Rivalry Shmivalry

Yeah we've got Duke and Carolina, the Yankees and Red Sox, and some other strong rivalries here in the U.S., but we've got nothing on soccer.

Soccer rivalries are not determined out of simply geography, like ours are, at the club level they form based on religion, politics and social class. For instance- in Scotland, the two best teams are Celtic and Rangers, and they both hail from Glasgow, and if you're from Scotland you like one or the other. Your choice isn't determined by a certain player, or because of style of play, it's determined by your faith. Celtic is a Catholic supported club and Rangers is Protestant. Let the sectarian fun begin. In Italy, Lazio, from Rome, are a right-wing political supported club with ties to fascism, while Livorno is left-wing with deep roots in communism. In Argentina, Boca Juniors is the club of the common man and the downtrodden, while River Plate is represented by a fan base of the nation's financial elite, this is do to an epidemic from about 100 years ago that broke out in the urban center of Buenos Aires. Along with the cities wealthy, River decided to pack-up and move to the suburbs, leaving there poorer urban fans behind. Boca remained and, along with the poor people, fought through the hardships. The animosity between the two clubs, and their supporters runs deep, to this day. Boca fans call River fans Gallinas, basically translates to Chickens, and River fans call Boca fans Bosteros, which basically translates to Shit Handlers.

But as intense as the club rivalries are, it gets even crazier when national teams start to tangle. In many parts of the world, a nation's soccer team is their biggest source of pride, and success on the pitch can ease domestic problems and rectify past international failures. This includes the losing of wars. Tomorrow afternoon the Euro 2008 Tournament kicks off but the match We can't wait to watch is Sunday with Germany and Poland squaring off. It's gonna be nuts!!! Thanks to those World War things, the majority of Europe still holds quite a grudge against Deutschland, none more so than the Poles. Germany did some pretty terrible things in Poland and the Poles have not forgotten. The picture below is from a Polish magazine, the gray-haired gentleman is the Poland coach, in his right hand is the severed head of Germany's captain, and in his left is their coach...yikes!