What Makes a Rivalry?

In DC this week,  it's Dallas week as the Redskins and Cowboys play at JerryWorld next Monday night.  Our posts this week will focus on the history of the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry, starting today with a look at what makes a rivalry in the first place. 

Over the years, when "experts" are asked what they thought the best rivalry in football was, hands down 99 out of 100 times, they would say the Redskins and Cowboys.  These two NFC East teams have had over 50 years of hatred, disdain for one another, and pure animosity.  The rivalry itself was started due to former Redskins' owner George Preston Marshall refusing to allow another NFL team to come into existence south of the Mason Dixon Line.  He felt he had a monopoly of fan support in the South and didn't want that monopoly challenged.  It was also fueled by the Redskins being the last team to integrate African Americans onto their roster (the Cowboy Chicken Club game).  There are several more episodes that lend credence to the fact that the Skins and the Boys are one of the best in the sport of football, and perhaps even the best in sports, but nowadays if you ask somebody what the best rivalry in sports is, Redskins-Cowboys usually doesn't appear on the radar (I smell a Top 10 list!). 

Before we examine Redskins-Cowboys itself, we should take a look at the criteria for what makes a good rivalry.  Elements of a good rivalry include:

1) Proximity
2) Familiarity
3) Animosity
4) Balance

Obviously, you don't need to have all 4 elements there to have a good rivalry (Redskins-Cowboys are not exactly next door neighbors), and you can have certain elements of a rivalry and not have any rivalry at all (Redskins and Ravens are close, but nobody would say that there is any sort of solid rivalry there since we don't play each other nearly enough to develop anything).  Let's take a look at each of the elements one by one.

Proximity

Certainly it makes it easier for fans to attend away games if the road site is not too far from your own home site.  This allows fans an easier opportunity to intermingle with one another (which may or may not be a good thing...).  Good healthy rivalries need fans to get in each other's faces, and if they live within just a few miles of one another, it makes that task a lot easier.  Nowadays with transportation the way it is, and especially thanks to chat rooms, message boards, and blogs, it is already easier for fans to get at it with one another without leaving the comfort of their own sofa.  Therefore, of the 4 elements I listed above, proximity is probably the LEAST important.  Nevertheless, I love going to road games.  I have never been to any Redskins roadies, but I have seen Maryland football (3 times), Maryland basketball (once), and even the Orioles play on the road in Boston.  There is just something about being "that guy" in the cheap seats heckling the home fans and the home team that gets you excited.  If you win, you feel great.  If you lose...well, get ready to face the music.  Teams that play close to one another makes the road trip that less stressful, and a lot easier to complete if you're getting out of town in a hurry after a loss. 

Familiarity

One of the biggest knocks that Skins fans send toward Cowboys fans is "have you ever BEEN to Dallas?"  Most often the answer is "no."  When asked why they became a Cowboys fan, they'll give some stupid answer like they are America's team or simply because they hate the Redskins (with no good reason as to why they do).  When asked about their own team, they don't give intelligent responses, such as "who is your starting quarterback?"  They say, "Uhhhhhhhhh...Troy Aikman," as they are wearing a Tony Romo #9 jersey.  Cowboys fans in the DC area are an odd bunch to say the least.  On the other hand, you have me and intelligent Skins fans like Dustin (aka the Reporter), who can probably give you a more thorough and comprehensive history of the Dallas Cowboys franchise than any average Cowboys fan scalping a ticket to FedExField.  I call it knowing thy enemy.  Even Josh, Eagles fan that he is, is smart enough to understand the history of every team in the division (especially the fact that the Eagles have never won the Super Bowl).  That's familiarity.  You can't really dislike a team unless you know why you dislike them.  AK constantly reminds us that the New England Patriots are dirty cheaters, a more modern phenomenon, but I bet you he could go on all day about how the 85 Patriots even got to the Super Bowl (Tony Eason who?).  The bottom line is that a healthy rivalry involves two teams who not only dislike each other, but also understand why they dislike each other. 

Animosity

This one is easy to understand.  You can't be rivals with someone if you're always buddy-buddy with them.  Sure, you can have personal friendships with guys on the other side (as it is well known to readers of this blog that I certainly do), but when it comes to the team, not a chance.  On game day, for 3 hours, we are sworn enemies.  After the game, we can all hold hands and sing Kumbaya, but when they're between the hashmarks, we're in each other's faces.  Now, I will be the first to tell you that I do NOT condone violence of ANY kind when it comes to fan behavior, and it absolutely sickens me to know that there are some idiots out there that take sporting events far too seriously than I or my friends ever could.  I think of the incident in Los Angeles earlier this year when those Dodgers fans assaulted a San Francisco Giants fan and left him in a coma.  Then I think of all of the rioting in Europe over stupid soccer matches.  Then I think of my own alma mater and freshmen coming to school there solely because of a reputation for rioting...and they don't even know what it's for!  Shameful.  There is nothing wrong with healthy animosity toward teams that makes watching games more exciting, but that is no excuse to break the law or be so unruly that it takes away from the enjoyment of other fans. 

Balance

The final element to a good rivalry is balance.  It's hard to be bitter rivals with somebody if they are always beating you, or you are always beating them.  Notre Dame and Navy are supposed to have a "rivalry."  Yet, for over 40 years, Navy never won.  Now, in fairness, Navy has won a couple in the last few years to make it somewhat interesting, and Notre Dame isn't exactly the cream of the crop anymore when it comes to football, but for over 4 decades since Roger Staubach, the Middies and the Irish played...and Old Notre Dame always emerged victorious.  There has to be just as much of a chance of my team winning as there is of your team winning.  That's what makes games exciting!  If I start watching a game with a preconceived notion that my team is going to get blown to bits by the rival, and that's exactly what happens, it's not a rivalry, it's a butt-whoopin'.  From 1998 to 2005, the Redskins beat the Cowboys a grand total of one time.  You can't sustain a historic rivalry if it is that one-sided.  Now, you can have periods when one team beats the other one for a while, and if you're a fan of the winner, it's fun to kick around the competition, but eventually you start to wonder when the games will get good again.  If you go down to Dallas, true Dallas fans don't really view us as their true "rival" anymore.  They would say they have more of a rivalry with Philly or the Giants for that very reason, because for all those year, even when BOTH teams were lousy, the Cowboys would always find a way to beat the Redskins.  It has definitely evened out in the last 5 years, but until the Redskins get back on some kind of a winning streak against the Cowboys (ideally if both teams are in serious contention for the division title), those in Dallas may never view the Redskins as a true rival anymore. 

OK, so there's a look at what it takes to have a great rivalry.  I'll be back with some more on the Redskins and Cowboys in particular, and I think I just may do that top 10 list on the best rivalries of all time.  I'm sure that will make some hay with of the locals.  I'm also starting my next positional top 10 on linebackers.  So much to blog about.......