OT - The 5 rivalries in sports that actually matter (USA Today)
1. Red Sox vs. Yankees
2. Duke vs. UNC
3. Michigan vs. Ohio State
4. Alabama vs. Auburn
5. Texas vs. Oklahoma
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/the-5-rivalries-in-sports-that-actually-matter/
Our game with Little Bro was eliminated because "Teams may only have one true rivalry counted"
January 13th, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
I live in the triangle and can tell you that although its a strong rivalry, it doesnt beat ours in terms of tradition, competitiveness and craziness between fans.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 3:26 PM ^
Its not the same. The Game has the feeling of encamped armies and a palpable tension - like a skirmish can break out at any time and no one would be surprised. Here, everyone just commutes to the games and there aren't 150,000 tailgaters. There really aren't any tailgates to speak of and everyone is wearing blue.
Franklin Street after a UNC win is kinda a big deal, I guess.
The other thing is, both UNC and Duke kids hang out in Carborro / Chapel Hill so its not like there's "turf."
January 13th, 2014 at 12:46 PM ^
what's the triangle?
January 13th, 2014 at 12:51 PM ^
I believe he's referring to the Chapel Hill-Durham-Raleigh area of North Carolina (UNC-Duke-NC State). I live there, and it's simply known as the Triangle.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
aka Research Triangle
January 13th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
gotcha. Familiar with the Research Triangle moniker, wasn't aware they called it just "The Triangle".
January 13th, 2014 at 2:15 PM ^
There are lots of us here. Between here and Charlotte we've got the numbers needed so that you can now get NC plates with a block M on it.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
I love it here . .
January 13th, 2014 at 6:07 PM ^
We all think of Dook as a traditional power...but before the mid-1970's, am I right, they were a nobody in basketball? I know, that's 40 stinking years, but... UNC has been a hoops power for twice as long, IIRC, and certainly UM/OSU football goes back 100(ish) years.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 11:47 AM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 11:53 AM ^
I agree. Another issue is that the 2 teams play 18 times a year. Every year. I will say that I do find their matchups entertaining when it's the ALCS.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 12:05 PM ^
Rivalries are in the eye of the beholder. Most of us here don't care about UNC/Duke, Auburn/Bama, etc. This list (as all lists of this sort) is purely based on history, regional significance, etc. The fact that the Yankees and Red Sox have two of the largest five fanbases in the MLB, have played in some epic games, and have a heated history is why they deserve to be on this list. And as much as I'm not an ESPN supported, I don't think they warrant any blame for this.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
recently.
January 13th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^
They have met only three times in the ALCS since 1969, all of which happened after 1999. I don't know if I would call that "often", even 3 times in the last 15 years doesn't sound all that often.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:52 PM ^
what with playing in the same division and there being no wild card.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:02 PM ^
I'm a Tigers fan living on the west coast but was enthralled by the 04 series. As was every place I went to in Texas during the series. There's a national appeal there for sure that no other MLB rivalry can match.
It may be overrated/overhyped by ESPN, but people do care. Certainly moreso than many/most other regional rivalries.
The bigger question is if enough people care about baseball to make it worthy of #1.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
Like was mentioned before, you cared during the playoffs. What about the dozen other games they played that year? Did you care? what about the hundred they've played since?
Granted, that's just how it works with divisional oppenents in MLB, but they've played each other 2000+ times. Literally. Outside of diehard yanks or sox fans, you honestly don't care about this game more often then not. The U of M vs. OSU game and the Duke vs. UNC games, now those games more often than not mean something and command more national attention/respect on a game by game basis.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
Isn't an apples to apples comparison.
Hell, I'm a diehard Tigers fan, but how much do I care about every TIGERS regular season series? Admittedly, not a ton at times.
MLB regular season is just generally diluted, but saying outsiders only care about BoSox-NYY in the playoffs isn't really a damning statement.
In other words, your comment seems to suggest less that people don't care about BoSox-NYY and more that you can't really care about MLB rivalries because of how many games are played. Honestly, that's fair, but I also think it's more fair to compare rarer rivalry contests (CFB; typically only one game per year; CBB; typically only 2 games per year, at most 4 [conference tourney + outside chance at NCAA tourney game, too]) to MLB playoffs than every MLB contest. In that regard, BoSox-NYY holds up well, I think.
Note: I fucking hate both Boston and NY. But hard to argue that their rivalry isn't compelling.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
Right - You add up the total fan interest and coverage over those dozens of games and it's probably more than the single UM/OSU game. UM/OSU can not face each other in the playoffs (or are very very unlikely to), which is both a good and bad thing.
These are all regional rivalries to an extent so a lot of people won't care, but the MLB rivalries like LA-SF and NY-BOS really are great. The LA-SF thing is very limited to west coast, but (because of media coverage or not) the NY-BOS rivalry is something every sports fan knows about and hears about.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
whether a majority of people care or not, could be measured in the amount and intensity of the hate they generate between the two fan bases. And I don't think anyone would deny the amount of hate between the Yankees and Red Saux fan bases.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:55 PM ^
Having watched a few Yankees-Red Sox games from the bleachers of the old Yankees Stadium, I absolutely concur. In the bleachers, it is a contact sport.
January 13th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
You mistyped. I have corrected your error.
No one outside of (Team 1) fans and (Team 2) fans cares about (Team 1) vs. (Team 2).
January 13th, 2014 at 3:18 PM ^
I remember before Boston won the world series in 2004 it was somewhat of a big deal with Pedro Martinez throwing one of the Yankees coaches down, but once the Red Sox won that world series ESPN started hyping it way more.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
Not questioning the list itself (given the criteria they establish) but man does this thing look and read like a Bleacher Report cut n paste job.
And candidly given that one key criteria is the games must "matter" I'm guessing our rivarly with OSU is being evaluated based on basketball given that the football game hasnt really "mattered" in regards to the B1G since 2007.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^
I agree, but the criteria that they set out eliminates us from their list. It says, "Both teams are generally near the top of the standings in the last five years"
Michigan has only been "near the top" once in the last 5 years. In the other 4 years, we've finished ranked once that that was 24th in the AP while unranked in the coaches. One out of five years is not enough to make the generalization.
Basically, it's just a poorly-written article with predetermined results and criteria set to match the results. That's the point that's trying to be made.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:51 AM ^
so its not a "ranking" just the 5 that they deem the big ones according to their criteria
January 13th, 2014 at 10:33 PM ^
for cameo appearance.
January 22nd, 2014 at 3:21 PM ^
ha..
thanks Steve, hope you are doing well.
January 13th, 2014 at 11:57 AM ^
was going to be horrible
January 13th, 2014 at 12:09 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
A.) Of course nobody cares about Michigan-Ohio. Setting aside the fact that they've neer won, the Bobcats rarely play us.
B) Aren't the only places where prosports don't "dominate" the places that don't have pro-sports teams. And it's very dependent on sport. Even though Michigan isn't a huge basketball state, college basketball is a much bigger deal than the NBA, despite the fact that we have one of the very few franchises with multiple titles.
/s on (A)
January 13th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
Where's Sparty vs. Indiana on that list?
January 13th, 2014 at 6:40 PM ^
Or ND-Purdue. That was the most important to preserve, of course.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
from "The Game" and "The Iron Bowl" to the Red River Rivalry is palpable. The Texas Oklahoma rivalry exists really for just the one weekend in October. The reasons are probably two fold. First, the distance between the two schools make year round interaction between the two fan groups relatively rare. Second, it isn't a home and home rivalry. So not only do the fan groups only interact for just the one weekend, they do so in the middle of the TX State fair in Dallas. Seriously, how can we expect fans to throw down while eating funnel cake and chugging Dr. Pepper?
January 13th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^
I think the Texas vs. Oklahoma game gets extra credit for attempted castration of opposing fans. Castration really glamorizes your program. That probably boosted them in the ratings.
"Best Rivalry" also-ran Texas A&M obviously gets this, since a large segment of the student body often tries to ritually castrate themselves.
And that closes our daily segment of "Today In Castration".
January 13th, 2014 at 3:24 PM ^
...is a lot like Michigan-OSU when it comes to recruiting. OU is like Michigan in that they do well in their own state but in order to be a national power they've REALLY got to make hay in the larger talent pool to their immediate south. The better OU does against Texas in Dallas, the more desirable a destination it continues to be for stand-out talent that doesn't mind leaving their home state.
Plus there is A LOT of money at that game. It's almost like Harvard-Yale, but with cowboy boots.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:24 PM ^
What about Oklahoma fans in Texas and Texas fans in Oklahoma? I'm sure it's similar to Michigan-OSU in that regard.
I'm not sure if there's a state-wide hate of the other state the way there is with Michigan and Ohio though (fuck you Ohio cops).
January 13th, 2014 at 8:20 PM ^
for two years, I've lived here in TX for the last nine. I saw more fan "hatred" in the two years living in Tulsa than I have in all the time I've lived in the DFW area. Sooners obsess about TX much like Sparties obsess about Michigan, while Longhorn fans rarely give OK a second thought.
January 13th, 2014 at 9:20 PM ^
I know a lot of them buy longhorn decals and put them upside down on their cars. I always thought that was stupid as hell since the money is going to Texas' athletic department.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
January 13th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
Old School.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
If football is the number one sport in the history of the world then Packers/Bears and Cowboys/Redskins matter.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
agree about Packers/Bears. That's about as intense a rivalry as you'll see.