Thursday, November 13, 2008

Question of the Day

What is the best rivalry in college sports? Let The Suite Spot know! Name the sport and the teams involved
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3 comments:

Mean Gene's Progeny said...

Answer: UNC v. Duke

Reasoning: This question is tough to value evenly across rivalries. When rivalries are sport-specific to the extent that the rivalry is somewhat watered-down in other sports such as Duke/UNC (basketball) or Fl./Ga. (football) should this be a factor? How about distance between schools? Does the USC/ND rivalry get downgraded because the two schools are half-way across the country from one-another? How about historical roots? How does one treat rivalries like SU/UCONN that has only come into prominence recently versus rivalries that are historic but have their ebbs and flows between the two schools like SU/G'Town? Within this vein, how much discount is applied to the programs consistently staying competitive with each other? Of course, a rivalry needs to have a competitive element to it. How about the regional impact of the programs? I admittedly know much less about Oregon/Oregon State than I do USC/Clemson. In balancing all of these factors I chose UNc/Duke. While the rivalry is watered-down in others sports, it gets a boost for being one of the preeminent rivalries in basketball. The two school are separated by only mere miles. The history is there. This rivalry gets the boost for two reasons: First, it has been so consistently competitive at a paramount level. Secondly, this game is national twice a year. Duke/UNC transcends regional boundaries. Lastly, perhaps an unfair anecdotal reference, but I never witnessed any class at SU yell boos and deride someone for wearing a G'Town or UNCONN shirt to class. This happens all the time at UNC when someone wears a duke shirt.

November 13, 2008 at 10:55 AM
Unknown said...

Brandeis vs Yeshiva ... Just go to one of their club hockey games and you will experience an age old rivalry that words do no justice, ... and youd also learn that apparently one does not need to know how to skate or handle a puck or even have any sort of physical abilities to play hockey.

November 13, 2008 at 11:07 AM
New Hampshire Paulo said...

Everytime I read a Mean Gene comment I feel like I'm in a philosophy class.

See exhibit A:
"How does one treat rivalries like SU/UCONN that has only come into prominence recently versus rivalries that are historic but have their ebbs and flows between the two schools like SU/G'Town?"

ebbs and flows in a sports post???

Anyhow, Mean Gene makes a good point on weighing rivalries between sports...
Because other have already touched on Hoops and Hockey, I'll take a rivalry from the halls of College Football.

I thought about Michigan v Ohio St (but honestly my personal bias and what have you done for me lately Michigan attitude have me counting this one out)
I thought about Auburn v Alabama, but they just aren't both consistently at the top.

This brings me to my #1 choice:
Army v Navy
These two east coast schools are nationally televised every year, and their rivalry goes back to freakin 1890! They've played 108 games against east other, and before college football became a precursor to the NFL, both teams were almost always in the hunt for the national championship.

Most student/athletes do not go on to the NFL because of their service committments or having to pass strict Army/Navy size requirements. These men are soldiers and students first and you will never see them looking to leave college early for the NFL, in fact...

These guys made committments to serve their country first and play football solely for the love of the game.
To me, this is the summation of everything great about college sports, and this is why I deem Army v Navy the greatest rivalry in college sports.

November 24, 2008 at 3:11 PM

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