discuss

yeah, I'm not biased or anything. Duke/UNC... 10 miles apart and you hate the opposition.

ummmm. ooookkaaaayyy. nice to see your opinion in the original post. just for that. I said other.

I remember this horrible incident from my childhood (and from my childhood I mean from when I was a teenager).

I have a couple of sisters. One is a year older than me. She got into many great colleges, but she chose to go to Michigan. She was not/is not a football fan so she could care less about OSU vs. Michigan, but I was/am a big Buckeye fan.
I wasn't really upset that she was going to that blue school, because I knew I would never go. But then one day I come home to find a huge Michigan poster on her door, and I had to look at it whenever I went to my room. The site made me sick.

Go Bucks
(I was about one foot away from Antonio Pittman at the Cavs on Tuesday)

theres a few more that weren't mentioned, some of which you may not know the depth of the rivalry unless you've seen it first hand..

Texas-OU is mammoth.

Alabama-Auburn may be the most bitter.

Army-Navy is the coolest, with the most tradition.

Harvard-Yale extends far off the football field.

Bear-Packers is proably the biggest rivalry in the NFL.


UNC-Duke is a great rivalry, but it seems to me that not too many people are involved, compared to like OSU-Michigan. those schools have around 80,000 students, and it's two whole states pitted against each other. Yankees-Red Sox is the only pro (American) sport that compares to college rivalries, imo. But the biggest rivalry in sports, and it's not even close, is Celtic-Rangers. It goes far beyond two teams and into politics and religion. No other Soccer rivalry approaches it, and there are many, many many bitter soccer rivalries.

wrong, boca/river rivals it and then some. several top publications have put the boca/river rivalry as the biggest of which 442 did a big article on teh biggest rivalries within the past 3 years and Boca/River got a several page article segment within the article

Yank-Red Sox is the worst rivalry on that list, they play what... 18 times a year? Hard for any specific game they play to be all that important when they play 162 games a year. Not to mention no one west of NY gives a crap about it.

Duke/UNC is great because of the way those programs dominate yearly and are almost always 1/2 for the ACC, and people might say that it only matters in North Carolina but they would be very wrong. We had a group of 50 people go to a sports bar to watch one of the games a few years ago, in Iowa. Even the guys who were not fans of either team look forward to them playing. Thats the one on the list I would have to vote for.

Michigan/OSU is a great rivalry, but in college football everyone is so regional it's hard to say it's absolutely the best. No SEC or PAC-10 fans for instance would even think about watching the game.

Celtic/Rangers is bigger.

So what if no one west of NY Cares about it ( which isn't true, there are yankee fans all over the country)? MILLIONS of people on the east coast care intensly about the rivalry. I would agree that playing so often dilutes it for the average fan, perhaps.. but their rivalry is mammoth, for a pro sport. I think their 2004 AL championship series was one of the best things I've ever seen in baseball. All rivalries are regional. If you didn't live in NC, or go to Duke or UNC, why would you "care" about that rivalry? I mean, you might hate duke, and want them to lose an all, but you don't hate them like a Tar Heel does.

And again, I think you're wrong about Michigan/OSU. No one might watch the game if one or both of the teams are bad, but that happens when, exactly? One of the two is almost ALWAYS in contention for a national title, and the other one is almost always good, if not contending themselves. I think college football fans like to watch good games.

Celtic - rangers is one of the obvious candidates, as is boca - river but I think you'd probably have to go for Real - Barca due to the political history of spain. Pigs head for Figo anyone? Other than that Turkish football has been known to get voilent from time to time.

wow, I'm now totally convinced, I won't believe what any journalist has told me and what a friend of mine told me comparing the two (and he played for the rangers youth teams before screwing up his knee)






Real-Barca is insteresting, but, its cooled off a bit since Franco died. It's still a hot derby, but it just doesn't seem to get as hot as some of the other real big derbies. It's probably the hottest Continental derby though

This link appears to cover most of the major ones in football: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_football_rivalries

Some of the ones in the former Yugoslavia can be pretty tastey even if they get less media attention.

There are far more Cubs fans all over the country than Yankees. By that standard you could say that Cubs/Cards is a much bigger rivalry. By your same standard for college football fans watching Michigan/OSU why wouldn't a college basketball fan watch UNC/Duke? I don't disagree with your basic premise, I like watching most the big rivalry games in college sports (football and basketball), but I know a lot of people who are so "pro-whatever_conference" they just don't pay attention as much to other conferences.

I and several of my friends have always been UNC fans, can't stand Duke though we respect their program. None of us have ever stepped foot in NC. I'm a huge Michigan fan too, so I really enjoy the Michigan/OSU game but if it was on at the same time as a UNC/Duke game I would watch the basketball game. I even watch the UNC/Duke womens games.

I voted for UNC-Duke.. I'm a huge cbball fan so this one's high on my list.

the Hadjuk/Dinamo one is very interesting. 442 recently did an article on it in their monthly football rivalries segment and there was some shocking stuff that I read on it

can also add

Maple Leafs v. Canadiens

Notre Dame v. USC

California v. Stanford

Florida v. Florida State

Missouri v. Kansas

USC v. UCLA

and numerous others that haven't been mentioned

oh btw...Jadaki is correct when it comes to Yankees v. Red Sox...it's not even the biggest rivalry in MLB let alone sports...it only gets hype because the majority of the people that work for ESPN come from New England

I am not trying to convince you, just stating that you've not convinced me. I've never heard anything that any other soccer rivalry is bigger than Celtic/Rangers, and until I hear something other than a random internet post about the issue, I'm not going to change that opinion.

My standard? I wasn't using it as a standard.. but he was dismissing Yankees-red sox as a regional rivalry, and I was countring that with A) it's a pretty fcking big region.. and OSU-Michagan and Duke-UNC are even more of regional rivalries.


Also, I think alot of people root for UNC during that game, because everyone hates Duke.. much like neutral people will root for the Red Sox, 'cause everyone hates the yankees.
Also, I don't know if you're right about there being more cubs fans across the country or not.. or rather, what it means to be a fan.. I mean, the cubs are a sympathetic team, and when they do well, everyone jumps on their band wagon. But hardcore cubs fans? MAYBE. The Yankees are certainly not as sympathetic nationwide as the Cubs are, and most neutral fans hate the yankees, but there are tons and tons and tons of Yankee fans all over the country, including my dad, who grew up in Iowa and has never been east of Ohio, much less set foot in NYC or attended a game at Yankee's stadium. The cubs/cardinals is a big rivalry, for a baseball rivalry, but it's nothing compared to the intensity of the Yankees-RedSox.

I guess the critera I'd use for judging a rivalry is A) intensity of the fans and the meaningfulness of the games, on average. I'd say all three of these rivalries score high marks in both catagories, and are the biggest rivalries of their respected sports... trying to figure out which is bigger between them is kind of an apples and oranges sort of thing.


And I might change my answer to India/pakistan cricket.

If we're going international then look no further than Brazil - Argentina.

Word!

The NFL has the best rivalries. Right now it's Colts-Pats. I'd also nominate Tiger Woods vs The PGA and their "tiger proof" courses.

You guys are crazy if you say that Yanks/Red Sox isn't a big rivalry. There is no way any pro rivalry comes close, the Cards and Cubs aren't even a blip on the radar screen compared to Yanks/Sox. Seriously, as Tony Kornhesier says, "It's the Yanks and the Saux!!"

College rivalry is easier because it's your school, not your area rooting for the team. People in the south would argue Florida St./ Florida or Auburn/Alabama, same as people from the Midwest to like OSU/Michigan.

It's still an east coast thing, I don't know a single baseball fan around here (midwest) who gives a crap about either team other than complaining about how much they spend on their lineups. If you based all your sports information on what Tony Kornhieser says you would rather be watching American Idol than any sporting event in the world anyway.

several publications have put the boca/river rivalry as the highest. 442 immeaditly comes to mind

That is very questionable. There are games, especially in southern Europe, where there is literally war in the streets every time two teams play against each other - and in the time in between as well - (for example: Crvena Zvezda-Partizan, Fenerbahce-Galatasaray, Panathinaikos-Olympiakos, PAOK-Aris, Hajduk-Dinamo, and several eastern European derbies come to mind also). I have seen Celtic-Rangers twice, and it was impressive, but nothing like some other games I have watched. And I also have heard crazy stuff about some rivalries in South America.

No. I can't think of an NFL rivalry that would crack my top 20. The biggest NFL Rivalry is Broncos-Raiders, and even that one doesn't matter much anymore.

erm, wrong, the bears/packers rivarly is much bigger then the broncos/raiders and it will always mean something

Colts - Pats will turn into something legendary if both teams can take it up a notch this year.

NFL-Bears v. Packers
NBA- none, the sport sucks
MLB- Cubs v. Cardinals (sorry, but Damon signing w/ yanks killed that rivalry IMO)
NHL- Tor v. Mon
ColBB- Kansas V. Mizzou
ColFB- Army v. Navy