Greatest Modern Day Sports Rivalries: Which Ones Top The List?

When we start talking about great rivalries, we have to first determine the criteria that that we will use to come to our conclusions.  With so many teams and individuals in the professional and collegiate levels that would qualify for this list, we will keep it down to something that is workable.

The definition of the word rivals—two competitors pursuing the same object, but with equal tenacity in their quest to surpass the other.  In sports, the term is normally used when both competitors or teams have a lot of history between them, and the stakes are high.

One criteria has to be fan enthusiasm and participation.  The fans have to be jacked for the contest, and it has to mean something.  If nothing is on the line then it takes away from the rivalry. 

There are times however, when there is nothing on the line, that the respective fans of both teams dislike each other so much, that it doesn’t matter. 

Both teams or participants have to be consistently good.  It won’t generate as much of a buzz if one or both teams are down, or just not that good.  That has to be factored in.

There must be history there between the teams or athletes.  The more history involved, in many cases, means the rivalry is more intense.

Geographical location must be a consideration as well.  Natural rivalries develop over time where teams have a common border, or are intra-state.  This is especially prevalent in college sports.

They will be listed in no particular order, and it will be open for debate which are the best.

Joe Frazier vs. Muhammad Ali

This was a boxing rivalry to end all boxing rivalries.  The first time they fought in 1971, the fight was so hyped that it seemed that it could never live up to its billing. 

It was called at the time—and is still referred to by many—the "fight of the century."  Both men were undefeated and about as different as they come.  Ali was the brash, trash talking anti-war Muslim who took on the establishment, and Frazier was the Bible-reading Christian who liked to sing.

Frazier would win that epic battle, knocking Ali down in the 15th round.  This would be the only fight out of the three that Frazier would win.  The rematch in January of 1974 was called “Superfight,” and Ali would get his revenge.  He dominated the fight with his lightning-quick punches and movement.

In the pre-fight press conference, Frazier got tired of the name-calling and the taunts Ali dished out and attacked him.  Needless to say, there was no love lost between the two.

The third fight, the Thrilla in Manila, in 1975 was a tremendous ending to this rivalry. Both men dished out serious punishment, but Ali tortured Frazier in the later rounds worse than anyone had done before.  Frazier couldn’t answer the bell for the fourteenth .

These men put each other in the hospital, inflicted permanent damage to each other—and when they were through, they ended up respecting each other.  We will never see a heavyweight rivalry like this one again.

Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns

On September 16, 1981, Caesar's Palace was the place where the two best welterweights met for the first time in the ring. 

There was no love lost between them, particularly in the case of Hearns.  He hated the fact that Sugar Ray got more attention by being the flashier of the two.

The first fight would go down as the fight of the decade.  Leonard was losing the fight and had to stalk Hearns in the late rounds until he caught up to him and knocked him out. 

The ironic thing was that they reversed their natural tendencies for much of the fight.  Leonard, the boxer with speed and finesse, became the hunter, and Hearns, with his punching power, became the boxer with the effective jab.

This fight sealed Leonard’s greatness, and made Hearns yearn for another opportunity to prove he was better.  They would fight again and the match would be scored as a draw, but most think Hearns won that fight. 

Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran

Duran was a Hall of Famer who was a beast, and finished with a record of 104-16 with 69 knockouts.  Duran thought Leonard was less of a man than he was, and said so publicly.

In their first fight, which was a 15-round war, Leonard ignored conventional wisdom, and stood in front of Duran the whole fight duking it out with him. 

In trying to prove to Duran that he was not afraid of him, he fell into his trap. It was one of the best fights in welterweight history, but Leonard took the loss. 

In the rematch, Leonard used his boxing speed, style, and counter-punching ability to humiliate Duran into quiting in the eighth round.  Leonard also taunted Duran during the fight.  No one had ever done this to Duran before. 

Duran was knowm for his brutality—but he was reduced to a loser, quitter, and a traitor. 

Nine years would pass before the two men fought again, when they were well past their primes. Leonard dominated that one as well.  The “no mas” fight will always be remembered—and these men will forever be linked together, like Ali and Frazier were.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics

The Magic-Bird rivalry started in the college championship game in 1979 and continued into the professional ranks.  No other personal rivalry actually carried over like this one did.  That being said, the Boston-L.A. rivalry started long before Magic and Bird came on the scene. 

Overall, the Lakers and Celtics have met 11 times in NBA finals since 1959, with Boston winning nine of them.  Bird and Magic coming into the NBA was significant, because up until that time, the NBA was in a down period. The battles the two men would have against each other generated a tremendous amount of interest. 

It was the slower, plodding, teamwork-oriented Celtics against the Showtime, fast-breaking, highlight-reel Lakers.  Many times fans made it the mostly Caucasian Celtics vs. the mostly African-American Lakers.  

This rivalry forced all the fans to pick sides.  These star-studded battles revitalized the NBA—and Magic and Bird were the stars of stars.  They rescued the NBA from low attendance and low television ratings.

Overall, Magic would get the better of it against Bird winning two championships (1985 and 1987) head-to-head versus Bird's one (1984). 

Other Lakers-Celtics battles featured Bill Russell and Bob Cousy for Boston, and Elgin Baylor and Jerry West for Los Angeles.

Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson

We have to take a moment to mention these two separately from the Boston-L.A. rivalry—because of what was at stake when they played, the intensity of the battles, and the way the fans took sides and debated who was better.  They were both great, but I would have to give Magic the slight edge. 

Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain

These two warriors met 142 times in 10 years, were unquestionably the most talked-about matchup in basketball in the 1960s, and are still debated today. 

Keep in mind that the game was a little different then than it is now.  Bill and Wilt guarded each other every time they played.  That wouldn’t happen today, because most times teams' best players don’t guard each other, so they can stay out of foul trouble.

Chamberlain averaged 28.7 points and 28.7 rebounds in those games and Russell averaged 14.5 points and 23.7 rebounds.  Russell’s teams fared far better.  In that time period, he won nine championships to Wilt’s one. 

Who was better?  I will let you decide.

New York Knicks vs. Miami Heat

In the 1990s, no one could doubt the ill will these two teams had for each other.  It involved the teams, the fans, and the front offices. Pat Riley left the Knicks under bad circumstances to coach the Heat, and all of a sudden, things got ugly.

These were two teams built on physical play and their regular-season games and playoff games were all heated.  Charlie Ward would tangle with P.J. Brown, and one time it almost led to a bench-clearing brawl. Many Knicks were suspended for leaving the bench, dooming their playoff chances. 

Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson got into a full fledged fight in a playoff game, and Jeff Van Gundy grabbed Mourning’s leg in an ill-fated attempt to break it up, getting dragged across the Garden floor in the process. 

Over a four-year period, the NBA put these teams on national television every time they could, because of what might happen in the game.

For the most part, they were all low-scoring, physical affairs, with each point being precious—but that was really how the game is supposed to be played. 

And then there was the shot.  Allan Houston’s jumper with less than a second left eliminated the Heat in a playoff series and added more fuel to this fire.

What made this more interesting was that Jeff Van Gundy was a Riley disciple, and Riley’s top assistant at Miami was Stan Van Gundy, Jeff’s brother.  The Knicks got the better of this rivalry over the years.  Fierce is not a strong enough word to describe this matchup. 

Honorable mention goes to Bulls vs. Pistons in the Jordan era.

Florida State Seminoles vs. Miami Hurricanes

There are so many intense rivalries in the college game that it is hard to highlight one, or just a few.  One reason Miami and Florida State stands out is that over the years, their games affected the whole college football landscape.  The games took on more meaning when Bobby Bowden took over Florida State in 1987.

Not only was (and still is) there a definite hatred between the two intrastate rivals, but losses to Miami have kept Florida State out of national championship games five times.  Thirteen times in the last twenty years, these teams have met when both were ranked in the top ten.

This rivalry has been marked by missed kicks that always seem to go against the Seminoles.  Even though both schools are down right now, the rivalry is still intense, and over the years there has been more at stake with this game than any other. 

Army vs. Navy 

We have to put the Army-Navy game on this list as well.  When the men who protect us get together and play this game amidst the pageantry and the pre-game march onto the field, we all have to stand up and take notice.  They are the most well trained and disciplined that we have, and in many ways this rivalry tops the list.

Honorable mention: Auburn vs. Alabama, U.S.C. vs. Notre Dame, Oklahoma vs. Texas, Georgia vs. Florida, Michigan vs. Ohio State.

Boston Red Sox vs. New York Yankees

Many feel that this is the most fierce and bitter rivalry in all of sports, and it doesn’t seem to be quieting down.  Since the wild card was instituted, they have played in the American League Championship Series three times, with the Yankees winning twice.

They finished tied at the end of the regular season in 1978. and played a famous one-game playoff in Fenway won by the Yankees, 5-4.  The big hit was a three-run homer by the light-hitting Bucky Dent.  At one point that season, Boston had a fourteen-game lead on the Yankees.

The ALCS in 2003 had some fireworks, such as a bench-clearing altercation that resulted in Yankee coach Don Zimmer charging Pedro Martinez and being thrown to the ground.  This series was intense, and Boston actually led Game Seven 5-2 in the eighth inning—before Red Sox manager Grady Little decided to leave a tired Pedro Martinez in the game.

New York staged a one-out rally with three straight hits to make the lead 5-3, and after Little left Martinez out there, Jorge Posada doubled in the tying runs.  The Yankees ended up winning on an Aaron Boone home run in the eleventh inning.  This added to the feeling by the Red Sox nation that they were cursed.

Boston would turn things around, but the animosity between the teams would never wane.  In 2004, Alex Rodriguez and Jason Varitek got into a fight that resulted in another bench-clearing brawl.  The teams would finish first and second in the division and meet for the second straight year in the ALCS—and it didn’t disappoint, so far as drama is concerned.

The Yankees led the series three games to none, and Mariano Rivera was on the mound in Game Four to save a 4-3 game.  Boston came back to win this game, and begin what would go down as the biggest collapse in major league playoff history.  The Red Sox would go on to win the World Series that year, and since then have not looked back.

In 2005, both teams lost in separate divisional series—but Boston, after not making the playoffs in 2006, would win their first American League East Championship in twelve years in 2007, and go on to win the World Series.

Red Sox and Yankee fans go further than having a healthy dislike for their counterparts.  Boston fans won’t root for any New York team in any sport, and vice versa.  Even at this years All-Star game, when Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon came in the game for the AL, he was booed mercilessly, because of perceived disrespect aimed at Mariano Rivera.

Someone actually went so far as to bury a Red Sox jersey in the foundation of the new Yankee Stadium, believing that would jinx them.  The news about it became public, and the construction crew searched for it and subsequently found it and took it out.  Enough said.

NFL Football has so many great rivalries it’s hard to center on one or two.  The Bears and Packers had a great rivalry in the old NFL days, but in modern times this has been nothing special.  Chiefs-Raiders, Steelers-Browns, and Giants-Cowboys have a lot of history, but we will choose another pair:

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Oakland Raiders

This was a rivalry that could have been played out in a back alley, or a Mixed Martial Arts ring.  From 1972 to 1977, these two viciously beat on each other and called it football.  The Raiders specialized in intimidating their opponents, and Pittsburgh’s steel curtain backed down from no one.

Raider safety George Atkinson knocked Lynn Swann out with a forearm to the head after a play was over, on the other side of the field, that resulted in a lawsuit being filed by Chuck Noll.  Atkinson countered by suing Noll for slander. 

Keep in mind that a lot of the bitterness came from the fact that both teams had unbelievable talent.  Nineteen players from the teams from this era have been inducted into the hall of fame, and they were constantly competing for the right to go to the Super Bowl.  They met in three straight AFC championship games from 1974 to 1976.

The most famous moment was the immaculate reception game in 1972, where Franco Harris caught a deflected pass just before it hit the carpet, and scored the winning touchdown with little time left.  To this day, former Raider players say they were cheated by the officials on the play.  This rivalry was one of the nastiest in NFL history, if not the nastiest.

Honorable Mention: Redskins vs. Cowboys from 1970-1983, Colts vs Patriots (current), Steelers vs Cowboys.

Raphael Nadal vs. Roger Federer

History is made every time these two meet on the tennis courts.  Nadal is the physical young bull, and Federer is the smooth, unflappable assassin.  They are the best in their sport and most of their matches have been epic battles. 

Federer’s legacy as the best ever has been thwarted by losses in three French Open finals—and in this past Wimbledon final, which was probably the greatest match ever played.  Nadal had been frustrated by Federer on the grass as well, until this year.  

They have brought out the best in each other, and they do it in a way that is different than all the other rivalries we have mentioned before.  There is no ill will between them, and they praise each other as top-notch players. 

These two are so good and battle so hard, that they have drawn fans to the sport that were indifferent before.  This is the top individual rivalry going on today.  There is not another that comes close.

Honorable mention: Borg vs. McEnroe

Tiger Woods vs. Nobody

We are currently waiting for someone to step up and replace Nobody.  I don’t think it will happen.

Montreal Canadiens vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

Canada is serious about their hockey, and this is their version of the Hatfields and the McCoys.  Through 1970, they were the only teams north of the American border, so every time they met it was a big deal.  From 1944 to 1978, they met twelve times in the playoffs, and faced off in five Stanley Cup Finals.

This rivalry is symbolic of a rift in their history and society—the English and the French Canadians.  The English were British, conservative, and Protestant, while the French Canadians were Roman Catholic and liberal.

Duke Blue Devils vs. North Carolina Tarheels

Also known as the battle of Tobacco Road, this is the fiercest rivalry in college basketball.  The intensity of the rivalry is inflamed by the proximity of the two universities, located only eight miles apart.  These teams are always among the ACC’s top teams, and every time they meet it is a huge deal.

Former North Carolina coach Dean Smith and current Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski are Hall of Fame coaches, and have presided over some of the best and hotly contested battles between the two schools.

There are other college basketball rivalries, but this one is the gold standard.  None of the others have quite the bite that this one has.

Rivalries are what help to make sports what it is.  It lets us know that that there is something other than just money that is driving our athletes.  Thanks to the rivalries past, as we look forward to the future rivalries.