ESPN's Top Ten Sports Rivalries

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BillD1984

BillD1984

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Apr 9, 2008
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On tonight's Sportscenter, ESPN's "Top 10" was the biggest ever rivalries in sports .

Obviously, this is a VERY subjective list, but I found it interesting that three Boston teams were involved (I'm personally glad that Bruins-Habs got the recognition it truly deserves).

1. Red Sox-Yankees
2. Duke-UNC (college basketball)
3. Army-Navy (collge football)
4. Lakers-Celtics
5. Bears-Packers
6. Ohio St-Michigan (college football)
7. Barcelona- Real Madrid
8. Harvard-Yale (college football)
9. UConn-Tennessee (women's college basketball)
10. Bruins-Canadiens

Off the top of my head, Cowboys-Redskins and Auburn-Alabama are the biggest omissions on this list. What's your opinion?
 
What's your opinion?

1. Red Sox-Yankees

Surprise. ESPN picks its favorite team and its rival for coverage. Why everybody more tan 20 miles from I-95 and/or south of the Penna Turnpike hates both.

3. Army-Navy (collge football)

Yes.
4. Lakers-Celtics

80s, over. In all the papers.

5. Bears-Packers

Dittos. Except its the 50s that are over.

6. Ohio St-Michigan (college football)

Overrated. No rivalry in a pro state is anything ike what goes on in non-pro states.

7. Barcelona- Real Madrid

Soccer is a stupid game North Americans wisely reserve for girl children. Who cares. ESPN is really starting to irritate me with its forcefeeding of soccer like more than 50K English speaking Americans actually give a flying f***.

8. Harvard-Yale (college football)

1890s are over too.

9. UConn-Tennessee (women's college basketball)

96% of women's college teams play before less than 500 in the stands. No one cares.

10. Bruins-Canadiens

OK, I guess so. But contrasted to Montreal-Toronto, Calgary-Edmonton, or New York-New York?
 
SamCdbs said:
What's your opinion?

1. Red Sox-Yankees

Surprise. ESPN picks its favorite team and its rival for coverage. Why everybody more tan 20 miles from I-95 and/or south of the Penna Turnpike hates both.

3. Army-Navy (collge football)

Yes.
4. Lakers-Celtics

80s, over. In all the papers.

5. Bears-Packers

Dittos. Except its the 50s that are over.

6. Ohio St-Michigan (college football)

Overrated. No rivalry in a pro state is anything ike what goes on in non-pro states.

7. Barcelona- Real Madrid

Soccer is a stupid game North Americans wisely reserve for girl children. Who cares. ESPN is really starting to irritate me with its forcefeeding of soccer like more than 50K English speaking Americans actually give a flying f***.

8. Harvard-Yale (college football)

1890s are over too.

9. UConn-Tennessee (women's college basketball)

96% of women's college teams play before less than 500 in the stands. No one cares.

10. Bruins-Canadiens

OK, I guess so. But contrasted to Montreal-Toronto, Calgary-Edmonton, or New York-New York?
Click to expand...

Back with a vengence I see.... Lmao!
 
You really cant do a list like that because sometimes each region thinks there rivarly should be number 1. I would think people in the Northeast would think Yankees/Red Sox is the best rivarly while people in the midwest would think Ohio St./Michigan is the top rivarly. It might be more subjective to do a top 10 rivarlies in each sport. I mean you cant put soccer and womens basketball in with the same category as Duke/UNC, or Lakers/Celtics.
 
SamCdbs said:
Bruins-Canadiens

OK, I guess so. But contrasted to Montreal-Toronto, Calgary-Edmonton, or New York-New York?
Click to expand...

Montreal-Toronto has not been a playoff series since 1979. Calgary-Edmonton? 1991. New York-New York? 1994.

The Habs and Bruins have had countless legendary battles. Even though they were usually knocking my Sabres out of the playoffs in the late 1980s and early 90s, those Boston-Montreal playoff series in that era were great to watch.
 
Any rivalry list for SPORTS that includes Harvard/Yale for football but leaves off Alabama/Auburn is junk IMHO.
 
Many agree that the Red Sox Yankees Rivalry is one of the best. And even today you see some really good baseball games played between the teams.
 
Duke and UNC being number 2? Really, number 2? If ESPN was so desperate to get Duke in the list they could have at least put Duke vs. UK. But again, that rivalry has normally been during March madness so maybe that isn't enough to qualify.
 
BillD1984 said:
On tonight's Sportscenter, ESPN's "Top 10" was the biggest ever rivalries in sports .

Obviously, this is a VERY subjective list, but I found it interesting that three Boston teams were involved (I'm personally glad that Bruins-Habs got the recognition it truly deserves).

1. Red Sox-Yankees
2. Duke-UNC (college basketball)
3. Army-Navy (collge football)
4. Lakers-Celtics
5. Bears-Packers
6. Ohio St-Michigan (college football)
7. Barcelona- Real Madrid
8. Harvard-Yale (college football)
9. UConn-Tennessee (women's college basketball)
10. Bruins-Canadiens

Off the top of my head, Cowboys-Redskins and Auburn-Alabama are the biggest omissions on this list. What's your opinion?
Click to expand...

This list is silly. They should call this a North American list and eliminate Barcelona-Real Madrid. On this continent it does not rate with the other rivalries.

However, if they are calling this a world-wide list, there are so many soccer rivalries that would dwarf many of the rivalries on this list.

They have to pick one or the other.


Sandra
 
SamCdbs said:
What's your opinion?

1. Red Sox-Yankees

Surprise. ESPN picks its favorite team and its rival for coverage. Why everybody more tan 20 miles from I-95 and/or south of the Penna Turnpike hates both.

3. Army-Navy (collge football)

Yes.
4. Lakers-Celtics

80s, over. In all the papers.

5. Bears-Packers

Dittos. Except its the 50s that are over.

6. Ohio St-Michigan (college football)

Overrated. No rivalry in a pro state is anything ike what goes on in non-pro states.

7. Barcelona- Real Madrid

Soccer is a stupid game North Americans wisely reserve for girl children. Who cares. ESPN is really starting to irritate me with its forcefeeding of soccer like more than 50K English speaking Americans actually give a flying f***.

8. Harvard-Yale (college football)

1890s are over too.

9. UConn-Tennessee (women's college basketball)

96% of women's college teams play before less than 500 in the stands. No one cares.

10. Bruins-Canadiens

OK, I guess so. But contrasted to Montreal-Toronto, Calgary-Edmonton, or New York-New York?
Click to expand...

Shout out to Sam! We miss ya in the Miami Hurricanes scandal thread! :rolleyes::flame:


Sandra
 
A lot of these so-called "biggest ever" rivalries are a result of media hype. Unless you're a fan of either rivalry team, you could care less. That list just goes to show you how lazy the media is as well. Some of those rivalries are just boring games these days.
 
SamCdbs said:
What's your opinion?


9. UConn-Tennessee (women's college basketball)

96% of women's college teams play before less than 500 in the stands. No one cares.
Click to expand...

The average attendance for this past year was 1642. Somebody cares, who cares if you do or not?
 

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