Sports Rivalries

Just the other day, I was talking to somebody, I can't remember who, about football, and why some guys have such antagonistic, often violent, opposition to each other. My conclusion was that it must be part-and-parcel of competition; I'm not sure if Steve Jobs and Bill Gates get along now, but I seem to remember that being quite a spat (I'm not sure Jobs actually gets along with anyone).

One of my favorite bloggers just talked about exactly this. Here's his comments on tennis currently big rivalry, Federer-Nadal:

As I quickly learned, Nadal may very well be the nicest, sweetest, most generous tennis machine on the planet. He's almost too nice. It's hard to convince people that this is one of the great sport rivalries of all time when they spend more time hugging each other than trash talking.

Maybe it's a sports specific thing. The spat is more sensational than the enduring friendship, so maybe it's just more reported on. But when I see the reporting on my own much-loved and most famous rivalries, Ohio State vs. Michigan football, and apparently they can't even be bothered to shake hands at the beginning of the game, I can't help but think, "it's a game guys!"