Obviously Mike Piazza vs Roger Clemens is becoming a legendary feud. Here’s some others I am thinking of off the top of my head, nasty or not so nasty, just for fun, in no particular order:
Chamberlain v Russell
Frazier v Ali
McGuire v Sosa
Bird v Johnson
Kasparov v Karpov
Harding v Kerrigan
Bowe v Gulota
Any others?
Minnesota Fats v. Willie Mosconi(sp?)
Joe Tinker vs. Johnny Evers
They’re in the Hall of Fame together (Tinker because of Evers, since he was only a so-so player), but they hated each other and refused to speak to one another for years.
John Roseboro vs. Juan Marichal
Roseboro didn’t just throw the bat; he came after Marichal with it.
Ty Cobb vs. Everybody
Incredible ball player, but man, he was a bastard.
–sublight.
Bobby Knight vs Chairs
Hagler and Hearns
Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant
It was the other way around with Roseboro and Marichal. Marichal hit Roseboro on the head with his bat after objecting to Roseboro buzzing a return throw to Koufax under his chin. Koufax usually wouldn’t deliberately throw at a hitter, so Roseboro did it for him.
Claude Lemieux vs. Kris Draper (and the rest of the Detroit Red Wings).
Eric Lindros vs. Scott Stevens
… are all on the undercard. The main attraction:
Tie Domi vs. Bob Probert
Montfort, I’ve forgotten, but wasn’t it Draper that got his face rearranged by Lemieux’s (aka, “the unaskater’s”) cheap hit? IIRC, it was Darren McCarty who fought Lemieux (who turtled) after his teammate got “cheap shoted”. I don’t know if Draper and Lemieux ever fought, but Mccarty and Lemieux sure did.
I remember that Colorado and Detroit played their first game next season against each other. Everyone knew what was gonna happen: Lemieux and McCarty (?) were talking trash even before the puck was dropped, and their gloves must have hit the ice about 2 seconds after the puck did. :eek:
I do agree that Domi and Probert fights were legendary!
Pete Rose v. Johnny Bench
GO PETE!!!
Peter Rose vs. Bud Harrelson (1973 NLCS)
Yup, DRY, you’re right. I meant to put McCarty vs. Lemieux, not Draper vs. Lemieux.
Draper did fight Clod in the first Detroit/Colorado war, but it was McCarty that was the heavyweight.
The entire city of Philadelphia v Mitch Williams 
Willie Mays vs. Mickey Mantle vs. Duke Snider
Wish I would have been around NYC in those days.
… circa October 1993.
Amazingly, and inexplicably, he’s not reviled anymore. I have no idea why, although I would shun both him and Fregosi (and hell, Rich Kotite, too) if I was ever in an elevator with them.
Joe Carter, on the other hand, was booed everytime he came to the Vet during Interleague games with the Jays and Orioles.
I was at Andy Ashby’s last game as a Phillie this summer, and he was booed heavily, despite winning (finally!).
No one has mentioned McEnroe v Connors! For shame!
Balboa vs Creed
The greatest sprots rivalry (and friendship) ever!!!
Would be Norman Brahman (former owner of the Eagles) v Philly.
I was listening to Philly SportsRadio when Brahman sold the team and it was incredible.
Grown men were calling up and sobbing with joy.
One guy called from the side of the highway and then was cut off. He called back two minutes later and said that the police had pulled over to where he had stopped a because they thought he was drunk. This guy was jumping up and down and screaming on the cell phone when he called the radio station. I would think he was drunk if I saw him.
The funniest part of it was that the cop who pulled over to investigate this guy started cheering along with him.
There is also the JD Drew v Philly saga. But that’s not quite as epic as Brahman and I am wiling to forgive the Drew’s ego in hopes that he’ll grow wiser as he grows older.
That’s not to say that some beer cans and stale pretzels upside the head wouldn’t expedite the process
Well, then you’d HAVE to also include the O’Malleys v. Brooklyn, Art Modell v. Cleveland, Robert Irsay v. Baltimore, Al Davis v. Oakland/Los Angeles/Irwindale, etc, ad. nauseum.
Actually, Al Davis would have his own fight card…
Dale Hunter blindsiding Pierre Turgeon in the Stanley Cup playoffs (can’t remember the year; early '90s). “I thought the puck was still in play.” Yeah right; the opposing team often groups up, whooping and hollering, while the puck is in play. Hunter was suspended for so many games it might as well have been the whole next season, and Turgeon became part of a catchphrase: “Yeah, they waited till the week before Christmas to fire me; I got Turgeoned.”