Best Chicago rivalries (Ohio, Cleveland: vs., schedule, charge)

[Drover]

Oooh, forgot about the St. Louis Spews for a Blackhawks rivalry.

[Orangeish]

Well the Sox/Cubs games consisently result in more arrests than Cubs/Cards games.

More violence = better rivalry LDO

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by Chi-town Native

Cubs-Brewers is turning into the best rivalry around, the cities are close enough that you really get fans traveling to the other park to see a game, which is what you need.

now, if we could just get the beer slide back at Brewers' games, what a tragic casualty of political correctness gone awry - what do people think the "brew" is referring to?

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, CHI!!! I'm not going to argue about the tradition of the Cub-Card rivalry, but if you look at the geography of it all more than anything else you have a battleground of downstate IL divided between Cubs and Cards.

If you look at in terms of being Chicago vs. St. Louis, it doesn't match the geography of Chicago vs. Milwaukee. In Cubs vs. Cards, the people from each metro area must make a conscious trip to the other city. For Cubs vs. Brewers is about staying home and going to the ball game that may be either Wrigley or Miller. It's local. And it will be among the best rivalries.

BTW, I'll go out on a limb on this one and say that no MLB has three such strong rivalries as the Cubs in the Sox, Cards, and Brewers. For the Yankees, I don't see any truly major rivalries other than the two: Mets and Red Sox. Perhaps the only competition for the Cubs in this area would be the Dodgers with the Giants, Angels, and Padres. Giants-Dodgers, of course, is huge. Angels-Dodgers doesn't compare to Cubs-Sox and I'm not sure how strong Dodgers-Padres would be.

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by UICJohn

Cubs
1. St. Louis Cardinals - it's one of the oldest and best rivalries in baseball
2. Milwaukee Brewers - after Milwaukee is finally showing some life in the recent years, this rivalry has grown; very cocky though for a team that has been looking up at us for a while
3. Chicago White Sox - I don't dislike the White Sox but I also don't give them any real thought. I only put them here because it's the "city" thing.

Bears
1. Green Bay Packers - again, one of the oldest and best rivalries in football
2. Minnesota Vikings - I think the rivalry is growing with the Vikings while it may be going down a little with the Packers (I know the Vikings and Packers have a big one already)
3. Arizona Cardinals - I say this one as a personal thing. I don't like them and I don't really like any Arizona teams. They are as bandwagon as they come. I know a lot of people in Arizona and some "loved" them last year but thankfully most are still Bears fans!

Blackhawks
1. Detroit Red Wings - fairly obvious
2. St. Louis Blues - a division rivalry that is getting better as both teams do the same
3. Vancouver Canucks - had heat with them in the season (I hope everyone remembers the bloody Sunday game) and the playoffs added some.

UIC
1. UWM Panthers - died down with Bruce Pearl leaving for Tennessee, but ESPN listed this as one of the Best 5 NCAA basketball rivalries a few years back
2. Loyola Ramblers - always going to have a rivalry when you have two city teams playing each other twice a year. However, both have been pretty bad which doesn't help and it's been pretty one-sided too.
3. DePaul Blue Demons - UIC wouldn't mind playing them every year but doesn't always happen that way. Beat them last year, lost to them this year, hopefully it can continue.

John, do you see Illinois as a major UIC rival due to the whole big brother/little brother routine? And do play every so often in b'ball. I'm a UIC grad myself, BTW.

[snoylekim]

Gosh, are all the Cubs fans thirtysomethings and under ?? Where are THE METS ??? In the '80s , the Cubs Mets series had all the vitriol and contempt for the visiting team that today's Cub/ Sox fest ( although far fewer out of town fans at each) ... Shows how divisional reorgs and such things change the picture; 2 out of the three teams on the current rivalry list wouldn't have been on the schedule back in the bad old days .. There's nothing like the sound of 39,000 people chanting NEW YORK SUCKS at Wrigley on a Friday afternoon right before Mr. Sandberg breaks the tie in the 8th with a triple ..

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by snoylekim

Gosh, are all the Cubs fans thirtysomethings and under ?? Where are THE METS ??? In the '80s , the Cubs Mets series had all the vitriol and contempt for the visiting team that today's Cub/ Sox fest ( although far fewer out of town fans at each) ... Shows how divisional reorgs and such things change the picture; 2 out of the three teams on the current rivalry list wouldn't have been on the schedule back in the bad old days .. There's nothing like the sound of 39,000 people chanting NEW YORK SUCKS at Wrigley on a Friday afternoon right before Mr. Sandberg breaks the tie in the 8th with a triple ..

Though I AM a twentysomething, I am aware of this history... but would you really put the Mets above the ChiSox, Brewers, and Cards?

[MassVt]

..but I'll throw a few in, just for fun:

Boston Bruins vs. Canadians, Rangers, Flyers

Dallas Cowboys vs. Redskins, Giants, Eagles

NY Rangers vs. Flyers, Devils, Islanders

NE Patriots vs. Jets, Dolphins, Colts (last one is new)...

[skipcromer]

Originally Posted by edsg25

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, CHI!!! I'm not going to argue about the tradition of the Cub-Card rivalry, but if you look at the geography of it all more than anything else you have a battleground of downstate IL divided between Cubs and Cards.

If you look at in terms of being Chicago vs. St. Louis, it doesn't match the geography of Chicago vs. Milwaukee. In Cubs vs. Cards, the people from each metro area must make a conscious trip to the other city. For Cubs vs. Brewers is about staying home and going to the ball game that may be either Wrigley or Miller. It's local. And it will be among the best rivalries.

BTW, I'll go out on a limb on this one and say that no MLB has three such strong rivalries as the Cubs in the Sox, Cards, and Brewers. For the Yankees, I don't see any truly major rivalries other than the two: Mets and Red Sox. Perhaps the only competition for the Cubs in this area would be the Dodgers with the Giants, Angels, and Padres. Giants-Dodgers, of course, is huge. Angels-Dodgers doesn't compare to Cubs-Sox and I'm not sure how strong Dodgers-Padres would be.

Your right, it does have the makings of a great rivalry. Unfortunately, its not there yet. The Brewers have only been relevant for the past two seasons. Lets see if they can keep it up...

[UICJohn]

Originally Posted by edsg25

John, do you see Illinois as a major UIC rival due to the whole big brother/little brother routine? And do play every so often in b'ball. I'm a UIC grad myself, BTW.

You know, I would like to see that actually. It would be a good little rivalry except for two things. Right now, and I'm not sure how much longer this deal runs, they only play every three years. Being that UIUC is the larger school in the bigger conference, they kind of determine more things. Example in point - even when UIC had a home game a few years ago, it had to be at the United Center. UIC had some pretty good teams a few years ago (not so much in the last two) that could have given UIUC some runs but never worked out. If they played more often, perhaps, but every three years, can't really say it's a rivalry.

[snoylekim]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

Though I AM a twentysomething, I am aware of this history... but would you really put the Mets above the ChiSox, Brewers, and Cards?

Not anymore... The 70s and 80s Mets also had some truly hateable characters (Kingman until we got him, Strawberry, Hernandez, Gooden ) that embellished the rivalry a bit .. There are still those of us that seeth a bit when they're in town, but, hell, they might as well be the Braves these days ... The Cardinals were closely comtemptible back then, because of the influx of visiting fans. But there was always a smug air of 'country bumpkins up to see the cards' . This was similiar to the attitude when the Reds horde invaded town once or twice a year.. As I recall, the Brewers and The White Sox had a little geographical rivalry going back then as well.