Best Sports Rivalry…..what game is it?

OhioLion

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Oct 12, 2021
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Living in NW Ohio, I’m in OS and UM country 15 miles to Michigan border. All week the Toledo news stations have touted tomorrow’s os/um game as the “best rivalry in all of sports”.
I can list several that could get the “best rivalry in all of sports” label.
Curious what others feel is the “best rivalry in all of sports”?

OL
 
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MrTailgate

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Oct 19, 2021
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That’s a joke.

Red Sox Yankees for historical purposes
Giants Dodgers for pure hatred
Sixers Celtics - ask Cedric Maxwell about his introduction to that rivalry. Celtics Lakers for historical purposes.
Iron Bowl is every bit what The Game is
UNC Duke in hoops crushes Mich OSU
 

Fortheglory612

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Nov 2, 2021
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Living in NW Ohio, I’m in OS and UM country 15 miles to Michigan border. All week the Toledo news stations have touted tomorrow’s os/um game as the “best rivalry in all of sports”.
I can list several that could get the “best rivalry in all of sports” label.
Curious what others feel is the “best rivalry in all of sports”?

OL
Oh god. I remember living in Perrysburg and this was all I would hear on the local news. Especially when Urban Meyer was coaching at Ohio state and we had to hear about how him and harbaugh were born at the same hospital every year and coaching roots at Bowling Green on a constant News loop.

Clearly the only correct answer is PSU vs Pitt

but in all seriousness it’s Yankees vs Red Sox or India vs Pakistan in cricket (that is not a joke).
 
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fairgambit

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Oct 12, 2021
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Living in NW Ohio, I’m in OS and UM country 15 miles to Michigan border. All week the Toledo news stations have touted tomorrow’s os/um game as the “best rivalry in all of sports”.
I can list several that could get the “best rivalry in all of sports” label.
Curious what others feel is the “best rivalry in all of sports”?

OL
Harvard vs Yale.
 

Connorpozlee

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Oct 29, 2021
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Honestly, the best rivalry is the one you’re emotionally attached to. Michigan-Ohio State does nothing in particular for me because I don’t have a real emotional attachment to it. The biggest sports rivalry for me is Islanders-Rangers. I honestly think I enjoy a Rangers loss more than an Islanders victory (close to impossible to come at this point while being forced to dress half of an AHL roster every night due to COVID, but I digress…..).
 

NittanyBuff

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Oct 30, 2021
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Oh god. I remember living in Perrysburg and this was all I would hear on the local news. Especially when Urban Meyer was coaching at Ohio state and we had to hear about how him and harbaugh were born at the same hospital every year and coaching roots at Bowling Green on a constant News loop.

Clearly the only correct answer is PSU vs Pitt

but in all seriousness it’s Yankees vs Red Sox or India vs Pakistan in cricket (that is not a joke).
Pitt Penn State was as good as any in the 70's and 80's no doubt. Miami-FSU best Football rivalry of the last 25-30 yrs when they were at the top of their games.
 

OuiRPSU

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Oct 6, 2021
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In college hoops, Carolina-Duke hands down. In college football, OSU:Michigan. I really don’t know in baseball or the NFL these days, but I do know the Yankees:Red Sox rivalry is not what it used to be. You can thank Wade Boggs for that.
 

Midnighter

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I think it’s Michigan/OSU. No other rivalry is called ‘The Game’ (which isn’t often contested by anyone), the stakes are usually high, there are usually a lot of future NFL players on both squads, the alumni base for each school is big and far reaching (which is why Auburn/Alabama isn’t as nationally important IMO),
and they only play once a year (which is why it’s bigger than other sports rivalries who play multiple times a year).
 

Player2BNamedL8r

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I think it’s Michigan/OSU. No other rivalry is called ‘The Game’ (which isn’t often contested by anyone), the stakes are usually high, there are usually a lot of future NFL players on both squads, the alumni base for each school is big and far reaching (which is why Auburn/Alabama isn’t as nationally important IMO),
and they only play once a year (which is why it’s bigger than other sports rivalries who play multiple times a year).
Army-Navy has its own weekend for its game. Meatchicken and tosu get noon of the last weekend of the regular season. The only reason “the game” is even in the conversation is because the likes of espn crammed it’s “significance” down our collective throats for the past 30 years. In reality it’s just another regional rivalry between 2 big schools.
 
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LionJim

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Army-Navy has its own weekend for its game. Meatchicken and tosu get noon of the last weekend of the regular season. The only reason “the game” is even in the conversation is because the likes of espn crammed it’s “significance” down our collective throats for the past 30 years. In reality it’s just another regional rivalry between 2 big schools.
I don’t know if it’s all due to ESPN, but, yeah, it’s just another regional rivalry. If you’re going to have THE GAME, it’s Army-Navy.
 

Nitwit

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Oct 12, 2021
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I can still see the banner being unfurled “Nova Cheerleaders Love Chubby Cox”. The Holy War was always wonderful as well.
I remember watching that game in our rec room with my mother. Uncomfortable moment
 

CDLionFL

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Oct 25, 2021
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Best rivalry in all of sports? Fudge that noise. Talk about self-importance. Give me Man U-Man City or an Australia-New Zealand rugby match or US-Canada in women’s ice hockey. OSU-Michigan is a regional rivalry just like the Apple Cup, Civil War, and Iron Bowl are. This year’s game just happens to have a bit more significance than the others.
 

Midnighter

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Army-Navy has its own weekend for its game. Meatchicken and tosu get noon of the last weekend of the regular season. The only reason “the game” is even in the conversation is because the likes of espn crammed it’s “significance” down our collective throats for the past 30 years. In reality it’s just another regional rivalry between 2 big schools.

Disagree. Army-Navy is meaningless for the most part. I get that for a lot of folks, it's as close as they'll ever get to serving and everyone loves the pageantry, but service members who didn't go to an academy don't care about the game (myself included), the football is generally average at best, and it means nothing in the grand scheme of the college football playoff landscape. It's like watching a military parade for the most part. Ratings for OSU/Michigan will be better than just about any other 'rivalry' game played this year. Army/Navy gets good ratings because it's the only thing on for die hard college football junkies who have nothing else to do.
 

troutrus

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some of the best are no longer, like North Catholic vs Frankfort in Philly on Thanksgiving day.
 

MrTailgate

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I fully understand Army-Navy but the immense respect and brotherhood that each player on the field has for every member of the opponent makes it different to me. These kids (and soon to be heroes) are just too connected to me. Sure it’s the game that they circle every year but there is just too much respect. You realize that these guys will possibly pay the ultimate price later on protecting each other. It’s my favorite game to watch each and every year but it’s more a celebration of sorts to me. But it’s a Special game played by very special kids.
 

loinfan01

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Lehigh-Lafayette, aka “The Rivalry”. They have played more times than anyone else in college football, at least according to Wikipedia.
 

Midnighter

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I fully understand Army-Navy but the immense respect and brotherhood that each player on the field has for every member of the opponent makes it different to me. These kids (and soon to be heroes) are just too connected to me. Sure it’s the game that they circle every year but there is just too much respect. You realize that these guys will possibly pay the ultimate price later on protecting each other. It’s my favorite game to watch each and every year but it’s more a celebration of sorts to me. But it’s a Special game played by very special kids.

Most of the kids making the ultimate sacrifice at some point will not have gone to a service academy. Remember those guys too.
 

Player2BNamedL8r

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Disagree. Army-Navy is meaningless for the most part. I get that for a lot of folks, it's as close as they'll ever get to serving and everyone loves the pageantry, but service members who didn't go to an academy don't care about the game (myself included), the football is generally average at best, and it means nothing in the grand scheme of the college football playoff landscape. It's like watching a military parade for the most part. Ratings for OSU/Michigan will be better than just about any other 'rivalry' game played this year. Army/Navy gets good ratings because it's the only thing on for die hard college football junkies who have nothing else to do.
Ratings are, in part, driven by how much the national sports outlets push the game. Prior to the espn’s of the world, nobody outside of the upper Midwest ever watched, much less cared about tosu/meatchicken. It was a regional rivalry very much in the vein of Nebraska/Oklahoma, USC/UCLA, Bama/Auburn, etc. It never decided the NC. Many years it was the game that determined which of the Big 2 got to travel out to Pasadena to get their asses handed to them by the PAC 10 champ.
 

Midnighter

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Ratings are, in part, driven by how much the national sports outlets push the game. Prior to the espn’s of the world, nobody outside of the upper Midwest ever watched, much less cared about tosu/meatchicken. It was a regional rivalry very much in the vein of Nebraska/Oklahoma, USC/UCLA, Bama/Auburn, etc. It never decided the NC. Many years it was the game that determined which of the Big 2 got to travel out to Pasadena to get their asses handed to them by the PAC 10 champ.

It would take some research but I think you’re really downplaying how important this game is some years (not every year, but many).
 

Player2BNamedL8r

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It would take some research but I think you’re really downplaying how important this game is some years (not every year, but many).
My apologies for downplaying it. Of course it’s a big rivalry, but no more or less than Huskers/Sooners for example. It was only when college football became nationalized that we were all told that “the game” was the most important. When it was still regionalized, nobody outside of Ohio and Michigan ever saw the game…they watched their region’s rivalry instead. Heck, I grew up a half-hour from the Ohio line, and never saw it until espn came along.

As for importance, in the past 50 years the two schools have a combined 2.5 NC’s. Bama alone more than triples their combined total in that same span. How does that make “the game” so damn significant???
 
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Erial_Lion

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Honestly, the best rivalry is the one you’re emotionally attached to. Michigan-Ohio State does nothing in particular for me because I don’t have a real emotional attachment to it. The biggest sports rivalry for me is Islanders-Rangers. I honestly think I enjoy a Rangers loss more than an Islanders victory (close to impossible to come at this point while being forced to dress half of an AHL roster every night due to COVID, but I digress…..).
Agree completely.

For me, nothing is better than US-Mexico.
 
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Metal Mike

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The "Big Game" California - Stanford. Will always remember Cal's multiple laterals and the Stanford Band.

While this is the Big Game for me the Best Rivalry is Army - Navy
 

Nits74

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I think it’s Michigan/OSU. No other rivalry is called ‘The Game’ (which isn’t often contested by anyone), the stakes are usually high, there are usually a lot of future NFL players on both squads, the alumni base for each school is big and far reaching (which is why Auburn/Alabama isn’t as nationally important IMO),
and they only play once a year (which is why it’s bigger than other sports rivalries who play multiple times a year).
Get what you're saying, but judging based on the level of animus, my vote goes to Alabama-Auburn. Many there live vicariously through their football teams. Not so much with Michigan-Ohio State. Well, at least not so much with Michigan fans. Sounds and may be snobbish, but there is generally a higher level of sophistication there. That said, Go Buckeyes today.
 
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