Biggest sporting rivalry in your region?

[Del Tachi]

Mississippi State vs Ole Miss

Sports rivalries are stronger the more the fan bases overlap geographically/demographically.  There's almost zero to distinguish the MSU/Ole Miss fan bases at an aggregate level. 

The last statement could be argued against - in Europe at least I find the fiercest, most hateful/violent derbies are the ones between two competing regions and cities where the fanbases only overlap sparingly. Its much easier to hate regional rivals than city rivals in my experience, given you have friends inevitably present in the other city clubs. That doesn't stop me from hating Anderlecht though, mainly for what it represents.

Most of the biggest football derbies in Europe - Fenerbahce-Galatasaray, Rangers-Celtic, Partizan-Red Star, Lazio-Roma, Olympiacos-Panathinaikos - are within the same city.

Generally, the biggest rivalries in any sport are based around politics, class, and/or religion, so American sports rivalries between franchise teams or colleges are going to be pretty good-natured compared to some in the rest of the world.

This is what I was coming here to say.  American collegiate sports rivalries are going to feature vastly similar dueling fan bases, because alumni footprints for big-brand state schools are going to overlap a considerable degree within the same region.  These aren't class- or cultural-based rivalries.     

[Joe Biden 2024]

Eagles-Giants or Eagles-Cowboys

[parochial boy]

FIFA vs the Law

That shït's pretty brutal

I would have thought Servette vs Lausanne Sport would be more brutal.

Ha.... haha. The hockey rivalry between them is bigger than the football one. Two long decades of one or other being either crap or bankrupt has taken its toll.

Biggest football rivalries in the country are either Basel V FC Zurich or FC Zurich v Grasshoppers. With Zurich being the working class city club, and GCZ being the bourgeois suburban one.

Lugano v Ambrí-Piotta is probably the most famous hockey rivalry - the bourgeois city vs the remote mountain village. Ambrí have a bit of a St Pauli vibe with their fanbase too, which helps.

[Sirius_]

Clemson vs South Carolina

[LAKISYLVANIA]

Anderlecht vs Club Brugge
Anderlecht vs Standard
Belgium vs Netherlands
Antwerp vs Beerschot
Antwerp vs Standard
Standard vs Charleroi
Genk vs STVV
Waregem vs Kortrijk
Roger De Vlaeminck vs Tom Boonen but it should be De Vlaeminck vs everyone, and especially Freddy Maertens.

You are a Essevee supporter right?

Yes

I'll never forget the time we became almost champions of Belgium with Thorgan Hazard and Junior Malanda. The time we won the cup for the first time ever after a late goal after the season we promoted, or our European campaign when we defeated Lokomotiv Moscow, and played against Newcastle in the 1/16th round of the Europa League

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Red Sox vs. Yankees, although I'm sort of disappointed that this isn't just a Northeastern regional rivalry anymore and both teams have developed boring homogenized nationwide fandoms.

[SevenEleven]

Dodgers-Giants

[Zinneke]

Mississippi State vs Ole Miss

Sports rivalries are stronger the more the fan bases overlap geographically/demographically.  There's almost zero to distinguish the MSU/Ole Miss fan bases at an aggregate level.  

The last statement could be argued against - in Europe at least I find the fiercest, most hateful/violent derbies are the ones between two competing regions and cities where the fanbases only overlap sparingly. Its much easier to hate regional rivals than city rivals in my experience, given you have friends inevitably present in the other city clubs. That doesn't stop me from hating Anderlecht though, mainly for what it represents.

Most of the biggest football derbies in Europe - Fenerbahce-Galatasaray, Rangers-Celtic, Partizan-Red Star, Lazio-Roma, Olympiacos-Panathinaikos - are within the same city.

Generally, the biggest rivalries in any sport are based around politics, class, and/or religion, so American sports rivalries between franchise teams or colleges are going to be pretty good-natured compared to some in the rest of the world.

Yeah the famous ones are, but the the most hateful are often between regional powerhouses. Rangers-Celtic is the obvious exception. But here in Belgium the city derbies are about bragging rights at the office, while the more hateful ones are often the derbies between towns in the same region or the clashes between the Big Three that each represent in their way a region and mentality of Belgium. Same for Germany in most parts (although the Hamburg and Berlin derbies are quite special spectacles, nothing beats a serious regional clash like Koln-Dusseldorf, Hannover-Braunschweig, Magdeburg-Halle Kaiserslautern-Mannheim or Stuttgart-Kalsruhe).

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Blazers-Lakers

Kings-Lakers

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Y'all know mine.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Probably the "clean old-fashioned hate" football rivalry between the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech -- although that's been rather lopsided in recent years.

Not the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party?  My ex father-in-law would agree with you on the Tech-UGA rivalry (he went to Tech), but my son would probably think it's the Falcons-Saints.

UGA-Florida would be a close second, but I think UGA-Tech slightly outweighs it.  If UGA went 1-10, would they rather have beaten Tech and lost to Florida, or the other way around?  I think the former choice would win out.

As far as Falcons-Saints, the NFL just doesn't inspire the same level of emotion as college football here.

[Senator Spark]

Eagles/Cowboys

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Eagles/Cowboys

Eagles/Cowboys?! Jesus Christ. South Jersey/SEPA has really gone to the dogs since I lived there.

[Lechasseur]

PSG vs Marseille

[morgieb]

Probably NSW v. Queensland. Or if we can only choose club sport, Rabbitohs v. Roosters.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Red Sox vs. Yankees, although I'm sort of disappointed that this isn't just a Northeastern regional rivalry anymore and both teams have developed boring homogenized nationwide fandoms.

The rivalry felt so intense during my childhood. Brutal staredowns and shouting with a couple fights in the stands. Authentic hatred of the other teams guys. I went to a game at Fenway two years back and there were about a dozen mixed couples. I guess it's not a bad thing! It's just crazy how we moved beyond it to largely friendliness in the stands. Just so different and such a sudden change from last decade. From hating Manny and Papi or Jeter and AROD with all your soul to just gushing at the talent of Betts and Boegaerts or Gleyber and Judge and having total respect. I think most sports has turned down while political hatred has shot up....

Cora is easy to hate, but mostly because I'd prefer him in the dugout!

[nclib]

Easily UNC vs. Duke in basketball. One of the greatest college rivalries anywhere.

[Fight for Trump]

Probably NSW v. Queensland. Or if we can only choose club sport, Rabbitohs v. Roosters.

Carlton-Collingwood?

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Dodgers-Giants

[morgieb]

Probably NSW v. Queensland. Or if we can only choose club sport, Rabbitohs v. Roosters.

Carlton-Collingwood?

I took region to mean state, those are both Victorian teams.

[Continential]

Pitt vs. Penn State.

[Badger]

Pitt vs. Penn State.

Surprised to hear that. That was always a big rivalry growing up but that was in the Tony Dorsett Hugh Greene era of Pitt football in there being national champions, or at least a Powerhouse. Their program has obviously disintegrated mightily since their late 70s heyday. It was essentially the point that it lacked being a rivalry with Penn State because they were more of a speed bump set an actual competitor. Glad to hear that's resumed apparently

On a side note, my dad is Happy Valley graduate and my mom got her Master's from Pitt, of which I was a fan. It's one of the few times Sports rivalries actually raised its head in my household.

Oh, around here it's obviously OSU and Michigan hands down. That said, there's a budding rivalry I really enjoy between the Blue Jackets in the pens.

[Catholics vs. Convicts]

Michigan-ohio state and Bears-Packers are the biggest rivalries with the most hate in my communities (Chicagoland and Western Michigan). Of course the year-round relevance of those rivalries has lost their shine due to my teams getting their @**es kicked by the other team year after year after year for the past decade. Still probably the biggest deals. Packer and buckeye fans disgust me. (My two closest friends are one of each...)

Cubs-Cardinals probably follows closely behind those two as the biggest deal. Even though the Cardinals have been more consistently stronger in their history, it has been a very close and competitive rivalry more often than not. Both teams have had their successes this decade. The one reason I drop it down lower though, is that, like Red Sox-Yankees, they play SO many times a year, that it kind of diminishes the importance of each game. Like, if I miss Cubs-Cardinals on Sunday Night Baseball this week, I'll just catch them when they are on Sunday Night Baseball in two weeks. If I were talking downstate Illinois though, this would be a clear #1.

Michigan-Michigan State and Cubs-White Sox are little brother rivalries, but I feel matter more on a year-round basis. Every move one team makes is compared to what the other team is doing. Everyone has family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who support the other team, and you trash talk with them all the time. Even as a die-hard Cubs fan, I love going to Sox games with my buddies. Still a little part of me dies when Eloy Jimenez (traded from Cubs to White Sox) hits game winning home runs against my beloved Cubs and my friends rub it in. I used to have a lot of respect for MSU, but now I just see them as a scumbag scandal-deflecting university.

Blackhawks-Red Wings used to matter, but as an opposite effect, they play two mostly meaningless games a year now. This one just feels like it doesn't matter anymore.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Pitt vs. Penn State.

Genuinely surprised to hear this. Is this what happened with a temporary stay on the Backyard Brawl? I'm glad they are switching back from a four year schedule with Penn State to one with West Virginia. Even Cincinnati feels more natural than Penn State and as such has replaced them on the futures. At the moment, Pitt feels to be without an annual rival in any sport.

I'd have imagine every Steelers divisional rival punches above this and if we were okay with makeshift temporary rivalries, Pens-Caps has defined the decade. And if we wanted intensity, the Pirates-Reds currently has the strongest hatred in the sport for reasons I can't comprehend.


Photo is from the MLB broadcast or something and is probably copyrighted.

[Former President tack50]

In my particular region the big one is obviously UD Las Palmas vs CD Tenerife; the 2 main clubs from each of the 2 main islands (in fact they are really the only teams from the region that are even remotely relevant at a national scale)

Some bigger Spanish rivalries that are probably better known include Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona (obviously ) and Atlético de Madrid vs Real Madrid.

Some lesser known rivalries include FC Barcelona vs Espanyol, Sevilla vs Betis or Athletic Bilbao vs Real Sociedad