Why Baltimore and Washington Will Never Be Rivals

 On Tuesday night, I was at the Nationals vs Cardinals game, and in the program they were promoted the Battle of the Beltways series this weekend.  The headline to the promotion was "Always Rivals" I had to chuckle at that headline as the Nat's and O's are not even close to rivals besides the proximity of the two clubs and will most likely never be hated rivals.  If Baltimore and Washington have some type of rivalry, it's between the Ravens and Redskins, but I will discuss that later in this post.  I'm going to start with the overall aspect of a Baltimore Washington "rivalry" and then get into the so called rivalries of the Nats vs O's and Ravens vs Redskins.

For as long as I can remember, I have never understood the aspect of Baltimore and Washington as rivals.  To me Baltimore and Washington are one big area, if you want crabs you go to Baltimore, if you want some chili you go to Washington.  If you want to see scientific attractions, you go to Baltimore and if you want to brush up on your American history, you go to DC.  In counties, such as Anne Arundle and Howard, the two cities tend to blend together since Anne Arundle and Howard are basically equal distance to Baltimore and Washington.  Then there is the theme of both cities cheering for the same teams.  Last I checked Baltimore doesn't have NBA and NHL teams, so they go to the next closest teams which are the Wizards and Capitals.  The theory that Baltimore fans cheer for DC's winter sports teams is proven truth since the Caps will be playing a preseason game at First Mariner Arena this fall.  Another common trend between Baltimore and Washington is the hatred of Shittsburgh I mean Pittsburgh teams.  The one obvious team is the Penguins, and while there is no rivalry between the Skins and Steelers,  I can't stand that team just as much as Ravens fans can't stand them and I'm not the only Skins fan that thinks that.  So it really doesn't make sense for Baltimore and DC fans to hate on each other when they can just hate on one city as one big happy family. 

Nationals vs Orioles: The one big reason why this rivalry won't work, and the reason why it shouldn't be called a rivalry is because, the only baseball team in the area for multiple years was the Orioles.  So me and other fans, that cheered for Washington teams, gravitated to the next closest baseball team in the Orioles.  Cal Ripken Jr is may favorite athlete so why would I cheer against a team that had my favorite athlete? Yes I do cheer for the Nationals also as I'm sure many fans from the DC area do, but when you have seen the Orioles play in multiple ALCS games in the 90's its hard to turn against them just like that.  By baseball standards, the teams don't play enough either to become rivals.  The Nats and O's play only six games a year against each other, compare that to the 18 games that the O's play against the Yankees and Red Sox and the 18 games that the Nats play against the Phillies and Mets.  I'm not saying that they should get rid of this series between the teams, in fact, I enjoy watching my two favorite teams play against each other and its also cheaper as you have to only pay $10 to see both of your teams at once.  That's a damn good deal to me.   It's always fun to head to Camden or Nats park with a Nats cap and an O's t-shirt on or vice versa.  Keep the series but it shouldn't be dubbed as "hated rivals" just keep it as Battle of the Beltways.

Ravens vs Redskins: Ok, now to what some people call "one of the best rivalries" this area has to offer.  My definition of a rivalry is: two teams that play every year in what normally is a close contested game where the players have little to no respect for there opponent.  Ravens Redskins falls short in a lot of these categories.  The two teams play a regular season game once every four years, how can that be a rivalry?  Preseason does not count in anyway possible as it's mostly the backups playing.  The Ravens lead the all time series 3-1 and have outscored the Skins 64-47.  Yes this stat can be negated since the Skins have been losers for the past 12 years and a lot of teams have winning records against the Skins.   Now to the last part, when has Ray Lewis or London Fletcher talked legitimate trash against the Skins or Ravens? Never that's the answer, Lavar Arrington and Ray Lewis are actually good friends.  The main points are that the teams need to play more and that the actual players of the teams need to have some true hate of each other to become true rivals.  Another point, is that the majority of my Redskins friends cheer for the Ravens just as long as they aren't playing the Skins.  Same goes for me also I'll cheer for the Ravens, just as long as burgundy and gold isn't opposite of them.  I didn't even know Ravens Skins was considered a "rivalry" until I started going to school in Anne Arundle County.  My elementary school years were spent on the mean streets of PG County and when the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2001 the school, in PG County, the whole school was cheering for the Ravens as if the Skins were playing in the Super Bowl. So I never thought anything of Ravens Redskins, as a rivalry, until I started high school and I noticed that most Ravens fans hate the Redskins and some Skins fans hate the Ravens and I still haven't gotten over why Ravens fans hate the Skins, the majority of answers I get from Ravens fans are "I just do" and "I don't know man."  Until I hear something better than those two reasons I will not consider this game a rivalry.  The Skins have to much history with the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants to have a fourth rival and Ravens Steelers, to me, is the best rivalry in the NFL right now.

To me there are no rivalries between Bmore and DC teams.  The cities have to many same allegiances to be rivals.  But if you have a legit reason of why Nats O's and Ravens Redskins should be considered rivals let me know.  Phrases such as "they just are" will not be taken, show me a video of the actual teams showing legit hatred for each other and then I will reconsider.

Why is the Weather so Fair?

I know everyone sees it, multiple Cowboys and Eagles jerseys at Fed Ex Field.  Steelers jerseys at Ravens games, Penguins jerseys at Caps games, Yankees and Red Sox fans at Camden Yards and a sea of red at Nats park, but its a sea of Phillies red.   Unlike other areas of the country, this area seems to have the same amount of fans, from rival teams, as fans of the local teams.  Honestly it pisses the hell out of me that in such a populous area that there are so many fans that aren't in the home teams colors.   This area has the potential to be one of the great sports towns in the country, but because of all the rival fans it isn't.  Look at how loud Verizon Center is for a Caps game, how loud M&T is during Ravens games, the atmosphere at Nats park during Stephen Strasburg's first start last year.  All of these have great atmospheres, but it still hasn't stopped people from becoming fans of the hated rivals.  I've come up with a list of why there are so many rival fans in the area:

Historic Teams: I hate to say it, but its the truth.  The Steelers, Cowgirls and Yankees are all successful franchises and usually win consistently.  When a team has a wins consistently, usually fairweather fans appear for the teams.  I have seen and heard people admit that they are fairweather fans.  For example, at the Super Bowl party I was at, there was a hipster in a Steelers jersey.  For those of you that don't know, hipsters hate everything about sports and basically  hate everything that is normal in the world.  Anyways this hipster is in his Steelers jersey and is acting like he's always been a fan of the team, this guy doesn't even know the difference between a tackle and a left tackle.  So in conclusion, living in a heavy populated area there is bound to be plenty of fairweather fans, and unfortunately, most of the area's teams are rivals with teams that have a history winning which means more fans or fairweather fans.

This Area is a Melting Pot: While it's cool to say we in or around that most powerful city in the free world, that is not good for sports wise.  Since so many people come to this area for work, that means multiple fan bases are coming to this area and ignore the hometown teams since they are fans of the teams of where they came from.  This area is also close and easy to get to for rival teams, besides Dallas and Boston, rival cities are pretty close with Shittsburhg I mean Pittsburgh being the farthest drive with four hours.  Philly is only 2 hours away and depending on traffic, New York is about 3 to 5 hours away.  So combine a melting pot of people living in this area and rivals being not to far away you are going to see multiple enemy colors at local sporting events.

Lack of Winning: Besides the Capitals and Ravens, the teams in this area haven't been winning to much in the past years.  Because of the lack of winning people, that are faint of heart, decide to go to other teams that are not in this area.  I've always thought that you cheer for your home teams no matter what, it's where you live you should support the teams of where you live.  Again, going back to the melting pot theory,  I do understand if a persons parents are avid fans of a team and the child decides to adopt his or her parent's teams that make sense.  But if your not a fan teams in this area because they suck, well I think that is also grounds for being called a fairweather fan.

How to Fix the Problem: To me the problem is simple, go to the games and support the areas teams.  It pisses me off when Nats fans complain about Phillies fans being at Nats park or when O's fans complain about Yankees and Red Sox fans coming to Camden Yards.  If you don't want those fans invading the parks then go to the games.  Yes I understand its tough economic times, but it's obviously not for the Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox fans.  Another way to fix it is have the local sports apparel shops stop selling rival teams apparel.  Walk into a Sports Authority and you will see Redskins and Cowboys gear next to each other.  No where else in the country does this happen, I don't see any Caps or Ravens apparel in sports shops in Morgantown, its just Shittsburhg apparel.   Also raise your kids to be fans of the local teams, don't let them become a fan of the Patriots or Lakers just because they win with that team on the xbox.  Teach the kids that you support the teams of where you live and that's the only way it is done.  If we start taking these measures, maybe we can eliminate annoying rival fans from coming to our games and I also won't have to be taken out of the stadium in handcuffs for beating up an annoying Philly and or Shittsburgh fan.