New Rivalries!

Most Northeast Ohio sports fans will still - to this day - tell you that our main rivals are teams that actually don't matter much anymore.

There has been a shift in recent years and the new rivals need to be recognized.

CLEVELAND BROWNS:

With the Cleveland Browns, we typically associate the biggest rival to be the Pittsburgh Steelers.  That may hold true in the present day.  Also, the Baltimore Ravens come to mind.  This may also hold true today.  But the Denver Broncos rivalry can be thought about as a thing of the past.  The Drive took place 22 years ago.  The Fumble is 23 years old.  Let's move on already.  John Elway hasn't taken a snap in almost 10 years so there are no real ties to the heartbreak of the 80s anymore.  Let's move on from Denver, embrace the Pittsburgh and Baltimore rivalries, and shed some light on the Browns' newest rival: the Cincinnati Bengals.

Yes, the Bengals have always kinda-sorta been a mild rival of the Browns, but that is only because both teams play in the same division and both located within Ohio.

The reason why we must push the Bengals into the forefront of Cleveland Browns football rivalries is because the Bengals - even though they have stunk it up pretty bad - have pretty much owned us in recent years.

It has seemed like if we are not involved in a classic shootout with the Bengals, we lose.  We have even lost some of the shootouts.  Dating back five years to the 2004 season, we beat the Bengals at home but lost a high-scoring game later in the season by a score of 58-48.  In 2005 we dropped both games, 27-13 and 23-20.  In 2006 we lost both again, 34-17 the first time, then we were shut out 30-0 in the second game.  Last year we won that memorable shootout 51-45 and rolled through the season, until Week 16 when the Bengals pretty much crushed our playoff hopes with a 19-14 win.  That was a game we should have won easily, but the Browns apparently don't look forward to the Battle of Ohio matchup as much as the Bengals do.  They came to play, we didn't.  That lost dropped us to 9-6.  We finished 10-6, but should have been 11-5 and in the postseason.  This season we beat the Bengals 20-12 in Week 4, but that didn't matter at all because the Bengals shut us out for a second time in a four-year-span with a 14-0 win in Week 16.  Throughout the 2008 season the Browns were never really considered to be as lousy as the Bengals.  The Bengals we down another tier sitting aside the Lions and Rams in the basement dumps of the NFL.  The then after Week 17, a quick glance at the final regular season standings reflected that the Bengals had somehow finished 4-11-1, and the Browns were 4-12 and in last place, one-half game behind the lowly Bengals.

CLEVELAND INDIANS

The big rival for some reason has always been the New York Yankees.  Aren't the Yankees every team's rival in some way, perhaps because of their large payroll and lineup filled with All-Star caliber players and prospects?  We've had many a postseason battle with the Yankees and we've gotten the best of them more than they have gotten the best of us.

Since the "new" Indians came around with the new stadium, we have played the Yankees in the postseason 3 times and have won 2 of those series.

The real rivals here are the Chicago White Sox.  Although during this 13-year-window we have never played the White Sox in the postseason, they always seem to stink up our city whenever they visit.  This dates all the way back to when Albert Belle made his return to Jacobs Field after abandoning the Tribe for big money in a bigger city that could afford a bigger payroll.  Ever since that first series when Belle came back to Cleveland wearing a Chicago uniform, we hated the White Sox, but never really considered them our chief rivals.  Even when Jim Thome landed in the Windy City, we of course still embraced innocent, fun-loving Thome, but we should have taken that opportunity to clench our fists, blow off some steam and direct our frustration toward the White Sox.  Only we didn't.

Let us not forget that disappointing 2005 season when the young Indians team got off to a poor start, had a really cold streak in July, then caught fire in August.  The Tribe cut a 15.5 game deficit to the White Sox down to 1.5 games going into the last seven games of the season.  We ended up losing six of those seven, five of them by one run, and missing the playoffs by only two games.  And how can I not mention that we dropped the final three games all to the White Sox by scores of 3-2 ... 4-3 ... and 3-1.  Overall for the season, we were 3-13 against them.

In 2006 and 2008 the White Sox finished ahead of us in the standings although we had much higher expectations than they did at the start of those seasons.

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

The one sick logo that comes to minds for Cavs fans here is that dreadful red snorting Chicago Bull.

Sure, the Bulls killed us and dashed our hopes again and again when they had Michael Jordan.  The Bulls ousted the Cavs from the playoffs five times during Jordan's tenure in Chicago, once in the Eastern Conference Finals.  I can appreciate the hate here.  But the tides have turned and you cannot consider the Bulls rivals anymore when arguably the best player in the league is not on our team and the Bulls struggle to field a competitive team like the Cavs did in the late 80s and early 90s, when Jordan ruled.  The only justified booing at Cavs-Bulls games these days is because two very ugly, sloppy-playing, overpaid former Cavaliers in Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes play for them.

It is somewhat difficult to tag one team as the chief rival for the Cavaliers.  Detroit beat us in the playoffs in 2005-06, and they're always battling Cleveland for the division ... but still, we trounced them in the 2006-07 Eastern Conference Finals when nobody gave us a chance.

My pick for the Cavs rivals are the Denver Nuggets and the Washington Wizards.  The Wizards do suck, sure, but their players and their fans are always hating on Cleveland's Cavalier teams for whatever reason.  Maybe it's because they have been sent packing by the Cavs in the first round of the playoffs three years in a row, 4-2, a 4-0 sweep, and 4-2 last year.  But still, the Eastern Conference has been so weak that you couldn't really even consider Washington a true playoff team during those years.  They were marginal playoff teams at best.

The Cavs and Nuggets, on the other hand, seemed to have picked up on that old Cleveland-Denver football rivalry.  It's almost like we hate the Nuggets more because they are located in the Mile High City.  Then throw in the fact that Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James have a personal friendship-competitive rivalry ala Magic-Bird from the 80s, mix in a little bit of reckless play and high-scoring battles where the teams seem to play absolutely no defense, and you have yourself a classic rivalry every time these two teams meet on the hardwood.

OHIO STATE BUCKEYES

You can have the Michigan rivalry for tradition (first meeting was in 1897 ... National Titles: UM 11, OSU 7 ... Heisman Winners: OSU 7, UM 3 ... Bowl Appearances: OSU 39, UM 38 ... BCS Bowl Appearances: OSU 7, UM 4 ... Rose Bowl Games: UM 20, OSU 13 ... All-Americans: OSU 130, UM 126 ... Big Ten Titles: UM 42, OSU 33), but it's really not much of a rivalry anymore.  At least not until Michigan fields a competitive team again and even still, they have to prove that they can beat the Buckeyes in the regular-season finale.

Michigan owned Ohio State during the John Cooper era from 1988 to 2000.  Cooper's record vs. Michigan was 2-10-1.  In fact, Cooper started out 0-5-1 in his first six seasons against the Wolverines.

But then Ohio State made a very smart decision when they hired Jim Tressel.  From 2001 to 2008, Tressel has led the Buckeyes to a 7-1 record vs. the Wolverines.  Those scores were 26-20 ... 14-9 ... 21-35 (loss) ... 37-21 ... 25-21 ... 42-39 (#1 OSU vs. #2 UM matchup) ... 14-3 ... and 42-7.

The chief rival now for the Buckeyes is a strange one.  It is any Top 25 team they play from either the SEC, Big 12 or PAC-10.  And that's it.  In recent years Ohio State has choked in big games vs. the big teams from these conferences.  And it seems like when Ohio State plays in these games, fans of the opposition come out of the woodworks and start talking all sorts of trash about how 1) their conference is better and the Big Ten is overrated, and 2) how they are going to win.  And usually, they do end up winning.

Go back to the 2000 and 2001 Outback Bowls.  Both matchups were OSU vs. South Carolina (SEC).  South Carolina won both games, 24-7 and 31-28.  2005 regular season.  OSU vs. Texas (Big 12).  Texas won 25-22.  Take the 2006 BCS Championship Game.  OSU vs. Florida (SEC).  Florida embarrassed us 41-14.  How about the 2007 BCS Championship Game.  OSU vs. LSU (SEC)  LSU won easily, 38-24.  2008 regular season.  OSU vs. USC (PAC-10).  USC destroyed us 35-3.  And this year's Fiesta Bowl.  OSU vs. Texas (Big 12).  Texas won 24-21.

RECAP

If you like the Browns, you hate the Steelers, Ravens, and now more than anyone ... the Bengals.

If you like the Indians, you hate the White Sox.  The Yankees have fallen off the rivalry radar.

If you like the Cavs, you hate the Wizards and Nuggets.  The Bulls have fallen off the rivalry radar.

If you like the Buckeyes, you hate Top 25 teams from the SEC, Big 12 and PAC-10.  Michigan has temporarily fallen off the rivalry radar.