About a week and a half ago, I was in a hurry so I grabbed a quick meal
in my school’s cafeteria, and on TV was sportscenter. They were showing
the Baseball races and I was watching it, and this guy next to me
started cursing about the Mets and tried to see if I agreed with him
that they stunk and that the Phillies were better.

I turned
around and then he realized I was wearing a Carlos Beltran shirt and
quickly “apologized” and started talking about how the Mets’ and the
Phillies’ rivalry is good for baseball.

Looking back at that
conversation, where I spent most of my time nodding my head in polite
agreement, not wanting to get in a debate in fear of missing my next
class, I think I really should have told him what I think at that
moment. The Mets and the Phillies do not have a full blown rivalry like
he was describing. The competetive nature that comes between the two
teams is mostly due to a) they are both good at this moment in time and
b) Philly and New York are close, but its only a proximity issue that
makes it a rivarly.

The reason I came to this conclusion is I
judged my own reactions over the past few years when I pass someone
wearing a hat or a shirt from the Phils compared to someone wearing one
of the Braves. I normally want to Puke when I see the Phils, but thats
mainly because its a reminder of 2007. When I see a Braves hat though,
its an entirely different feeling that starts to swarm inside of me.
Its very hard to put in words but its like every part of my body wants
to be better than that person soley because he or she is a Braves fan.
Once I saw these differences in emotions, it became clear to me that
although I do not like Philly, and I always want to beat them, it is
nothing like beating the Braves.

Even when the Mets were bad,
when they played the Braves, there was a different feeling in air than
when they would play the Phils. That makes our relationship with the
Braves a rivalry. No matter where the other team is in the standings,
no matter the season, there is this complete and total feeling of
wanting a domination of the other team. In my opinon, the Braves are
our rivals, not the Phillies.

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