How do you define a Rivalry?

I was watching the UNC-UVa game Saturday and I saw the obligatory “South’s Oldest rivalry” tag. I’m not sure how UVa fans feel about this tag, but as a Tar Heel fan/alum/someone who has lived in NC his whole life this seems a little confusing to me. Sure UNC and UVa have played each other for a very long time, ok but how does that make it a rivalry? I have virtually no feelings for UVa one way or the other, how can we be “rivals” then?


The word ‘rivalry’ is thrown around so much these days it really is rather sickening. It seems ‘rivalry’ is used by TV execs and producers as a tag line to draw instant ratings. ESPN and others will tout almost anything as a rivalry because it gets ratings. ‘Joe the Plummer’ who lives in Idaho does not care about MAC football, but when Dan Patrick says “What a heated rivalry Toledo vs. Central Michigan this has become’ I guess he gets drawn in.


I turned to my buddy I was watching the game with and asked him about this. He said “I guess it depends on how you define ‘Rival’. To those of us who have lived and breathed the most intense basketball rivalry on the planet, the slander of this sacred word is just sad. But who am I to say that one rivalry is better than another? I don’t live in Washington state, I have no emotional ties to the Apple Cup. So lets categorize! I will give examples, but most will come from the ACC, just because that’s what I know. (note: this applies mostly to college sports, but can probably be extrapolated to professional as well.)


It seems that there exist 5 “Levels” of rivalries:


Level 1: The most intense of all. These rivalries are born out of mutual hatred, for the opposing team, coaches, fan bases, ect. It goes both ways. Fans of school A loathes school B just as much as fans of school B hate school A. Some other ingredients that qualify a rivalry as Level 1 are historical significance, national significance, location, ect, ect. These rivalries don’t need advertising for, they don’t need reminding about. They are the single most important game of the season (barring possible national championship game involvement).


Examples: Duke- UNC, OSU – Michigan, Auburn – Alabama, Texas- Oklahoma


Level 2: This is the downgraded version of level 1. These may once have been Level 1 rivalries but have just gotten stale, old or just not competitive anymore. There’s usually a lot of history in Level 2 rivalries, but nothing to write home about in the last 10 years. These can usually be identified by fans of school A obsessing about their hatred of school B, while fans of school B simply view school A as something that just no longer matter. School A has more important things to worry about, like championships. There is nothing worse as a sports fan when you realize that your main rival don’t consider you their’s. If N.C. State beats Carolina, they party the night away. If UNC beats State, it was expected and it’s just another day. This of course becomes a vicious cycle until school A can consistently be competitive with school B. Another huge difference between Level 1 and Level 2’s is there usually exists a bigger rivalry for one of the schools involved. Beating Michigan State will never mean as much to Michigan fans than beating Ohio State. Simple as that. Textbook examples of this can be found between flagship state universities and their land-grant counterparts.


Examples: Michigan – MSU, UNC- NCSU, TX – TX A&M.


Level 3: Levels 1 and 2 can be considered really legit rivalries. Level 3 is where we begin to see some grey areas. Level 3’s simply lack the historical significance to be considered a 1 or a 2. There is nothing more important to a rivalry than memories that elicit the fury of the opposing fan base. Every time I see the constant replays of Christian Laettner hit that shot against Kentucky I also see him in my mind eye stomping on Kentucky’s Aminu Timberlake, and my blood fucking boils. Just like whenever some 60 year old Duke fan see’s Larry Brown he remembers the fight with Art Heyman. These kinds of memories don’t really exist in Level 3’s. So why are they rivalries? Because in the last 3-4 years these two teams have been 1 and 2 in their conference, or whatever. It’s a big game for that year or season, but it by no means is a huge rivalry. These can develop into Level 2’s or even 1’s, but these also can calm down into just another conference game after a couple of seasons.


Examples: Maryland – Duke (borderline Level 2), Florida – Kentucky (in basketball)


Level 4: These are those games that announcers have to constantly remind you are rivalry games. They can have a great deal of history, but not really historical significance. This seems to be the best place to put games like UVa- UNC (touted as ‘The South’s Oldest Rivalry’). Really? Every time you watch UNC play UVa there is always that graphic that displays how long the two schools have been playing each other. Does that qualify it as a rivalry? No. As a UNC diehard I have no I’ll feelings toward UVa at all, in fact I probably respect them more than any other ACC institution. Can rivalries (for fan bases) come out of respect? I guess Level 4’s can. Level 4’s usually are rivalries only because someone decided one day to call it one. They will have some stupid ass name/ tagline that comes with it (again, to get ratings). Names of rivalries can either be cool and born from legitimacy (Clean, Old Fashion Hate and The Backyard Brawl) or can be obviously decided by some committee somewhere trying to attract attention (‘The Textile Bowl’ or ‘The Legends Game’). Level 4’s also can have some bullshit ‘Rivalry Trophy’ that can either be legit and cool (like the Little Brown Jug) or can be fabricated and corny (like the Ireland Trophy).


Examples: UVa – UNC, Boston College – Notre Dame, Notre Dame – Stanford, Clemson – N.C. State.


Level 5 – This is the pinnacle of the networks reaching for material. Every once in a while schedule-makers will have the flagship universities of two bordering states who have barely any connection with each other play one another and tout it as “The Border War”. I really don’t think anything can attract indifferent fans better than this. North Carolina-South Carolina may seem like an obviously huge rivalry if you live in Arizona, and with Lee Corso telling you it is, then your definitely gonna watch it! C’mon, let’s see who the “Real” Carolina is! Give me a break. In truth, if UNC-SCAR can evolve into maybe like a level 4 then I think it would be pretty cool. But I really could care less about South Carolina; they are mediocre at best at everything they do. The only reason UNC fans have to dislike SCAR is Spurrier, but what fan base couldn’t say that? It’s also funny how Level 1 rivalries in football can turn into level 5’s in basketball, and vice versa. Just watch a UNC- Duke football game, or an Ohio State –Michigan basketball game and you’ll see what I’m talking about. ESPN will show it because its Ohio-State and Michigan, but there really is probably a better way to spend your Tuesday night.


Examples: UNC – SCAR, South Florida – Miami (Fl) – FIU – FAU. Virginia – West Virginia.