Forgotten Rivalries

[Crabcake]

This Sunday, the Ravens travel to Tennessee to play the Titans. There was a time when the Ravens and Titans were each other’s biggest rivals. A lot of big moments in the rivalry went down in 2000, such as the Ravens handing the Titans their first loss at then-Adelphia Coliseum, then doubling down with a playoff victory in Tennessee which included this ridiculous Ray Lewis moment on Eddie George. 

 

After the NFL shuffled divisions, causing the AFC Central to disband and separating the Titans and Ravens, the rivalry cooled off significantly. However, playoff rematches in 2003 and 2008, along with Titans legends Steve McNair, Derrick Mason, and Samari Rolle finishing their careers in Baltimore, have provided glimpses into the rivalry’s past. Largely, though, it has been forgotten, partially due to the Steelers’ emergence as the Ravens’ main rival. 

 

It it got me thinking, what other rivalries have disappeared and been largely forgotten? 

[KDubK414]

The Brewers/White Sox used to be a huge rivalry. My dad would tell me how the crowds would get so rowdy at County Stadium and Comisky Park. He made it sound as if there was such a blood hatred between the fans of both franchises that he wouldn't have felt comfortable even taking me to a game between them. Part of it could stem from the Wisconsin/Illinois and Milwaukee/Chicago blood feud between the Packers and Bears. But now a days it is almost far removed from the collective consciousness of both fan bases, as the Brewers main rival is the Cubs, and tied for that is the Cardinals. And even White Sox fans root for the Brewers, because they don't particularly care for Cubs fans. 

[Kramerica Industries]

Packers vs. Bucs was a big rivalry for a short period of time between 1997-2002. Home teams dominated that matchup; when they were division rivals, I think the home team won every game from '97 through '01 except for the game in Tampa in 1997. Brett Farve in his prime against the best defense in the NFC for the duration of that period. Once the NFL realignment occurred, and then once the Bucs fell off after their Super Bowl win, the starch in that rivalry was lost.

 

In the NFL, you'll probably find several rivalries that died off with the 2002 realignment. And then, conversely, you'll see that the Patriots and Colts suddenly became massive rivals in the era beginning right after the Colts left the AFC East. Go figure.

[MJWalker45]

Browns vs. Giants, Packers, Lions (exists but not like in the 1960s), Eagles and 49ers (AAFC).

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Do today's kiddies know that the Yankees and Royals once had a fierce rivalry? This was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When I was growing up, George Brett was the opposing player whom I feared most.

 

In the mid-to-late 1980s, the Cardinals were the Mets' biggest rivals.

[IceCap]

Leafs/Blues.

[Kaz]

I completely forgot that the Red Sox and Yankees are rivals; glad to see such a long dormant match-up reawaken this postseason

[The_Admiral]

Leafs-Blues, Cubs-Mets, Stars-Oilers

[Quillz]

I was going to mention Yankees-Royals but someone else already did.

 

In the mid-2000s, the NBA's best rivalry was arguably Lakers-Spurs because of how dominant both teams were. Every championship between 1999-2003 was won by the Lakers or Spurs.

[FiddySicks]

I still have a primal hatred for the entire NFC North because of the Bucs previous time in the defunct NFC Central, and the fact that they used to regularly get their :censored: kicked in by all four of those teams. Even the Lions. 

[SFGiants58]

Reds-Dodgers was a big one when both teams were contenders and together in the NL West (because Chicago and St. Louis threw a hissy fit and became NL East teams). However, realignment and their respective mid-1990s doldrums squashed it.

[LMU]

Forgotten due to falling on their faces in recent memory but Avs/Red Wings was a blood feud.

[See Red]

It's been recently renewed with a home-and-home series after close to a decade of not playing, but Colorado and Nebraska used to be rivals in college football. 

Granted, the rivalry meant more to Colorado than to Nebraska, who mostly dominated it, but it was the Friday-after-Thanksgiving game every year.

 

It basically started because Colorado didn't have a rival so Bill McCartney started calling Nebraska their rival since their fans used to flood Boulder when they played every year.  Nobody from Nebraska cared until Colorado got good and McCartney won a national title before Osborne.  Interestingly enough, had Colorado not pushed the issue in making the game a rivalry, Osborne might have voted Colorado #1 in the coaches poll that year and it would have been an outright national title and not a split with Georgia Tech.

 

There's probably a long, long list of college football rivalries that are no more.  Pittsburgh/West Virginia comes to mind.

[Unocal]

Crabcake mentioned Titans-Ravens. Another AFC Central brief but fierce rivalry- Steelers-Jaguars in the late 90s, where the road team rarely won kinda like GB-TB.

 

Seahawks in their AFC West days had some major rivalries with the Raiders and Broncos in the late 70s and 80s.

 

Browns 1.0-Steelers was a much more fierce rivalry compared to Browns 2.0-Steelers. Cleveland-Pittsburgh games since 1999 are not what Cleveland-Pittsburgh game were up through 1995, especially at the old stadiums.

 

Kramerica Industries- if you're going to mention Buccaneers-Packers, how can you leave out Bucs-Rams?

 

Blackhawks-North Stars was a hell of a lot more fiery a rivalry than Blackhawks-Wild.

 

49ers-Saints from 1987-1993 seemed to have high stakes when both were in the NFC West. Saints-Rams in 2000-2001 before realignment was very brief but VERY entertaining.

[ninersdd]

Giants-Diamondbacks was pretty fierce from 1999-2003ish until Zona sank to the bottom of the league.

[TrueYankee26]

Yankees-Rays and Red Sox-Rays from 2008-early 2010s when the Rays were contenders.

[Discrim]

Jay-Z vs Nas was a better beef than Birdman-Wayne, I can tell ya that.

 

[PrimalCookie]

Magic-Bulls was very fierce back in the Shaq/Penny days, I think.

[Luigi74]

7 hours ago, See Red said:

There's probably a long, long list of college football rivalries that are no more.  Pittsburgh/West Virginia comes to mind.

Pitt and WVU will play a 4 year series starting in 2022 and it's been rumored that it'll lead to them playing more often.

 

 

[leopard88]

9 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

Reds-Dodgers was a big one when both teams were contenders and together in the NL West (because Chicago and St. Louis threw a hissy fit and became NL East teams). However, realignment and their respective mid-1990s doldrums squashed it.

 

I was just talking about this with my son a few days ago. I mentioned that the Reds being in the NL West was one of the weird geographic anomalies of the '70s and '80s, like the Saints and Falcons being in the NFC West.

 

12 hours ago, Crabcake47 said:

This Sunday, the Ravens travel to Tennessee to play the Titans. There was a time when the Ravens and Titans were each other’s biggest rivals. A lot of big moments in the rivalry went down in 2000, such as the Ravens handing the Titans their first loss at then-Adelphia Coliseum, then doubling down with a playoff victory in Tennessee which included this ridiculous Ray Lewis moment on Eddie George. 

 

After the NFL shuffled divisions, causing the AFC Central to disband and separating the Titans and Ravens, the rivalry cooled off significantly. However, playoff rematches in 2003 and 2008, along with Titans legends Steve McNair, Derrick Mason, and Samari Rolle finishing their careers in Baltimore, have provided glimpses into the rivalry’s past. Largely, though, it has been forgotten, partially due to the Steelers’ emergence as the Ravens’ main rival. 

 

I remember those days.  The Titans were definitely bigger rivals to the Ravens than the Steelers at the time.

 

The other game I remember from the rivalry (but couldn't find on video) was the game in Tennessee during the 2001 regular season.  The Ravens won 16-10 following a goal line stand made after being saved by a penalty on the Ravens.  The apparent winning touchdown was wiped out because Peter Boulware touched an offensive lineman while scrambling to get onside before the last play.  The play was blown dead for encroachment, then the Ravens stopped Steve McNair on an QB sneak with :03 left.

 

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.ravens13nov130-story.html

 

The rivalry I will add to the list is Maryland-Duke basketball.  It may not have reached UNC-Duke levels, but it was extremely intense from around 1998-2005.  It cooled off a little after that, then died when Maryland moved to the B1G.