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Dallas. That's the ONLY answer. There's no "probably" about it. All of the other sports teams in the DC area are the amateur hour compared to the Redskins. The Skins receive 18,000 times more media attention than all of the other teams combined. And Skins fans get up for Dallas games even when both teams are terrible (which has been often).
The Caps, Wizards and Nats don't have any real rivals per se. Their "rivals" are basically any teams that give them trouble for the moment. A competitor and a rival are not the same thing.
Do the people in Dallas think of the Redskins as their main rival? Everyone hates Dallas, and I imagine their are 3 or 4 teams that might name them as their main rival.
I always thought of the NFC east as a sort of four way rivalry. All the teams hate each other intensely. It's actually unique to professional sports in my opinion, to have an intense rivalry among an entire division. Trying to break away one portion of it is silly.
Do the people in Dallas think of the Redskins as their main rival?
Yes. There's a lot of history and bad blood between these franchises. You have to remember that the Redskins almost moved to Dallas. And then the Redskins infamous owner, George Preston Marshall, opposed the Cowboys becoming an expansion team. That created enough bad blood to fuel a rivalry for the ages.
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Originally Posted by Niceguy17
Everyone hates Dallas, and I imagine their are 3 or 4 teams that might name them as their main rival.
True. A lot of people hate Dallas. Their current owner, Jerry Jones, has made it even easier to hate Dallas. The thing about Dallas is that there aren't too many football fans that don't have a strong opinion about that franchise. You either love them or loathe them. The Cowboys are to the NFL what Marion Barry is to DC politics.
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Originally Posted by Niceguy17
I always thought of the NFC east as a sort of four way rivalry. All the teams hate each other intensely. It's actually unique to professional sports in my opinion, to have an intense rivalry among an entire division. Trying to break away one portion of it is silly.
You are clearly not a pro football fan. What's silly is saying that all intra-division rivalries are created equal. And what's even sillier is to say that the NFC East is unique in that all four teams are "rivals." In the AFC West, the Raiders, Broncos, Chargers and Chiefs hate each other. In the AFC North, the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals and Browns all hate each other. In the NFC North, the Bears, Packers, Vikings and Lions all hate each other. I mean, do you not remember when Brett Favre was traded to the Vikings? Packers Nation went crazy!
There are some rivalries, however, that are on a completely different plane. And the Cowboys/Redskins is one of those rivalries. It's the same way Duke has had rivlaries with Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest within the ACC, but yet has a special hatred for the Tar Heels, and vice versa. Nobody gets up for a Duke-Maryland game the way they get up for a Duke-UNC game. People want to see Duke-UNC even when neither team is that good. The same thing is true for the Packers/Bears rivalry in the NFC North.
In American sports, there are only a handful of rivalries bigger and more storied than Cowboys/Redskins. Yankees-Red Sox might be one of them. Packers-Bears possibly. Duke-North Carolina. Michigan-Ohio State in college football. Those are really the only rivalries I'd put ahead of the Boys and the Skins and I'm not even sure about those.
You are clearly not a pro football fan. What's silly is saying that all intra-division rivalries are created equal. And what's even sillier is to say that the NFC East is unique in that all four teams are "rivals." In the AFC West, the Raiders, Broncos, Chargers and Chiefs hate each other. In the AFC North, the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals and Browns all hate each other. In the NFC North, the Bears, Packers, Vikings and Lions all hate each other. I mean, do you not remember when Brett Favre was traded to the Vikings? Packers Nation went crazy!
There are some rivalries, however, that are on a completely different plane. And the Cowboys/Redskins is one of those rivalries. It's the same way Duke has had rivlaries with Maryland, Virginia and Wake Forest within the ACC, but yet has a special hatred for the Tar Heels, and vice versa. Nobody gets up for a Duke-Maryland game the way they get up for a Duke-UNC game. People want to see Duke-UNC even when neither team is that good. The same thing is true for the Packers/Bears rivalry in the NFC North.
In American sports, there are only a handful of rivalries bigger and more storied than Cowboys/Redskins. Yankees-Red Sox might be one of them. Packers-Bears possibly. Duke-North Carolina. Michigan-Ohio State in college football. Those are really the only rivalries I'd put ahead of the Boys and the Skins and I'm not even sure about those.
I'm definitely a pro football fan. All I know is that as someone not in the DC area yet, I don't see it that way. All I know is that every time one of the NFC teams plays it's the game of the week or in prime time. And do you seriously not think their is bad blood between the Eagles and Cowboys and the Giants and Cowboys? Or giants and Redakins? Who do you think those teams see as their rivals. All four of these teams, when they play each other it's a major event. Vikings-Lions? Chargers-Chiefs? Not so much. Especially when one of them is bad.
And no pro sports rivalry comes close to Duke-UNC or Ohio State-Michigan.
Packers-Bears is the big rivalry in the NFC north, Steelers-Ravens in the AFC north. Just look at how those games are hyped nationally. It's the same for all the NFC east teams.
I'm definitely a pro football fan. All I know is that as someone not in the DC area yet, I don't see it that way. All I know is that every time one of the NFC teams plays it's the game of the week or in prime time. And do you seriously not think their is bad blood between the Eagles and Cowboys and the Giants and Cowboys? Or giants and Redakins? Who do you think those teams see as their rivals. All four of these teams, when they play each other it's a major event. Vikings-Lions? Chargers-Chiefs? Not so much. Especially when one of them is bad.
And no pro sports rivalry comes close to Duke-UNC or Ohio State-Michigan.
Packers-Bears is the big rivalry in the NFC north, Steelers-Ravens in the AFC north. Just look at how those games are hyped nationally. It's the same for all the NFC east teams.
Just ask someone in Philly or NYC.
First of all, I'm originally from Philadelphia. Our biggest rival is the Giants. In hockey, our biggest rival is the Rangers. In baseball, it's the Mets. The Sixers don't have a "rival" per se. There aren't too many basketball rivalries.
Again, you seem to not understand that not all rivalries are equal. When the Bears and Vikings play, it's usually on Sunday Night Football. Division games are ALWAYS a big deal because a game here or there in your division is the difference between going to the playoffs or eating leftovers on your couch after January 1. Even though division games are a big deal for every team, some division games take precedence over others even if there's absolutely nothing on the line. So when the Bears and Packers play, the intensity rises to a whole new level. It is the game that Bears and Packers fans wait for all off season.
And no, I don't think Ohio State-Michigan is the biggest rivalry in American sports. You might think that because you live in the Midwest or something. It is a big rivalry, but it's tough to say which sports rivalry is the "biggest."
And yes, Chargers-Chiefs is always a big deal. Chiefs-Broncos is always a big deal. They are just as big a deal as Giants-Redskins, which is not really that big of a deal. You always hate all of the teams within your division, but some rivalries have a special fervor.
Hogs Haven and the official Redskins Washington Post blog make it pretty clear who the Skins' biggest rival is. And so did Brian Mitchell, Gary Clark, Jack Kent Cooke, Art Monk, the Dancing Bear, Joe Gibbs, Darrell Green, etc.
I'm definitely a pro football fan. All I know is that as someone not in the DC area yet, I don't see it that way. All I know is that every time one of the NFC teams plays it's the game of the week or in prime time. And do you seriously not think their is bad blood between the Eagles and Cowboys and the Giants and Cowboys? Or giants and Redakins? Who do you think those teams see as their rivals.
By this logic, Duke's rivarly with Maryland is just as intense as its rivalry with North Carolina.
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The basketball series has been called one of the most intense intercollegiate rivalries of modern times by some. A Harris Interactive poll of Marylanders ranked it the third best in the state behind the Redskins–Cowboys and Ravens–Redskins rivalries/
I never said that UM-OSU was the biggest rivalry. UNC-Duke is.
But as to the original question as to who is the Redskins biggest rival, I give up. It's clear Redskins fans think of it as the Cowboys.
I wonder what the Dallas Boards say...
I grew up an Eagles fan and have followed them since the days when Jaws was throwing to Mike Quick. If you asked me this question about the Eagles it would be hard to answer. I truly couldn't say COwboys or Giants and would put the Skins very close.
I think some of the Dallas fans agree.
To use the other examples quoted. No one at Duke or UNC questions who the main rival is. Maryland Might think Duke is their biggest rival and NC State may think UNC is their biggest rival, but anyone who follows basketball knows better.
All I'm saying is that I follow football and it's not as clear cut to me as other on this forum make it seem, and that's OK. Its why I like the NFC East.
The Redskins are the Cowboys all-time rival. The ultimate proof that the Redskins are our #1 all- time rivals. We had to snake the copyrights to “Hail to the Redskins” just to get the Cowboys. We were born to rival the Redskins from day one.
Nuff said.
The Cowboys-Redskins rivalry has to be placed in context. Prior to 1959, the Redskins had a monopoly on the pro football market in the South. The Falcons and the Dophins weren't around until 1966. The Saints came in '67. The Buccaneers came in 1976 (Steve Spurrier led them to a winless season). When the Cowboys joined, they competed directly against the Redskins (the Oilers joined the AFL in 1959), and took a significant chunk of the Redskins' fanbase. To this day, a whole lot of Cowboys nation is located right in the Redskins' backyard.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 02-18-2014 at 10:15 AM..
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