Where does the Celtics - Lakers Rivalry rank in World Sports?

[Saskibaloia]

As we all can agree that the Celtics - Lakers rivalry is by far the best in the basketball world but where do you think it ranks against other rivalries in other sports?

Is it THE BEST RIVALRY? Is it in the top 5? Or is it only in the top 10?

Other famous rivalries in other sports include: Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, Manchester United vs Liverpool FC, Red Sox and the Yankees, The All Blacks and The Wallabies (Rugby: The Bledisloe Cup), Duke Blue Devils vs North Carolina Tar Heels, Argentina's "El Super Clasico": Boca Juniors vs River Plate, England vs Australia (The Ashes Series - Cricket) ... and the list goes on

[Jon_Koncak]

No, we can't.


Celtic - Rangers in football is 10X more important than Lakers- Celtics will ever be. .

No it isn't,22 lumberjacks playing ugly ass football..and i couldn't care less about the religious background of this rivarly

[Lewis]

Red Sox vs Yankees is mile away from any other rivalry is sports, there is NOTHING in this world that can compare to that. PERIOD.

[Franz]

This rivalry isn't even in the top 2 in American sports, let alone in the world.

1. Yankees and Red Sox - I dislike baseball but I know this.
2. Any American football rivalry
3. Maybe Lakers and Celtics

Red Sox vs Yankees is mile away from any other rivalry is sports, there is NOTHING in this world that can compare to that. PERIOD.

Barcelona and Real Madrid stump any American sport rivalry.

[b3lowzro]

As we all can agree that the Celtics - Lakers rivalry is by far the best in the basketball world but where do you think it ranks against other rivalries in other sports?

Is it THE BEST RIVALRY? Is it in the top 5? Or is it only in the top 10?

Other famous rivalries in other sports include: Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona, Manchester United vs Liverpool FC, Red Sox and the Yankees, The All Blacks and The Wallabies (Rugby: The Bledisloe Cup), Duke Blue Devils vs North Carolina Tar Heels, Argentina's "El Super Clasico": Boca Juniors vs River Plate, England vs Australia (The Ashes Series - Cricket) ... and the list goes on

you can also add the infamous De La Salle Green Archers vs Ateneo Blue Eagles rivalry

[Lewis]

This rivalry isn't even in the top 2 in American sports, let alone in the world.

you have no idea of what you are talking about. That is retardally and utterly ridiculous to say, especially if you contradict yourself later:

1. Yankees and Red Sox - I dislike baseball but I know this.
2. Any American football rivalry (this one is not true either)
3. Maybe Lakers and Celtics

Barcelona and Real Madrid stump any American sport rivalry.

again you don't have the remote idea of what you are talking about. Red Sox v. Yankees is not "an American rivalry," as you said; it is a worldwide. both Yankees and Red Sox have millions of fans in Japan, Taiwan and The Caribbean and Latin America. Yankees-Sox games are watched by millions of people all over the world.

[Mindozas]

again you don't have the remote idea of what you are talking about. Red Sox v. Yankees is not "an American rivalry," as you said; it is a worldwide. both Yankees and Red Sox have millions of fans in Japan, Taiwan and The Caribbean and Latin America. Yankees-Sox games are watched by millions of people all over the world.

And Barca-Real is not worldwide, right? Football is waaaay more popular sport than baseball in the world generally (number 1 to be precise ), Barca and Real has millions of fans not only in Latin America, Carribean, Japan or Taiwan, but also in rest of Asia, America, Africa, not even talking about Europe... there's no need even to compare it

[Dtown]

Depends what we're talking about when we're talking about rivalry.

Are we talking about the stakes they fight for (league worth, title worth)? The level of pure competition? Or the hatred and fierceness between teams and fans?

For example in terms of sporting stakes Celtic vs Rangers doesn't really mean anything. The SPL is a dying league, where the winner hasn't done anything in Europe for decades. On the global stage both teams are pretty irrelevant

However in terms of hate and passion and history it's hard to beat what Celtic vs Rangers brings to bare.

In terms of stakes yeah Lakers vs Celtics is great they have over half the NBA titles, and they fight for most historically dominant team in the premier basketball league in the world.

In terms of hatred and passion though, it's non existent. Unlike say even an American example of Red Sox vs Yankees, or Ohio State vs Michigan, or North Carolina vs Duke those teams play meaningful pressure filled games every year. Lakers vs Celtics, went damn near 20 years between games that truly mattered. There's a healthy respect and awareness between the two fanbases but hate? Not really.

In terms of passion I'd say our European cousins have us beat with the exception of college rivalries and possibly Red Sox vs Yankees. Arenas are just too family friendly so you lack the atmosphere.

Truth be told aside from Magic vs Bird the rivalry is very one sided. Boston's 9-2 (both losses to Magic) in the finals against the Lakers. Personally I liked the Pistons vs Bulls from the late 80s, and Bulls vs Knicks from the early 90s more.

[Lewis]

And Barca-Real is not worldwide, right? Football is waaaay more popular sport than baseball in the world generally (number 1 to be precise ), Barca and Real has millions of fans not only in Latin America, Carribean, Japan or Taiwan, but also in rest of Asia, America, Africa, not even talking about Europe... there's no need even to compare it

lol where did you come from? I wasn't eve talking to you

anyway, when did I say soccer was not worldwide exactly? seriously did I even say that, so stop putting word in my mouth, if you don't have an argument don't say anything please.

I guess Dtown summed it up pretty well, it all depends on how you measure a rivalry. Though I don't thing a rivalry should be measure by the number of fans or how big the sport is but by how much each team (and their fans) hate each other and for how much the want an excuse to start beating the hell out of each other.

these is what defines a rivalry for me not the number of fans (what the hell those fan # has to do with this anyway)


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[Dtown]

soccer is just short for association football, we just stole the term from the brits is all. Yet the rest of the world can't seem to get over it.

[Dtown]

No, actually you decided that you were gonna call a sport played with hands "football" and rename the original thing with "borrowed soccer".

No, Actually American Football developed when from the sport that was Football before the rules fully became established. It mutated into it's own game (much the same way Australian rules football developed) and by the time Football in it's more modern came to these shores no one felt like renaming the more popular sport.

Really that's all too much detail your standard snark, but eh it's a slow day.

[Mindozas]

lol where did you come from? I wasn't eve talking to you

You probably forgot that you're talking in public forum

anyway, when did I say soccer was not worldwide exactly? seriously did I even say that, so stop putting word in my mouth, if you don't have an argument don't say anything please.

So why did you start to mention all those facts about how Red Socks-Yankees rivalry is popular in some parts of the world (worldwide, right), when Real-Barca rivalry was mentioned? Accidently?

I guess Dtown summed it up pretty well, it all depends on how you measure a rivalry. Though I don't thing a rivalry should be measure by the number of fans or how big the sport is but by how much each team (and their fans) hate each other and for how much the want an excuse to start beating the hell out of each other.

these is what defines a rivalry for me not the number of fans (what the hell those fan # has to do with this anyway)


[/YOUTUBE]brYQ9WVqCeY&feature=related[/YOUTUBE]

Again, it is you who started about number of fans... However, these words of yours about hate, only confirms the difference between those two rivalries. Barca-Real is far ahead. It's not only sport, it's history, politics and etc. Those video you posted it's like candies compared to that what happens there or in some other european rivalries (PAO-Oly f.e.)

[Dtown]

Aside from differences in stadium conduct, I think a big reason why european rivalries are more intense is a lack of parity. Look at Real Madrid and Barca in Soccer (), 16 of the 20 championships in the last 20 years between two teams. Of course it's going to be intense.

Using SPL again for Rangers/Celtic it's 20 for 20.

The NBA has the least parity of any league in the U.S. and even it has had 7 different teams win the title over the last 20 years. It's why regional rivalries in the states are so much easier to maintain, Red Sox/Yankees compared to say Red Wings/Avalanche. In one familiarity breeds contempt, in the other the hatred could only last while both teams were competing for the title.

[Dtown]

I honestly read this post three times, still can't make any sense of it.

In any case, sport played with hands = football? Doesn't sound right. Nor does calling a sport played with feet = soccer.

The Izmir football derby (both Turkish lower divisions clubs) gathers 80K fans.

*sigh* One last time.

Back in 1800s the rules for Football weren't well established, using your hands wasn't illegal. That's the game that evolved into American football. Association Football came after and it evolved to the game we know today.

The name came first, then the rule changes that made it more about holding and throwing came later. Since no one really gave a shit about association football, no one felt like dealing with two sports with the same name. And who bothers to accommodate a sport that no one was playing?

[Dtown]

In European there is usually a political/social/religious factor behind rivalries. Something rare in the States.

This is true to. You'll sometimes see this in college sports most noticeably Duke/NC (rich affluent private school vs the state public), and the religious aspect used to be a reason to support/hate Notre Dame (though this has died out). But it's never seen as often or to the extent as in Europe.