Rivalries

This week's Sox/Yanks series has brought back some great memories of this storied rivarly since I became a Sox fan in the mid 70's.  It's always fun, dramatic and usually with a lot on the line with these two teams.  I know the rest of the country is sick of this rivalry and understandibly so.  "Big Media" has created a monster by overshowing this series as it does with everything else.  It is what it is in todays media and social world.

With that said, I have been fortunate to have lived in several parts of the country thanks to Minor League Baseball jobs around the country and other reasons so I have been able to be around a lot of pretty intense rivalry games that mean just as much to those people in those part of the country.  Some of these are obvious, some of them not.  Some you are grossly underrated and some are overrated, but they are all rivalries and make for good conversation.  Here a just a few to get us going...

1)  Sox/Yanks......enough said already but still the best bang for the buck especially when they meet in post season

2)  Alabama/Auburn.....365 days of hatred that you just can't understand unless you are a fan...Roll Tide

3)  Clemson/South Carolina..... (see Bama/Auburn justs move the fight two states to the east)  I onced witnessed these two teams at the end of awful seasons strap it up in front of 85,000 fans who thought they were at the Super Bowl.  Intense.

4)  Bama/Tennessee.....as the saying goes "We hate Auburn because we have to.  We hate Tennessee because we want to".....uh yes that would be a rivalry and it is actually older than the most believe.  3rd Saturday in October always meant one thing for close to 70 years...Crimson vs Orange

5) Cardinals/Cubs.....quite possibly the most underrated rivalry in sports.  Classic fans who travel to both cities.

6)  Blues/Blackhawks..... for some of the same reasons  listed in #5 but revved up just a notch because it is hockey.   As it was put when one Italian-Chicago fan of the hawks was quipping about how the STL is a shitty sports town, so bad they couldn't keep an NFL team (post Cardinals and pre-Rams) the response from a blue fans was "Hey you wap...we can't help it our football team wasn't as big as your nose!!"   Game On!

7)  Illinois State/Bradley....mostly a basketball rivalry but a fun one none the less.  

8)  Iowa State/Iowa.....for the Cy-Hawk trophy.   In a state where there are no pro sports teams other than minor league ones,  this rivalry tops everything, even the state fair and the Iowa Caucus. 

9)  K-State/Kansas....only event where I witnesses a live animal sacrificed.....seriously!

10)  Capitals/Penguins.....regular season or playoffs....these two teams and fan bases just hate each other beyond comprehension.   Now they both have mega stars at the forefront who also don't like each other. 

11)  NFC East....This is the one division in all sports where all four teams are truly rivals of the other.  Great history, legendary matchups and star players.  Any combo of teams and it spells RIVALRY

....and so on and so on.  

That's what it is in the world of Sports Grapevine.....