.
When they finally pinned him down to name an NFL rivalry, he could barely come up with anything, and just threw out a couple of names. His heart was not in it.
A Michigan Man to the core.
Who's got it better than us?
November 6th, 2016 at 10:12 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 2:37 PM ^
I was just talking about today.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:13 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 5:48 PM ^
Bears-Packers and Packers-Vikings can get pretty intense. Then again, the Pack are a special case, even amongst NFL teams. If any team is college-like, it's the Packers, being community-owned and remote. That is as rabid a fanbase as you'll find in pro sports.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:32 PM ^
Now the NBA has Phoenix and San Antonio. So many conference finals have been decided by those two teams when Nash was with the Suns. But it was only a decade long rivalry.
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November 6th, 2016 at 10:15 AM ^
In the pros - teams will lose for a lot of reasons - less talent, crucial miscues or just out-coached. BUT those vary and change from game to game and usually one team does not dominate another. The composition of the teams draw players from all over the country so the rivalry just isn't in their hearts. Many of the players have been team mates in the past. For fans it may be different. The Yankees and Red Sox for example are classic rivals.
Tom Brady versus the Buffalo Bills is something like 26-3 but does he "get up" for Buffalo? No, just another division game.
It was a very honest answer!
November 6th, 2016 at 10:29 AM ^
Would Denard have ever suited up for OSU? Woodson? Peppers? Over their dead bodies. It's only "just different" in that it's "just worse". Pro "rivalries" are in a different stratosphere than college.
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November 6th, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^
IF you look at the years he was there he might have made the right football choice.
November 6th, 2016 at 11:08 AM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^
The fact that the Boren thing was such a shocker tells you how rare it is.
In the Pros, it's a normal way of life.
November 6th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^
Guess none of you guys ever watched Detroit - Colorado. There was real hatred in that rivalry.
November 6th, 2016 at 12:58 PM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 6:39 PM ^
But that was a player vs. player rivalry, and that's why it's a rivalry that lasted for...3 years?
November 7th, 2016 at 7:24 AM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 10:17 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 12:31 PM ^
Good point. Charles Woodson only played in 3 Michigan - Ohio State games.
He played in dozens of NFL "rivalry" games.
Yet 20 years later, all he wants to talk about are those 3 Michigan - Ohio State games.
Of course, it helps that he won all three!
November 6th, 2016 at 10:22 AM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
Huh? Maybe Packers / Lions on Thanksgiving. I don't think the Cowboys and Lions have ever played on Thanksgiving because both teams have always played a home game on Thanksgiving.
There have been a few good rivalries in the NFL, but most of them are fleeting; Steelers / Raiders in the 70s, Steelers / Ravens in the 00s, 49ers / Cowboys in the 80s and early 90s, etc. Cowboys / Redskins, Giants / Eagles, Bears / Packers, and Steelers / Browns are somewhat more permanent, but free agency has really dulled even those.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:49 AM ^
They never lose it.
November 6th, 2016 at 12:22 PM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^
That is just awesome. Gotta love Woodson
November 6th, 2016 at 10:24 AM ^
Who were the other former players?
Its surprising to me that they wouldn't just to college as well. Most (all?) colleges have some major rival (granted not like UM-OSU) that you think they would instantly jump to ahead of any pro rivalry.
A pro rivalry falls short to me because there isn't that sense of forever with a pro team. CWood is forever a Wolverine but is he forever a Raider and a Packer, and a Raider again? And lots of guys move around a lot more than that.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:24 AM ^
Is there any real hate there, when you could theoretically be on the opposing team someday?
November 6th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:26 AM ^
the NFL is about money, the college game is about passion. Of course, money is earned in college football and there's corruption but even the corrupt, rotten version of amateurism of college football has more heart and honor than the NFL game.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:26 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 12:14 PM ^
The question was "Greatest rivalry game you personally played in."
I forget who it was - I'm not much of an NFL guy - but it was a year when they played 3 times and there was a lot of bad blood and a lot of extra-curricular stuff going on.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:28 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:30 AM ^
That is the only pro sports rivalry I can think of that actually compared to a college rivalry.
They seriously hated each other.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:33 AM ^
Red Sox-Yankees in the aughts. Pedro throwing Zimmer down by his head, Varitek kicking ARod's butt, comeback down 3-0, etc.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^
bird's
November 6th, 2016 at 10:54 AM ^
I think of the Bulls as the Pistons rival back in the day. Truth is everyone hated them. That is why Thomas was not on the Dream Team.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:30 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:43 AM ^
Enumerate the reasons to not love Charles Woodson.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^
nope, i got nothing......
November 6th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^
He's not still playing for the Wolverines.
Bastard.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:48 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:50 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
November 6th, 2016 at 11:02 AM ^
NBA seems to lend it self more to rivalries, you are in physical contact more and they play seven game series in the playoffs. Lakers-kings was like that. Pistons bulls, lakers celtics currently look for OKC-Golden State to turn up the heat. If they were to meet in a seven game confrence finals it would be on.
November 6th, 2016 at 10:53 AM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 10:56 AM ^
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November 6th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^
It's why they didn't break up that divsion upon re-alignment...because Dallas has no business being in an "East" Division but it is hard to imagine Giants fans, Eagles fans, or Redskins fans ginning up hatred for...Carolina when they already really do not like Dallas.
November 6th, 2016 at 11:05 AM ^
Cowboys- racial slurs, raiders-steelers, packers-bears.