Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. The Lakers with Magic Johnson and the Celtics with Larry Bird. Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Duke and North Carolina. Within the arena of Sport, there are always some people and/or teams that you don’t like more than others. Some teams that when you hear them, gets your blood boiling or makes you feel a certain type of negative feeling. Rivalries are a part of sport that came with the territory. The competitive nature of the industry creates enemies amongst opponents and sometimes it actually elevates all factors involved: revenue, attention, performance. One prime example although maybe not well know is the “Backyard Brawl”. A football game between Pittsburg University and the illustrious West Virginia University. A rivalry that was last played in the early 2000s is due for a comeback within the early 2020s and as a former WVU student, I proudly yell “LET’S GO MOUNTAINEERS”. “Mountaineers Chant!”

This game was a very looked forward to competition that was supposed to happen either in the 2019 or 2020 season but due to other complications will be pushed back to a possible 2023-2024 season. Having my bias toward my first collegiate environment, I hope the Mountaineers take down the Panthers in a long overdue Backyard Brawl. But as Rivalries go, there’s no telling who will win and with the passion and emotion not only coming from the players but also the fans, there may be actual fists being thrown in addition to touchdown passes. What’s your favorite all-time Rivalry?