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New York's Best
Rivalry
(NEW YORK, NY)
-- In baseball -- my other sport -- one of the biggest
complaints about Interleague games is that the intrigue
isn't there, with a few exceptions.
And really, those nay-sayers are pretty much correct.
After all, how much attention does a Pirates--Twins
series in June really bring? Even the people of
Pittsburgh and Minnesota don't really want to see that. |
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Yet, every year for the last 11 seasons, series Phillies
playing the Rangers and the Devil Rays having three games
against the Rockies littered the schedule all because of six
games:
The three games the Yankees play at Shea Stadium and the three
games the Mets have in the Bronx.
Oh sure the Cubs and White Sox draw some attention and yes,
it's nice to see Dodgers vs. Angels out west, but it's the
Subway Series that keeps the Interleague on the schedule.
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Maybe
it's because MLB sees the best New York rivalry every
single year unfold right its eyes, in when the Rangers
play the Islanders. No matter how bad or good the
Blueshirts and Isles are, every game is a war and
every single inch of ice is fought for.
"It's always good to play the Islanders," said Rangers
coach Tom Renney before his team lost on Wednesday at
Nassau Coliseum, 2-1. "It doesn't matter when it is. I
have said many times before we bring out the best and
worst in each other."
Renney has a point as the Islanders seem to play their
best hockey when they see the Rangers on the ice and
the Blueshirts also step it up a notch. |
In the pre-season, there was a goalie fight between Rick
DiPietro and Al Montoya, while last year all hell almost broke
lose when Chris Simon swung his stick and connected on Ryan
Hollweg, then in the next game a few weeks later, a Henrik
Lundqvist took some heat because he refused to get out of the
way of one of the Islander Ice Girls.
And who can forget the tremendous performance by DiPietro last
year, stopping a record 56 shots.
When there are the fans. Unlike Mets and Yankees, when these
two hockey teams meet, it's a pretty good bet a number of
fight will break out in the stands. Also, the general vigor on
the various message boards borders on brutal.
Ranger fans will chant negatively about Dennis Potvin, the
Hall of Fame defenseman, who retired in the late 1980s,
because of a hit on Ulf Nilsson that happened back in 1979.
And the Islander fans have a jingle they sing when the
Blueshirts play at the Coliseum.
Let's just say, none like that happened last Sunday when the
Jets played the Giants.
For Ranger fans, the Islanders are really the only rival they
care about. Sure the Devils are in the same market and the
Flyers aren't loved, but the hatred isn't as pronounced. Ask
any Devil fan and they will tell you they hate the Rangers
above all. Ask any Ranger fan and they will say the Islanders.
Plus, unlike the other New York rivalries in the other sports,
the Rangers and Islanders play in the same division, meaning
their games actually have an impact on the other teams’
success. Yes, the Knicks and Nets have the same, but there's
really no rivalry there.
That's what makes this special. Not since the Giants were in
the Polo Grounds and Dodgers played at 55 Sullivan Place, New
York has not seen a more bitter rivalry.
And no matter what Major League Baseball or the NFL tries to
do to have it happen in their sports, it will never be the
same as Rangers vs. Islanders.
Joe
McDonald covers the New York Rangers for TheFourthPeriod.com.
He is also the publisher of NYSportsDay.com and managing
editor of NY Sportscene Magazine.
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