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What's the greatest sports rivalry?

  • NYY-Boston Red Sox

    Votes: 13 23.6%
  • LAD/Brooklyn Dodgers-SF Giants/NY Giants

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins

    Votes: 6 10.9%
  • LA Lakers-Boston Celtics (1980s)

    Votes: 5 9.1%
  • Serena Williams-Venus Williams

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Palmer-Nicklaus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ohio State football-Michigan football

    Votes: 8 14.5%
  • Stanford football-Cal football

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pacquaio-Marquez

    Votes: 1 1.8%
  • other - please state

    Votes: 22 40.0%

  • Total voters
    55

63dot

macrumors 603
Original poster
Jun 12, 2006
5,269
339
norcal
Lance Armstrong vs. The Truth

Now there's Lance Armstrong the guy who cheated vs. Lance Armstrong (cyclist and leader/coach the guy who also forced others to cheat. While the first is bad enough in itself, the second is intolerable. When a player cheats, their actions may not be excusable but they can be understandable. But when a coach/leader/owner cheats, it's just too much to take in.
 

ReanimationN

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2011
724
0
Australia
Another vote for Rangers V Celtic.

But Rugby has some crackers - Scotland v England or Wales V England. There's also Old World v New World.

Really, Wales vs England? I'm not that big a fan of Union, but surely Australia/NZ, South Africa/NZ or even South Africa/England rate as better rivalries? I much prefer rugby league- some of the club level rivalries in both the NRL and ESL are amazing.

Also, Kelly Slater and Andy Irons' (R.I.P.) rivalry in the 2000s on the surfing WCT was great to watch.
 

jeremy h

macrumors 6502
Jul 9, 2008
491
267
UK
but surely Australia/NZ, South Africa/NZ or even South Africa/England rate as better rivalries?

Depends on where you're from I guess. For us Scotland v England is always a real corker. Whatever disasters have befallen the Scots in the prior games ;) you can guarantee that when faced with the team from Edward Longshanks' homeland they'll massively raise their game! It's always an edge of the seat jobbie ...
 
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JoshMKB24

macrumors 6502a
Jan 5, 2013
520
44
Midwest
Maybe of late it has, as the Celtics-Lakers have also. But these are what I remember being great rivalries growing up in Boston.

Floor seats! See you in Feb ;)

ticketsvx.jpg


I haven't been to Boston since the 08 Finals.......if the Lakers get hammered like they did in the game 6 I was at, I'm banning myself from the Garden!
 

JoshMKB24

macrumors 6502a
Jan 5, 2013
520
44
Midwest
Enjoy!!!:) Hoping my fine city treats you well. Dont forget to go to the North End(Hanover St) for the finest Italian on the East Coast.

I hope it treats me well! If you are watching on tv and see some asian dude throw something at Paul Pierce, you will know its me :D

I'm taking my little cousin who lives DT and goes to Boston University or something. Her dad/my uncle has a box at Staples and always lets me go whenever I'm back in LA, so I feel the least I can do is treat my cousin to seats within ear shot of the Celtics bench :D My original goal was to get them by the Lakers bench, but I messed up and got the floor seats next to the Celtics......oh well

The thing that sucks, is we will both be rocking Lakers gear, but shes a girl.......so even if she gets drunk and runs her mouth, guess who is gonna get punched? :confused:
 

ReanimationN

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2011
724
0
Australia
Depends on where you're from I guess. For us Scotland v England is always a real corker. Whatever disasters have befallen the Scots in the prior games ;) you can guarantee that when faced with the team from Edward Longshanks' homeland they'll massively raise their game! It's always an edge of the seat jobbie ...

Yeah, that's true, it's going to depend heavily on where you're from. Australia/NZ has always been a stellar matchup, until the past few years, where Australia's Union talent has seriously run dry and NZ have easily outclassed them. Union is dying in Australia, Rugby League is slowly but surely devouring it. League's last TV deal was worth almost 10x as much as Union's was (1.25+ billion to ~125 million for Union). I like League a lot, lot more, but I've also loved the Wallabies vs All Blacks tests over the years- it's a shame, but I don't think they'll ever be the same again. Oh well, Rugby League World Cup next year!
 

2020mike

macrumors 6502
May 14, 2012
338
3
Bulls vs Knicks in the early to mid 90s always ranks high on my list. That was always great basketball and always caused chaos.
 

2020mike

macrumors 6502
May 14, 2012
338
3
????

They played in 2 NBA finals and the Bulls won both........a rivalry has to be something thats a heated competition with both sides winning a fair share over many many years

Although I agree Bulls vs Jazz wasn't really a rivalry. I don't really feel a rivalry has the be a fair share of wins by each team. Bulls vs Knicks is a prime example. The Bulls and Knicks met 7 times in the playoffs with the Bulls taking 6 of the 7 series. Yet no matter what the outcome was you always knew the Knicks would always bring their A game and make the series exciting and frustrating for the Bulls and city of Chicago. I know as a Bulls fan at the time I ALWAYS hated having to watch them play the Knicks because of the intensity of the match up. Then again that's just my opinion.
 

JoshMKB24

macrumors 6502a
Jan 5, 2013
520
44
Midwest
Although I agree Bulls vs Jazz wasn't really a rivalry. I don't really feel a rivalry has the be a fair share of wins by each team. Bulls vs Knicks is a prime example. The Bulls and Knicks met 7 times in the playoffs with the Bulls taking 6 of the 7 series. Yet no matter what the outcome was you always knew the Knicks would always bring their A game and make the series exciting and frustrating for the Bulls and city of Chicago. I know as a Bulls fan at the time I ALWAYS hated having to watch them play the Knicks because of the intensity of the match up. Then again that's just my opinion.

I would agree with you on that, but another reason I consider Bulls/Knicks a rivalry is even though the Bulls won all but like 1 or 2 series? They played a lot. A few of those series were 7 game series as well. Bulls/Jazz just doesn't do it for me as rivalries.......Bulls won both and since they only met 2x I don't really count it.
 
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