What makes a Rivalry?

A buddy of mine and I got into a friendly argument (as we often do) over what a rivalry is. It stemmed from going to Pittsburgh to see the Pirates play, and he said that the Phillies and Pirates were rivals, I said that it was a fake rivalry that the media creates because the teams do not play each other very often, and are so far apart in the standings. He said a rivalry is a rivalry, and then the argument (as it often does) went downhill from there.

Today is the start of Interleague play in Major League Baseball, and if you go MLB.com you will see an article talking about how these match ups create drama and intrigue. First I want to look at these match ups from a neutral perspective, and the define a rivalry once and for all.

First highlight games by MLB:

Reds-Indians (Showdown of Ohio)- While both teams are in the same state and leading their divisions, that is the only thing that interests me in this series. It would be like the Phillies and Cardinals playing from earlier this week- interesting, has some drama, but still a long way to go.

Cubs-Red Sox in Fenway for the first time since 1918- no interest whatsoever.

Rangers-Phillies- "Could be a preview of the World Series" is not something that interests me as I think Texas will falter in the ALCS. Although the pitching match ups could be interesting (Lee in Texas)

Athletics-Giants- just because they are close does not make them rivals

Cardinals-Royals- see above

The Rest- non hyped games by MLB.com
DET-PIT
NYM-NYY
WSH-BAL
HOU-TOR
TB-FLA
LAD-CWS
MIN-ARI
ATL-LAA
SEA-SD
OAK-SF
NL Game: COL-MIL

Of the above collection- Mets-Yankees is the only game remotely interesting but the Mets suck and I really don't want to watch a bad team play.

While MLB needs to create interest by having these 'rivalries' it just makes them look week and only interested in pandering for attention. Interleague is a cool concept, you get to see different matchups and see teams in different parks. But they do not create rivalries.

To define a rivalry, I think it needs the following criteria:
1. Teams need to be in the same division
(Exception- Team A knocks Team B out of the playoffs for at least 2 years straight then the rivalry exists only until the star players have left the teams)
2. Within in the same state/province- but only if the cities do not like each other
Example: Hamilton-Toronto in the CFL or TOR-OTT in the NHL
3. Have similar paths to success (meaning one team cannot always suck and one team cannot always be good, they need to suck or be good at around the same time)
4. Both teams need to win around the same number of games against each other (relative to number of games played against each other all time)
5. Needs to be some bad blood between the fans and/or (preferably and) the players
6. Media does not need to hype the series for the fan bases because the game is already circled on the calendar and the energy is going to be crazy.

Certain exceptions to these rivalries
1. If the two teams frequently meet in the playoffs, or are competing for division crown every year, rule 2 can be waived (NY-CHI in the NBA in the 90s, NYY-BOS in the MLB, TOR-MTL in the NHL).
2. If a new alignment takes a rival out of a division rule one can be waved (TB-GB in the NHL- Tampa got moved to the NFC South, Green Bay to the NFC North when the NFL expanded to 32 teams- for a few years there was a strong rivalry between the two teams.

Examples of the Perfect Rivalry in Pro Sports
New York-Boston in the MLB
Toronto-Ottawa in the NHL
Chicago-Indiana in the NBA (90s)
Atlanta-Philadelphia in the MLB
Dallas-Washington in the NFL (80s)

Ranking of Rivalries in all sports
1. Duke-North Carolina in NCAA Basketball
2. New York-Boston in MLB
3. Chicago Bulls- Indiana Pacers in the NBA (1990s)
4. Dallas Cowboys- Pittsburgh Steelers (1970s)
5. UCLA-USC in NCAA Football
6. USC- Notre Dame in NCAA Football
7. Chicago Cubs- St. Louis Cardinals in the MLB
8. Army-Navy in NCAA Football
9. LeBron James (Cleveland and Miami) vs. Boston in the NBA
10. Canada vs. Russia in International Hockey

That is my opinion of course, but I think there are more real rivalries in the NCAA and between countries. Probably 11. would be Canada-USA in International Competition. But really there are lots of 'fake' rivalries out there that the media creates to help with ticket sales and have a story for the papers, and that is fine, but a true rivalry is rare and hard to find.