BehindEnemyLinez;2414536 said:
Free agency has killed the heated rivalries of the past! Too many players change teams and plenty end up playing for rival squads so I think the hatred that used to fester back in the day never materializes.
And that is an excellent point. Free Agency has probably played a very large roll in killing off the hatred in these rivalries that used to be there.
bbailey423;2414561 said:
therein lies the real problem...we don't view them the same way they view us anymore. It could be because we beat them so much. But they have now beat us 5 out of the last 7. And we better start taking it personal again. We have moved our hate to the Giants...well in order for our games against the Giants to have any real meaning....we have to dispose of the SKins. Starting this Sunday!
I agree...to an extent. The problem is that even the transfered hate, that you speak of, isn't even the same level of hatred that I'm talking about. When we play these teams (Eagles, Giants, and Skins) it ALWAYS seems like they're actually fired up to beat a hated rival. That they want to kill the Dallas Cowboys. Meanwhile we always seem like we're in 'just another game'.
It's not just another game, IMO, when it comes to division rivals. I think you've got to take it like they're the most important games of your lives that are not playoff/Superbowl games.
I remember when I played in school, and I know that this isn't nearly the same level or anything like that, that we had a team or two, every year, that we got up for more than any other game on our regular season schedule and it never had a thing to do with trash talk, records on the year, who beat who last, or the most times recently, we just got up to play them EVERY TIME cause you wanted to beat them BADLY every time you played them.
Those games were absolutely the most fun, and exciting games, every year as well.
