How's Holy Cross these days? (BC-HC WAS a pretty big rivalry back in the days, still the team we've played the most).
Look, I do agree that Alabama-Auburn is a great rivalry, but Celtic-Rangers is much deeper rivalry than anything in American sports. I really can't think of any rivalry more heated. It goes deeper than even the soccer. It even effects the social fabric over there. It's like a report by Christianne Amanpour I saw about Muslims in the UK. A Muslim family moved in and informed his neighbors that he was a Muslim, his neighbor said, "yeh, but are you a Celtic Muslim or a Rangers Muslim?" It defines everything over there, social class, religion, politics, and so on. It's not just about the soccer. In the end, Alabama and Auburn is just about the football.
I'll take Clemson/South Carolina over Alabama/Auburn any day. Especially if the game is in Death Valley. This rivalry was literally at the forefront of social upheaval in this country. It has lost some of the fuel that drove it in the early part of the last century (racism, socio-political problems etc...), but there is still a higher degree of disdain between the two fans than I have ever seen in this country. Auburn-Alabama does reflect a similar sort of hatred and socio-political imbalance within the state, but not near the levels that it were in South Carolina. Even the formation of Clemson, and USC's contempt for it, fuels an ever burning fire. I think river/boca might reflect more of the social imbalance in a country better than celtic/rangers can, but we would probably be splitting hairs in that argument.
Originally Posted by Auriaprottu Compared to the majority of Alabama and Auburn fans, I'd say they have sense, yes. you must not know a lot of scots. You must not know many people from Alabama
In the US, hands down its Red Sox-Yanks with Duke-UNC second. In the world I'd say Celtic-Rangers, Barca-Real, India-Pakistan (Cricket)
Florida-Florida State is bigger than Red Sox-Yankees. Back in the day, Pitt-Penn State was a big one. I remember wearing my Shitt on Pitt t-shirt.
Grambling State vs. Southern. The Bayou Classic. These teams skip the 1-AA playoffs to fight it out every year.
I'm an Army fan, and I think though it's not the purest or craziest or filled with pure hate-est rivalry in sports, it is the best. However, if another Navy thrashing will get the Army athletic department off their ass and get them to hire a coach that will run the wishbone, then so be it and best of luck to them.
RM-Barca and Ranger-Celtic in europe, River-boca and Fla-flu in South America, in MLS I haven't seen anything to be called a national rivalry, maybe LAG-SJ before the move because of Donavan leaving was the best in MLS but I don't think we've seen anything like that since. Yanks- redsox, Maple leafs - Canadien, Lakers - celtics (was), NFL doesn't have a great one, just a few between cities like Denver- KC, dallas - philly but nothing a whole country would stop to watch.
River - Boca Fenerbahce - Galatasaray Celtic - Rangers Real - Barca Roma - Lazio England - Germany Brazil - Argentina Greece - Turkey Serbia - Croatia Japan - South Korea you could go on and on in international football. Just pick any two countries that don't like each other where soccer also happens to be popular.
Any college football fan can name ten rivalries that put Yankees-Red Sox to shame. My list, without thinking too much about it: Texas-Oklahoma Michigan-Ohio State Army-Navy Auburn-Alabama Georgia-Florida Colorado-Colorado State South Carolina-Clemson Oregon-Oregon State USC-Notre Dame Cal-Stanford