The Rivalry

[ADLinden]

I root against scUM every game they play.

Semi-OT: I won a ticket to go to the Game this year, Hope I don't get killed in Ann Arbor!

[NozeCandy]

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The interesting difference about the Auburn-Alabama game is the mix of Alabama/Auburn fans within the state. You get the entire "brother against brother" feel. My cousin is a huge Auburn fan, and a lot of his friends are Alabama fans. You really get mixed into it and interact a lot.

The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is a lot more "foreign". You aren't around Michigan fans very often, especially in Columbus. The entire city can be biased towards Ohio State and really drive towards supporting that one team. It gives the whole us-against-them feel, where Auburn-Alabama is more brother-against-brother. Don't get me wrong, thats definitely a great rivalry, but just different in a lot of reasons.

BTW- Michigan fans- do you "root for the conference" to do well, including rooting for Ohio State fans? I've noticed a lot of lame Ohio State fans starting to root for you guys on out of conference games and it pisses me off to no end. I would rather Michigan lose every game than root for them. However, I actually tend to pull for Michigan against Notre Dame. When we were watching the Appy State game, about 3/4 of the bar was rooting against Michigan, and about 1/4 was rooting for them (all OSU fans). Lame. I hope you guys root against us too.

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It's kind of tough with growing up in the BCS era. Other teams performances can affect you so much. I still don't know how I feel since I want Michigan to have a chance to have a really sweet win on their resume, but I can't bring myself to root for Ohio State. Except probably against the SEC from here on out. My annoyance with that conference's fans is almost on par with my hatred of OSU/ND now.

[heater]

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I think the hijacks demonstrate why us non-Boston/NY people hate Boston/NY people. There are only 17,000 threads devoted to Boston and NY sports in some capacity; this one isn't, but I guess they can't stand a non-NY/Boston thread.


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Yea man, because a thread entitled "The Rivalry" shouldn't generate discussion as to what the best rivalry is, aside from the one suggested in the OP. Right...

IMO college football rivalries are way overhyped. Navy fans rushed the field after giving the Irish their 8th loss on the season. Sweet. Army-Navy routinely suck yet they put that trash on NBC? No thanks. UM and OSU are power college football programs, but to me that's just another regular season game, unless they meet in the NC game. I don't mind UM, but OSU fans are beyond annoying, especially considering it ISNT EVEN A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM. For some reason, I object to claiming an amateur athletic competition as being "The Rivalry".

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Wow, this is the dumbest thing I've read today. Congratulations.

[vhawk01]

You guys are forgetting UM-SCSU for hockey, wtf? Ugh, why don't we get something like the Beanpot for Gopher hockey, we have so much tradition and history and we dont even have any real rivalries. A bunch of teams that think we are their rivals like UMD and SCSU and maybe Wisconsin but in reality they are just conference opponents and I dont get any more worked up for any of them than any of the others. Too bad because Gopher hockey fans are some of the best fans in all of sports and a real, heated rivalry could be amazing.

Yeah thats right I just posted about hockey on SE, what of it?

[heater]

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BTW- Michigan fans- do you "root for the conference" to do well, including rooting for Ohio State fans? I've noticed a lot of lame Ohio State fans starting to root for you guys on out of conference games and it pisses me off to no end. I would rather Michigan lose every game than root for them. However, I actually tend to pull for Michigan against Notre Dame. When we were watching the Appy State game, about 3/4 of the bar was rooting against Michigan, and about 1/4 was rooting for them (all OSU fans). Lame. I hope you guys root against us too.

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It's weird. I want you to be 11-0 when we play to build up the significance, but I also want you to lose every individual game. Unless you're playing Notre Dame...I root for everyone over the Irish, mostly b/c of NDNation.

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There's a part of me that wants to see OSU be 11-0 as well. Not just for the significance of the game, but because I know it will sting that much more when Michigan stomps them. Whenever I watch OSU play someone else that all goes out the window. I can't bring myself to root for the Buckeyes, even for a single down.

[aditya]

Wait, are we actually debating what the best rivalry in sports is, or are we debating the Mich vs OSU game? Cause if we're debating the best rivalry is, Carolina vs Duke is most definetely up there.

[heater]

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Wait, are we actually debating what the best rivalry in sports is, or are we debating the Mich vs OSU game? Cause if we're debating the best rivalry is, Carolina vs Duke is most definetely up there.

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Sorry, not professional sports teams. DQ'd.

[MiloDanglers]

I had a buddy who used to play football for OSU (2002-2004). He said EVERY week there was a portion of practice dedicated to Michigan. They did this for no other team. Before the season even starts, OSU football is watching Michigan game tape or practicing against a scout team mimicking Michigan personnel. It didn't matter if we were facing Penn State or Akron, OSU is prepping for Michigan. This is one of the reasons I feel Jim Tressel has an edge of Lloyd Carr. He knows this game is of the utmost importance to EVERY Ohio State fan, student, and alumni.

[istewart]

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College sports is great because the majority of fans aren't terrible bandwagoneers like you and the rest of the Greater Boston area. You don't care about anything except the playoffs and think every season you don't win a championship is a failure.


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I'm a Yankee fan and haven't been to Boston in awhile, but...

I am fairly sure that the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry was at its peak when Boston never had high hopes of winning championships ('98-'03 or somesuch), and the 19 regular season duels were of prime importance to most of their fans. The problem is that now that they've won, they have a lot of worthless extra fans.

[bonds]

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BTW- Michigan fans- do you "root for the conference" to do well, including rooting for Ohio State fans? I've noticed a lot of lame Ohio State fans starting to root for you guys on out of conference games and it pisses me off to no end. I would rather Michigan lose every game than root for them. However, I actually tend to pull for Michigan against Notre Dame. When we were watching the Appy State game, about 3/4 of the bar was rooting against Michigan, and about 1/4 was rooting for them (all OSU fans). Lame. I hope you guys root against us too.

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I'm conflicted about this. Generally, I don't root for OSU unless they're playing some highly ranked (overrated imo) out of conference school like Texas or in a bowl game. If they're playing the SEC, I'm a big fan. And of course I'd pull for any team playing against Notre Dame. Otherwise, I'm pretty ambivalent -- call it "rooting for injuries" (metaphorically, not literally). I enjoy a good tOSU loss, but those haven't happened much the last few years, have they?

Historically, yes, I'd root hard against tOSU every game, but now I'd rather see a good rivalry game that means something in November. Plus if I hear one more time about how much better the SEC is than everyone else...