Not everyone is as fortunate as the Yankees. Their chief rival right now is the Boston Red Sox. It was that way 25 years ago, 50 years ago, 75 years ago. It will be that way 25, 50, 75 years from now.
It was that way in 2003 and 2004, when the teams were so closely matched, it was impossible to tell them apart. It is that way now, even if last year’s version of the Red Sox looked like they should be playing their home games in Pawtucket, R.I.
It isn’t that way for everyone. In fact, for most of the teams who occupy our sporting city, the notion of “rivalry” is ever-shifting: Who do you hate most RIGHT NOW? The Jets are obsessed with the Patriots now, but that wasn’t always so: The Dolphins used to be the big rivalry. The Mets? In the ’80s, the Cardinals were the enemy, and later on it was the Braves, and then the Phillies.
We got a little sense of what could be the next great rivalry in our town last week, when the Knicks played the Nets at Barclays Center and the crowd was about an even split and so was the game, an imperfect thriller that needed five extra minutes of overtime before it could be settled. The old Knicks, of course, had vicious — though fleeting — rivalries with the Bulls, Pacers and Heat. And the championship Knicks used to have quite an Ali-Frazier thing going with the Celtics.
The Giants? One of the splendid side-effects of the NFL’s most recent divisional realignment was the shipping of the Arizona Cardinals out of the East, a geographic oxymoron that should have happened sooner than it did. But beyond that, the remaining teams in the NFC East was a perfect quadrant of hate, resentment, anger and historical loathing: Giants, Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins. New York, Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington.
And here’s the thing:
If you ask three fans each of the Giants, Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins who their most hated rival is, it’s entirely possible you’re going to get three different answers. And that applies for every team, for every way you wish to arrange them. An Eagles fans will cite chapter and verse how much they hate the Giants on a Monday … and by Thursday they will say the same vile things about the Redskins. Unless it’s Cowboys week, in which case they’ll talk about Dallas as if it were the Death Star.
It’s part of the beauty of the NFC East, and part of the intrigue. That’s especially true of tomorrow’s Giants-Redskins game. The Cowboys have already been dispatched — and, in all likelihood, left behind. There is no reason to waste any spite on the Eagles carcass, not this year. So the Redskins fulfill all three criteria for filling the role as the Giants’ arch-enemy of the moment.
1. They are, almost certainly, the last team standing in the way of the Giants winning a second straight NFC East title, earning either a first-round home game or a bye.
2. They have RG3, who proved in October he is every bit the worthwhile rival to Eli Manning’s present position as the division’s best quarterback.
3. There is plenty of bad blood here, and tons of festering history. The last two times the Giants won the Super Bowl, after all, the ’Skins were a significant foil. In 2007, it was a desperate second-half comeback — and heroic goal-line stand — that turned the whole season around in Landover in Week 3. Last year, Washington stunned the Giants in Week 15, dropping them to 7-7 … and the Giants never lost again.
So, yes: A rivalry game awaits tonight, the fiercest one in the Giants universe …
For now, anyway.
Vac’s Whacks
The offensive line coach for the Jets, an enchanting gent named Dave DeGuglielmo, may have all the charm of crabgrass on a putting green. But if he is saying someone north of Rex Ryan is telling him which players he needs to play, that is just one more example of a team redefining “dysfunction” as it goes along, and bully for him for saying so.
* From the looks of things, there might be some history in the offing on HBO tonight, on the “Boardwalk Empire” season finale. For the first time in recorded history, a whole lot of people might actually find themselves rooting for Al Capone.
* It is impossible not to love the way Brook Lopez plays, especially the way he’s playing this year. But it does make you wonder about a guy who makes you hold your breath every time he leaves his feet, doesn’t it?
* You would love Eddie Burns’ terrific new movie, “The Fitzgerald Family Christmas,” anyway, because it’s Burns at his best: funny, biting, poignant, relentlessly Irish. But toss in the fact that he brings back Connie Britton — who was Molly McMullen long before she was Tami Taylor, Vivien Harmon or Rayna Jaymes — and you have quite a grand slam there.
Whack Back at Vac
John Romanelli: So, James Bond is back and better than ever, and Notre Dame is No. 1 in the polls. What comeback should we expect next? Dan Quayle? Meat Loaf?
Vac:I know I, for one, have been waiting with bated breath for the “Alf” reunion show.
@TL504: Gregg Popovich has won four titles and is going to the Hall of Fame. He knows what’s best for his team. He’s looking at the big picture.
@MikeVacc: Few things have conflicted me more than that Spurs-Heat game, but I think this is where I sit: A coach can play or sit anyone he wants, for whatever reason he wants. But flying them home before the game was arrogant and wrong.
Keith Aronson: Your column Friday morning really captured the pain of Rutgers losing that game to Louisville. Like being cut by dull knives.
Vac: Here’s a question for you: Does a tough loss by your alma mater hurt worse than any other? I still detest Tayshaun Prince for a shot he hit late in an NCAA Tournament game against St. Bonaventure. That was only 12 years ago.
Richard Siegelman: If the NHL Islanders are (theoretically) valued at $155 million, imagine how much they’d be worth if they were in a real league and played actual games in front of actual paying fans.
Vac: Just typing the letters “NHL” makes me very sad these days.