And every year, just before The Game, somebody asks Michigan fans who their bigger rival is, Ohio State or Michigan State. They always say they don't think about Ohio State much. I don't give that answer much credibility either.
I give it *some*. It certainly is not quite as big a deal to Michigan as it is to tOSU. I've been up there a few times for games. You just don't see the tOSU hate in the stores and stuff like you do in reverse down here. But, the game is almost always an important game, and the Big Ten did work to keep Michigan and Ohio State in the same division.
Which I find strange (the lack of them thinking of us as a big rival), since we’ve won all but twice since 2000, always at the ‘Shoe, and 7 in a row. You’d think they wouldn’t care much if the tables were in their favor, but that there would be more ill will for us since we’ve them so regularly lately. Also, the 2006 #1 vs #2, and us knocking them out of the playoff picture this year. ([emoji4])
That thread on the F*re board is godawfully depressing. I mean I ********ing hate F*re fans, but hot damn, currently they are a sorry lot. Yet, we will never forget the Austin chants. Ever. Good luck being cellar dwellers for the next twenty years you ********ing pricks. My only yellow card was in the F*re forum. The only time I was ever thrown out of Crew Stadium was due to an incident with F*re fans. I hate them, and I truly enjoy that their organization is a flaming pile of garbage. And that reference is perhaps an insult to garbage.
Updated results: Do you consider the Crew a rival? DC Forum: Yes - 1 / No - 16 Chicago Forum: Yes - 8 / No - 7
Maybe, but being hated because they broke our hearts year after year probably doesn't bum them out much. They're the team we love to hate. Bastards.
Update: Do you consider the Crew a rival? DC Forum: 3 - Yes / 21 - No Chicago Forum - 10 - Yes / 7 - No
I went with Chicago and Cincinnati but honestly I think it’s going to be just Cincinnati as the rivalry with Chicago continues to evaporate unless something happens to give it new life. Chicago has been pretty irrelevant lately. Maybe one day Indianapolis, Detroit or Pittsburgh will have a team which would also develop into a rivalry.
At this stage in the club's (and league's ) development, this is still kind of a subjective question to answer. My subjective answer right now is (1) Cincinnati and (2) Chicago. I understand the earlier history with DC, but I didn't live in Ohio then. Plus, they don't seem to see us as rivals. Cincinnati is a no-brainer. And while I didn't grow up in Ohio, I did grow up hating all Chicago sports teams. I know the Fire organization is pathetic, but I can live with that. In two years, this might shift. If Austin actually fields a team in 2021, and if Precourt is still the owner... man, I'll just want us to beat the crap out of them. Right now, I absolutely hate anything that has to do with that pseudo-organization. It's probably very good for my blood pressure that they'll most likely be out of the news for the coming months.
The biggest flaw of the modern American soccer fan is caring at all what some random stranger on the internet says or thinks about your team.
How do folks think that the F!re are not rivals? Are you forgetting the SEVEN TIMES they've knocked out of the USOC? There's also the glorious Chad Marshall header over McHead and past Buschie (ex-Crews) in the EC Finals in 2008. Also, considering geography, if I'm not mistaken, Chicago has been the closest drive (until FC Food Lion came to be). Then there's the @$$hattery of F!re fans in Crew Stadium (including the classy "Austin in one year" chant from last season). The Fyyy-uure are far and away #1.
I suppose the rivalry that supporters feel for one side may or may not be mutual from the other side. TTUN fans may not feel like Ohio State is a main rival (which I really don't understand, as I posted above). Just as the "rivalry" of Crew vs DCU is kind of one sided right now (meaning we still think of them as a rival but they apparently do not see us as one). The DCU "rivalry" may be fading a bit due to the passage of time, much like the Browns-Broncos rivalry from the '80's. I still hate them, and their horse-faced QB John Elway. But we haven't even been in the playoffs for so long, much less playing them regularly. (And I guess the Browns-Giants used to be a thing? Obviously the passage of time changes perceptions.) As for the "top two", I would probably have voted for FC SwordyLion if this poll were at the end of this August. Knocking us out of the USOC is a really good precursor to an ML$ rivalry. The Pink Cows are a ligitimate rival now when it comes to actual on-the-field competition. If Broccoli FC actually gets up and running, and doesn't go under from lack of support, I think that will be a one-sided rivalry along the same lines as the Browns' rivalry with the Cravens.
When we win our next trophy, I'll think back on this game. In the freezing cold, in another country, our team on the brink of elimination of existence, being taunted by their fans. At the time thinking maybe this is the last game or perhaps the last opportunity to win the league. Cant take anything for granted. [edit: omg. i just watched the highlights of this game. Completely forgot that Steffen saved a penalty. We had some good chances on goal, too. Could've stolen it. Sigh...]
Fyyyy-urrrrrrr fans have acted like trash towards crew fans more than anyone, save possibly TFC fans. I cannot stand Chiraqi's or Torontonians when they come into town. TFC fans hang classless banners and attack people with road flares causing 3rd degree burns. Plus that phallic looking goober Bradley also had some choice comments about our team and what we went through. Shitcago have attacked crew fans multiple times and that team also always seems to beat us in the USOC. FCC well the 1 open cup game we had was heated and of course that's going to be a big rivalry. For me it is... Shitcago #1 (for now) FC Covington #2 (likely to take over #1) TFC #3 Austin down here in the same space I regard items at the pawn shop.
Um.... you realize you're on an internet forum right now, responding to what a stranger posted, right?
First, I read the Browns and Giants used to be rivals. Now, I read that the Broncos were rivals too? How the fcuk is it possible to hate a city thousands of miles away? For me, rivalry is more about geography and clashing of local cultures.
I look at the rivalries as who I dislike the most and that is hands-down DC. Without exaggeration, Crew should have 2-4 more Cups if not for the douchbags in DC. Obvious #1 for ever and ever. Chicago has deplorable fans. Sure, they have knocked us out of open cups but we never really put a good team on the field for those. It's the fans. And McBride putting on that shit-red kit. #2. Toronto tried to burn the stadium and a few fans, peed all over some poor couples wedding and generally act like asshats. #3. The rest? Yeah, I want Tony's plane to go down but they only have 6 or so fans and probably won't ever field an actual team under his ownership. Fun to watch their PR crafted train wreck but not a rival. Everyone else is just another team.
Chicago surely is a major rival. The history of Cuauhtemoc Blanco paying off the refs to get the calls. Dema Kovalenko hacking our players.The classic playoff matches. More recently the behavior of the Fire supporters, who had the nerve to come to Mapfre and disrespect us with their chants and banners, when we were down and almost out, keeps the rivalry going strong. Unfortunately for Fire supporters Save The Fire may be the next MLS supporter movement, and they will get no support from me. I am currently responsible for the lone vote casted for Toronto as a "biggest rival". Yes the Trillium Cup rivalry was artificially created by MLS. Yet over the years the Toronto fans have taken it seriously and their disgraceful behavior towards us should not be forgotten. Remember when they tried to light the south end canvas awning on fire with hundreds of Crew supporters unknowingly watching the match below. There have been fights in the parking lot and arrests at Mapfre. Last year a Crew supporters was badly burned by one of these idiots. Who will ever forget the anti-STC banners and chants from Toronto supporters as we desperately tried to keep our team. To top it off Michael Bradley and Jozy Altidore also spoke out against the Crew staying in Columbus. Who will ever forget the 2017 playoff series against Toronto? I was very happy that we were able to steal Tim Bezbatchenko from Toronto to serve as President of The Crew.
How old are you? The Broncos kept the Browns out of 2 Superbowls in consecutive years. Look up "The Drive" and "The Fumble".
*puts dentures back in mouth, adjusts pop-bottle spectacles* [spoken in Grandpa Simpson voice] Well, you see, sonny, back in the day, the Brooooncos beat the Broooowns in 3 out of 4 AFC championship games. This de-niiiied the Browns a trip to the Suuuuper Bowl during that stretch of time. (In the 4th of those years, the Bengals went, and lost, to the SF 49ers for the second time.) The Broooowns have never even come close since then (nooor have the Bengals). There was “the driiiiive.” Then there was “the fuuuumble.” There’s this new thing the young whippersnappers call “youuuu tuuuube” or some such that you could look up on a “ compuuuuter” using the “iiiiinterwebs.” Now, run along; I have to put a new onion on my belt, which was the fashion at the time.