Alright, after seeing the polls on Twitter and posting them here, then hearing some dissenting points of view, let's take a vote!! You get to pick two teams. How do you define "rival"? That's up to you. You can look at history, geography, league-mandated hatred of a city in a completely different country, who we share state flowers or animals with, future potential, potential bitterness from almost being relocated, etc. There are no right or wrong answers, just interested to see what we think here. You'll get to see the results once you vote, this way you provide an unbiased opinion. And feel free to share your opinions below. I have a feeling there will be an age divide about who people consider the biggest rivals, but we'll see I guess.
I voted Chicago/DC but caveat is that DC falls off once the history builds with FCC. History and geography are probably the two biggest parts of a rivalry for me and I generally rank them by who I most don't want to lose to. FCC will climb those rankings quickly. DC (& NYRB less so since our history is more winning there) fall into a professional type rivalry, similar to Pats/Colts in NFL or recently Alabama/Clemson in NCAAF. Those are definite rivalries but just lack the local feeling as the league grows and really depend on the competitiveness of the series. Toronto is manufactured. Austin just doesn't seem worth it since it's just Precourt and 0.03% of their fans that deserve scorn. It will be cathartic to get that first W over them but after that any L to them will just feel like any other loss to the western conference teams. Hell Precourt might not even be involved in the potential first matchup as he definitely seems likely to flip his investment.
There's a long-standing "rumor" that Bruce Arena is a card-carrying member of NAMLBA. Always hate DC. Always. Also, what @Bill Archer said in another post.
Mrs KG calls them, and I quote: "scum-sucking scavenger birds". FC A*****n?? Dunno, but we may never order chicken with broccoli again from our favorite Chinese restaurant.
I went Cincy and Austin. Allow me to explain. I watched the Crew win the cup in 2008, but I didn't follow the league back then. I started following the Crew in 2011 or 2012. DC While I have an understanding that the Crew and DC were battling it out back in the 90's or early 2000's (?), that was obviously well before my time. Since I've started watching MLS, I would've never guessed, just by watching the games, that DC and Cbus were rivals. No history between the cities, far apart, etc. I get it back in the day, when there was only 10 teams and whatnot, but I haven't seen it since I've started watching. Also, I doubt DC fans consider Cbus a rival. They have NYRB. Chicago Jesus..... our games against Chicago are always so boring. Bascially, the same observations above apply here. Also, I doubt Chicago fans consider Cbus a rival. They have Minnesota, and I think I've read somewhere that Chicago fans don't like KC. Toronto I mean, do I even need to waste my breath on this made-up piece of shit 'rivalry'? Also, I doubt Toronto fans consider Cbus a rival. They have Montreal. NYRB Insert DC and Chicago observations. Also, I doubt NYRB fans consider Cbus a rival. They have NYCFC and DC. Cincy Geography and cultural relevance. As @BigStern said, even if many don't consider Cincy a rival now, they will soon enough. For me, proximity and cultural differences make rivals. I'm sure Cincy fans will consider us rivals, who else can they claim? Austin I have no doubt that Austin fans will be more on board with the games against Houston and Dallas than us, no doubt. They'll do their best to sweep the whole relocation saga under the rug. But I will forever hat Precourt for what he did. Simple as. So won't fans from around the league. It will literally be the entire league and Cbus against isolated Austin when we play. Will Austin fans consider us a rival? Probably not, but they will know why we hate them, legit history. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This has made me curious, I think I'm gonna go to some other forums and ask those fans what they think of Cbus, and if they consider us rivals.
I did. Plenty of contentious regular season and cup games the past few years with RBNJ. If you read the RB fan social media they hate playing the Crew in the playoffs. Certainly more than Chicago who are boring, Toronto who is manufactured, DC who just plain suck, and Austin who does not even have a player.
So I opened threads in both the DC and Chicago forums. Early results: Do you consider the Crew a rival? DC Forum: Yes - 0 / No - 13 Chicago Forum: Yes - 4 / No - 2
DC and Chicago, easy. We have never played Broccoli and never an MLS match vs FCC. Our 0-3 PO record vs NE (including the 2002 ECF and the 2004 Shield Winners) is worth mentioning.
I’ve said this before, but the truth is we don’t have a true rival. Teams that have true rivals don’t have to ask themselves this question. Plus, real rivals hate each other. I’m sure we have some teams that we hate, and there are probably some teams that hate us, but they’re not one and the same.
Don’t waste your time. No one considers us a rival, that’s how smug this league is. We just keep beating them now.
Doesn’t Austin need a team before they are considered a rival? Cincinnati pains me as I love trips down there but due to geographic location, they’d make an excellent rival. DC is definitely at the top of my list but I feel that the Revs at least deserve a mention. They knocked us of if the playoffs several times and if I remember correctly, we won the supporters shield one of those years.
Not surprised about DC. They have routinely denied the rilvalry like that snobby girl in HS who denied the nice, nerdy boy. Hope she ended up with trash. Like Olsen.
Don't let bill archer go to the DC United page. I see more of them saying they like us then anything.
Heck, Steeler fans admitted that they liked the Browns when that move was announced.... So I'd not read too much into that.
We never beat them in a meaningful match. It is like TFC and us in reverse (until ECF two years ago). If we start knocking THEM out, it will change. But they have NY, NE, and Philly. And LA.