Best One on One Rivalry?

[CH David]

Over the hundreds of years people have been competing in athletics, not only have there been teams who compete at high levels, but also certain players that when they match up make it the game to see. Manning vs. Brady, Bird vs. Johnson, Ovechkin vs. Crosby, plus a bunch of others. But which one on one rivalry is the best? Don't forget to add why. This isn't only for American sports either, everyone can add their two cents, soccer, rugby, hell if there is one, jai alai. I'll post mine in a little bit, hopefully after some people have put in their thoughts.

 

[NSL]

It may not be on the level of Manning v. Brady, but my favorite one on one rivalry ever was P.J. Stock and Dale Hunter. They got into about a dozen fights during their careers, three in one season, and even better, two of those were before the opening face-off.

P.J. Stock was a horrible hockey player, and was unusually small for an enforcer, but boy could he fight. He fought anyone, at any point in a game, and had a decent won/loss record. Dale Hunter was the seedy veteran that liked to rough up the young guys, but Stock wasn't going to take it. Their fights were just fun to watch.

 

[Big Sexy]

You gotta go with Magic Johnson vs Larry Bird. I'm a fan of almost every sport, but to me the big four are the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. Of those four there really aren't/haven't been any one on one rivalries in MLB. The NHL I guess has Crosby vs Ovechkin but that's still new. The NFL I guess has Brady vs Manning but none of those are even close to Magic vs Bird.

Start of the Rivalry

The rivalry between these two started in 1979 while they were in college. Magic led the Michigan State Spartans to a victory over Bird and the Indiana State Sycamores in the National Championship game. Bird graduated and was signed by the Celtics who had taken him with the 6th overall pick in the 1978 draft and retained his rights even though Bird went back to school. Magic ended up being drafted with the first overall pick in the 1979 draft by the LA Lakers.

Lakers vs Celtics

All throughout the 80's the Magic led Lakers and Bird led Celtics were in the upper echelon of teams. These two met each other in the NBA finals 3 times from the 1984-1987 seasons. They first met in 1984. Magic had already been to three NBA finals and won two titles in 80' and 82'. Bird and the Celtics went to the finals and won the title in 1981. In their first NBA finals meeting Bird was able to get the best Magic as the Celtics won the series in 7 games. Their next meeting came the next year in 1985 when the Lakers were able to get revenge and beat the Celtics in 6 games. 1986 saw the Celtics make a return to the finals and defeat the Rockets. Then in 1987 Magic and Bird met for the final time in the NBA finals. Once again Magic and the Lakers came out victorious in 6 games. The Lakers would go on to represent the Western Conference in 3 of the next 4 NBA finals winning one more title. Bird's Celtics ended up being knocked out of the playoffs in both 88' and 89' by the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons, the latter of the two years being in the first round.

Significance

This rivalry, along with the popularity of Michael Jordan, is what has made the NBA what it is today. Before this rivalry the league was really struggling and now it is probably second to only the NFL in terms of popularity and revenue. However, this rivalry represented more then just that. It was Magic and the showtime Lakers taking on Bird and the blue collar Celtics. It was two polar opposites from completely different backgrounds that came together and competed in what is for my money the greatest one on one rivalry in sports history.