Every team has one, no matter what sport. No matter what team you root for, there always seems to be another one somewhere out there that seems to always get the best of your team. This is the basis for sports rivalries, if you disagree, I urge you to look at these examples, I'll give you one or two from all three major sports. (Baseball, Football and Basketball).
Baseball #1: The Boston Red Sox and The New York Yankees. One of, if the not the greatest rivalry in sports, there are not enough curse words in the world for these two sets of fans to describe how they feel about each other. Here's the proof: From 1923 to 2000, the Yankees won the World Series 26 times frequently defeating the Sox in the postseason. How many did the Red Sox win? A whopping...zero. Cue Sox nation saying "Damn Yankees."
But the tides would change in October 2004. The Yanks led the Sox 3-0 in the NLCS. By some miracle of god (or Babe Ruth, whatever you wanna believe.) the Sox won four straight games behind the bats of David Ortiz, Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez, and pitching of Curt Schilling. And so all of the Bronx let out a cry of "Damn Red Sox."
Speaking of Johnny Damon, how do you think Sox fans felt when he showed up in Fenway wearing a Yankee uniform? I shouldn't have to type it again.
Baseball #2: The Atlanta Braves/The Philadelphia Phillies vs the rest of the NL East.
First, let me say that I am not in any way making the Braves and Phillies out to be some sort of buddy-buddy connected team. I am a Braves fan, and I hate the Phillies with every fiber of my being.
With that being said, from 1993 to the present day, only one team not named the Phillies or the Braves has won the division. The New York Mets won it in 2006. The Braves lead the division with 11 all time wins, followed closely by the Phillies, who have 10. The third most? the Pittsburgh Pirates, who are now members of the NL Central. The other three teams now in the division, (NY Mets, Washington Nationals, Florida Marlins) have a combined 6 division titles. The Mets lead that category with 5, the Nationals have 1, (Montreal Expos), and the Marlins have none. As for the current season, the Phillies (88-48) have a 7.5 lead over the second place (you guessed it) Braves (82-57),while the Braves hold a steady 8.5 game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Mets (68-70) sit 21 games back of first, the Nationals (64-74) are 25 games out, and the Marlins are a whopping 27.5 games out of first place. It doesn't look like anything will be changing anytime soon.
Football #1: The Indianapolis Colts vs The New England Patriots.
The Colts, for all intents and purposes, are considered to be a powerhouse in the NFL. Year after year, they cruise through the AFC south with seemingly no trouble. Since the division began in 2002, the Colts have won 7 of the 9 championships. Their combined record over those seven years is an astounding 87-25. One would think that a team that was able to cruise through the NFL like this would capture Super Bowl titles at whim, but no, they were only able to win one Super Bowl (2006), they made it back in 2009, but were defeated by Drew Brees and the Saints. Why is this, you ask? The Colts have "That damn team" too, and it comes in the form of the New England Patriots.
In 2003, the Patriots defeated the Colts 24-14 in the AFC championship game on their way to a Super Bowl victory over the Carolina Panthers. In 2004, despite being the highest scoring team in the league, the Colts only managed one field goal in a 20-3 defeat at the hands of the Patriots once again, this time in the divisional round. Since those games, the Colts have seemed to have finally gotten a hang of it, but the fact remains that Peyton Manning has one Super Bowl Ring, while Tom Brady has 3. At least Peyton makes all those commercials.
Basketball #1. Now, I don't much care for basketball, and am going to try to avoid discussing it at all, (much like politics) but I'm trying to make a point. When people think of basketball rivalries, most would instantly think of Duke vs North Carolina. But I want to present a rivalry that many people may not be aware of.
Did you ever have an older sibling? Did that sibling ever seem to soak up all the glory? Whether they were the valedictorian, homecoming king, star athlete, or all three (god bless you if that was the case)? We have all heard people, or in this instance, sports teams, referred to as somebody's insignificant little brother.
When it comes to basketball, the team that fits this description, almost to a tee, is none other than the Los Angeles Clippers. If you just said "Wait, you mean the Lakers?" you're probably not the only one. I am willing to bet that a lot of people who aren't avid sports fans even knew the Clippers exist.
So why do the Clippers take the little brother role to the Lakers? For lack of a better word, the Clippers, well, Suck. They are a miserable franchise, that may never make it out of the ENORMOUS shadow of the Lakers. Here are the facts:
1. The Clippers were founded in 1970, since then they have won zero championships; NBA, conference or division. The Lakers? Since 1970 they have won the NBA finals eleven times,earned 19 conference titles and have won the division 22 times.
2. The Clippers haven't made the playoffs since 2006, whereas the the Lakers have only been left out of the postseason 5 times in their entire franchise history.
3. This may be the biggest reason why the Clippers have always been buried under the shadow of the Lakers: The Lakers have 23 hall of famers (16 players, 4 head coaches, 1 assistant coach, and 2 contributors). The Clippers....have 3. Enough said.
So there it is, no matter how good you think your team may be, there will always be that "Damn Team" in the way. And they aren't going away any time soon.
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