30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, March 3, 2012

A long day ends with a smile on my face...

This morning, I crawled out of bed at 4:55am, in order to set up at the De Anza Flea Market with my buddy. In short... it was a beautiful day in which I happily met my monetary quota... while slowly roasting my face. I didn't realize I was burnt, until it was too late. And by then... I was too tired to care.

So after taking my buddy out to a late lunch/early dinner... I came home and crashed for a good two to three hours. I just woke up about thirty minutes ago... and experienced a sense of frustration and joy... almost simultaneously.

The first thing I did was head over to ESPN.com to check on the Sharks score (they're losing 3 to 1... after 2 periods)... when I realized I missed the UNC vs. Duke game. This really bummed me out... because there are little rivalries that compare to these two teams in my book.

Anyways... I immediately saw that the Tar Heels won and was instantly relieved of my disappointment.

Just in case you're wondering why I'd be pulling for UNC... it's not because I attended this school. It's actually something a little more twisted. You see... I've always disliked teams with a history for winning. Sort of an anti-front runner. And although UNC has had their own history of winning... Duke has won more Men's NCAA Basketball Championships than anyone else since the early 90's. Which is why, I'll always root against them.

Plus... UNC has such a cool history of NBA players I've enjoyed watching: Worthy, Jordan, Perkins, Wallace, Jamison, Carter... and hopefully in a year or so... Harrison Barnes:


Barnes is the leading scorer for the Tar Heels this season... and this is one of his first trading cards. It's from the November 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids and was part of this 9 card sheet:


According to what I've read online... if Barnes enters the 2012 NBA Draft, he'll most likely be a top 10 pick. Congratulations UNC fans! Best of luck to you guys in the tournament.

Okay, now it's your turn to write...

What's your favorite rivalry in sports?

Happy Saturday everyone. Sayonara!

4 comments:

Martyn said...

There's so many, I will just point out that I never pick a rivalry between religions, so there goes the old firm.

BLACKBURN ROVERS - Burnley (English soccer's oldest rivalry)
BOSTON RED SOX - NY Yankees

Offy said...

Living in Boston, so many people are obsessed with the Sox/Yanks rivalry that the real rivalry here often gets over looked and that's Celtics/Lakers. What put's the Green/Gold rivalry over the top is that these two teams can and have frequently met for the NBA Championship. Divisional rivalries are cool, but they can only carry so much weight especially when teams play each other 19 times a season.

Don't get me wrong, the 2004 ALCS was awesome especially after the horrific 2003 ALCS, but it made the 2004 World Series sweep feel extremely anticlimactic. Also, there were historically few seasons where the Sox and Yankees finished 1-2 in the AL East. Yes, there's Bucky Fucking Dent and just these events are more than most rivalries have, but it's not enough for me in a city that has seen Bird/Magic and Pierce/Kobe. Heck, there was a time when Celtics/Pistons overshadowed this rivalry. Those two teams hated each other and there were physical fights often. It was a lot more than a glove in a face or a pitcher tossing a portly coach to the ground.

I know I'm in the minority, but holy crap am I tired of Sox/Yankees. Chanting "Beat LA" is cool. Chanting "Yankees Suck" when they've got 28 championships makes you look like a fool.

'30-Year Old Cardboard said...

It has not been a relevant rivalry for more than ten years now, but the Heat/Knicks rivalry during the late 1990s was fantastic for a couple of years...

Captain Canuck said...

have to be either Canadiens vs Leafs or Cowboys vs Redskins.