ESPN's Top Ten Sports Rivalries

[Derwin0]

I would say that the baseball rivalries lose some luster for many simply because they are played so darn often in a given season. Same with hoops and to a far lesser extent pro football.
It's one reason I love the college football rivalries. The vast majority are played once a year. In a RARE occasion you get them twice, but again it's rare. In my opinion, the victory means more because of it.

Yes, baseball they play too often to hype up an individual game.

With football, you have that 1 weekend to look for. And for a great rilvary, you almost need to be in the same division/conference, that way the teams play every year and play for that same playoff spot/championship.

Hard to keep up a rilvary if you don't play every year.

 

[cybok0]

The think the Steeler fans prefer the 6-3 stat instead

Ditto

 

[Lkr]

Colts-Pats is a better rivalry than Steelers-Ravens

 

[Jimbo]

Colts-Pats is a better rivalry than Steelers-Ravens

I would put them both 1 and 1a if I had to choose.

I make both of them " MUST SEE TV"

 

[Hart5150]

The think the Steeler fans prefer the 6-3 stat instead

Ditto

Here is what I said.

No, because with Brady, the Patriots are the hammer and the Steelers are the nail. Not really a rivalry.

Didn't realize that Brady was in the league during all of Pittsburgh's Superbowls.

 

[cybok0]

Here is what I said.

Didn't realize that Brady was in the league during all of Pittsburgh's Superbowls.

No this is what Derwin0 quoted.

6-1 that's no joke.

Actually he was wrong it's 6-2

 

[SabresRule]

I like the Indy/New England rivalry just a bit more than Ravens/Steelers. To me, they are 1 and 1A in terms of AFC Rivalries:

Pittsburgh/Baltimore has its hard hitting and brutal play, but Indy/New England been going on a little longer (Steelers/Ravens has really taken off since 2008; Colts/Pats has been going on since 2003-ish).

Also, the Pats/Colts AFC Title Game was a lot more thrilling than the Ravens/Steelers AFC Title Game- so it has a slight edge in postseason awesomeness.

 

[Hart5150]

No this is what Derwin0 quoted.

Actually he was wrong it's 6-2

Brady 6-1 Cassel 0-1

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[SamCdbs]

I think there is a big difference between a true "rivalry" and two teams that happen to both be good in the same era. For example, just to stay in the NFL, Cincy-Cleveland, or NYJ-Miami, or Chicago-Green Bay are important games, no matter what the records or what era we are talking about. Baseball provides us with even many more such examples (Cards/Cubs, Yanks/Sox, Tigers/Tribe, Dodgers/Giants, etc)

Pittsburgh and Baltimore and certainly New England and Indianapolis are just sets of teams that happened to peak in the same recent era. There is nothing similar about the towns they represent, no common history, nothing. Just two teams that played each other a couple of times when both were good recently. 20 years ago, no one would have called them rivals, and even 10 years from now no one may again.

 

[cybok0]

Brady 6-1 Cassel 0-1

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No you don't understand 6-2 the steelers won 6 superbowls and lost 2.

 

[BillD1984]

Pittsburgh and Baltimore and certainly New England and Indianapolis are just sets of teams that happened to peak in the same recent era. There is nothing similar about the towns they represent, no common history, nothing. Just two teams that played each other a couple of times when both were good recently. 20 years ago, no one would have called them rivals, and even 10 years from now no one may again.

I agree. In fact, the ironic thing about the Colts-Patriots rivalry is they were in the same division until 2001, played each other twice a year, and no one cared! When the NFL realigned going into the 2002 season, and more importantly BOTH teams were good..............BINGO, there's suddenly a rivalry!

 

[BillD1984]

I for one, love the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, and look forward to their two games every year! If you like rock 'em-sock 'em bloodbaths, these games are must see TV!

 

[Derwin0]

No you don't understand 6-2 the steelers won 6 superbowls and lost 2.

Partially correct. The 6-3 stat I put up was the number of Super Bowls for the Steelers and the number for the Patriots.

Steelers know how to dig deep and win in the end of the season, the Pats know how to choke and not finish things.

As it is, not much of a rilvary between the 2, as they don't play often enough.

 

[BillD1984]

Steelers know how to dig deep and win in the end of the season, the Pats know how to choke and not finish things.

LOL.....seriously??!!

I'm not taking anything away from the Steelers, they've won more SB's than any team and are one of the NFL's flagship franchises.

But these two teams have met four times in the postseason, and the Pats have won three times. The only game the Steelers won was a 7-6 game at Three Rivers in a '97 divisional playoff. And yes the Pats did choke in THAT game, as Todd Collins forgot where the sidelines begin as Kordell Stewart ran down the sideline for a TD, and Drew Bledsoe fumbled the ball at midfield with the Pats driving to the game winning FG in the last two minutes.

 

[cybok0]

Partially correct. The 6-3 stat I put up was the number of Super Bowls for the Steelers and the number for the Patriots.

Steelers know how to dig deep and win in the end of the season, the Pats know how to choke and not finish things.

As it is, not much of a rilvary between the 2, as they don't play often enough.

Ah.

 

[schwin]

"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. "



But does a rivalry have to have playoff experience to justify it? Many of these couldn't have experience in the playoffs before baseball re-alignment (like Red Sox/Yankees) or limited "playoffs" (like college basketball). Speaking as one having lived in almost all of these hockey towns (except New York), the regular season games no matter how badly these teams were playing were the highlight of the year when the rival came to town

 

[SabresRule]

Patriots-Steelers is an interesting case- they have won half of the last 10 Super Bowls, are led by solid coaches, and have QB's with multiple SB rings that have a knack for winning and coming through in the clutch, but New England has had their number more often than not (regular season and postseason).

 

[Jimbo]

"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. "



But does a rivalry have to have playoff experience to justify it? Many of these couldn't have experience in the playoffs before baseball re-alignment (like Red Sox/Yankees) or limited "playoffs" (like college basketball). Speaking as one having lived in almost all of these hockey towns (except New York), the regular season games no matter how badly these teams were playing were the highlight of the year when the rival came to town

This describes the Red Wings and Av's for about 10 years.
As far as Hockey goes, they were Must See during those 10 years, actually, from the time Patrick Roy joined the Av's is pretty much when it started and ended when he retired.

 

[Jimbo]

Patriots-Steelers is an interesting case- they have won half of the last 10 Super Bowls, are led by solid coaches, and have QB's with multiple SB rings that have a knack for winning and coming through in the clutch, but New England has had their number more often than not (regular season and postseason).

Well put !

 

[HD MM]

Ohio State vs. Michigan is the definition to the "rivalry game".

Everything else is a distant second.