It’s Not A Rivalry. (Is It?)

Conferences Are Realigning. The Play Of Teams Varies From Season To Season. Broadcast Media Needs A Hook. Fans Are Encouraged To Watch The Rivalry Game That Isn’t A Rivalry.

What Makes A Rivalry?  If You Have To Ask, It Isn’t.  As The Landscape Of Matchups And Competition Continuously Changes Though, Are There Any Rivalries Anymore?

When I was growing up, I used to attend a lot of basketball games featuring the Providence College men’s team.  There is strong evidence to argue that The Big East, built by former Providence head coach Dave Gavitt, was a conference created on rivalries.

The problem with the idea is the very reason for this article.  Today, most people don’t seem to understand what a rivalry truly is.  The term is used to drive revenue streams and ratings, and to a large degree it works in those areas, but the realities aren’t there.

In deciding whether or not a rivalry can exist, there are three incredibly important ideas that need to be established:

1.      Both sides must recognize the rivalry.

2.      The way the contests are scheduled could vary, but a rivalry is not built on a single game regardless of the stakes.  There must be multiple meetings.

3.      There are certain limits that must be respected, as no team can be a rival to all.

These three items are simple, and that’s the point.  They aren’t for defining a rivalry, they are a baseline of the factors to determine whether or not a rivalry can exist.  If any of them are not part of the equation, there can be no rivalry.

Number One – Both Sides Must Recognize The Rivalry.

I attended Syracuse University.  It was a few years after The Big East Conference had formed, during the glory days for the school and the conference.

One year, some friends and I went on a school trip for an event in February. The men’s basketball team was playing against Georgetown University, and a few people from Georgetown were also at the event.

The evening before it was played, the game was mentioned.  The group from Georgetown claimed the game was no big deal, and denied the existence of any rivalry with Syracuse.

To this day, I believe they were either lying or ignorant.  After all, John Thompson had famously “officially closed” Manley Field House.  No rivalry?  Seems impossible.  I have to accept these representatives of Georgetown and their statement of there being no rivalry with Syracuse at face value.  If they claim that a game against Syracuse holds no special significance to them, and that feeling is widespread in its acceptance on the Georgetown side, there is nothing to say that can overcome it.  The games must matter as significant to all involved.

Number Two – Though The Way The Contests Are Scheduled May Vary, There Must Be Multiple Meetings.

Most people will look toward a connection to establish a rivalry.

Ivy League schools are a good example, since they often not only establish the idea of league connections but also bring along generations worth of history.  When a league establishes different groupings (conferences, divisions, etc.), there is something that can be used as a base for a rivalry.  To be a true rivalry, that base needs to be developed further.

During the first years of the Super Bowl—specifically in Super Bowl X and Super Bowl XIII—the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys.  These two games provided the first occasions of the same organizations meeting up in a championship contest. In some ways, especially the way successful teams earned more broadcast time during the ‘70s, you could argue that a rivalry of sorts existed between the two teams.  Even as recent seasons support Brady-Manning as a tremendous rivalry, the truth is that Staubach-Bradshaw counts as one of the great quarterback rivalries and was the original media-frenzy great quarterback rivalry.

(Important side note: Yes, there was Starr-Unitas before any of these.  An argument can be made here for that as the first quarterback rivalry.  Staubach and Bradshaw, however, were televised and covered in ways well beyond anything that came before them.  It made the Dallas Cowboys America’s Team and Pittsburgh the city of champions.  The original media-frenzy label is accurate.)

Teams do not need to play in the same league/conference/division/etc. to be rivals.  Emotions and history become a part of the story.  The Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins are not rivals because they have or have not played in the same division or conference over the full history of the franchises.  The love-hate between them—or more accurately, hate-hate—has elevated beyond such conditions.

Divisions and conferences are still important to consider, especially with all the changes we are witnessing in college athletics.  Syracuse University is now playing basketball games in the same conference as North Carolina and Duke.  The Tar Heels and Blue Devils have a rivalry.  The Orange is not a rival of either school, and likely never will be.

The Atlanta Falcons are not a rival of the New England Patriots because of a Super Bowl loss.  Talk to New England fans though, with a regional overlap and after two Super Bowl losses, and the New York Giants get a bit of a nod in the rivalry consideration.

Rivalries are built.  Established over time.  Earned with competition.  Developed with a history of contests.

Number Three – There Are Certain Limits That Must Be Respected, As A Team Cannot Be A Rival To All.

Back to that Georgetown idea from a moment ago. The game noted was played in February of 1988.  The Georgetown Hoyas had reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament three times that decade (1982, 1984, and 1985).  They won the title in 1984, and their two losses were two of the most memorable games in NCAA Tournament history (against North Carolina and Villanova).  They were the defining early league Big East power, regular season and tournament champions several times.  Thompson was the ultimate us against the world head coach.  Every game was a huge contest for their opponent.

Today, we might want to consider the Kansas City Chiefs.  Who is the rival for Kansas City?

As a team, the Chiefs are in a division with the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, and Las Vegas Raiders.  There is certainly some exceptional history between the Chiefs and the Broncos.

Is a rivalry created because of Patrick Mahomes?  Do the epic playoff battles against Tom Brady create a personal rivalry?  Would it be Josh Allen or Joe Burrows as his rival?

Perhaps, with two of his Super Bowl wins coming against San Francisco, the 49ers are the rival for Mahomes and the Chiefs.  A review of the playoffs suggests that Cincinnati has every right to justify being a rival that the Bills might claim.

The fact is that no team can be a rival to everyone.  The Chiefs and Mahomes are good.  They are playing out a historically special run.  Every game, against every opponent, is tremendous for the team on the other side of the field.  Everyone wants to knock off the kings.  Being able to make a statement and play well against the best does not make a rivalry.

What does make a rivalry?

Do we want to be vanilla?  Is it regular season and division-like competition that does it?  The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees had perhaps the most legendary and bitter rivalry for decades that couldn’t involve playoff contests until the wild card was introduced by Major League Baseball.

Do we want to consider great moments?  Manley Field House is still part of the Syracuse University campus, though time moves on and it has been renamed and somewhat repurposed.  The Red Sox have a history that involves meeting the St. Louis Cardinals repeatedly and memorably.

In the end, the three factors return.  There needs to be a passionate reaction from both sides.  There needs to be more than a single game (regardless of how great a game it may have been).  It can’t be measured by claims more for marketing, sales, and ratings.

Many want to consider some of the games with designations and labels such as rivalry, revenge, or respect.   In the end, ask the players and ask the fans.  When you get past the bulletin boards and clichés, the participants, spectators and emotions reveal the truth.

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