andy_is_awesome wrote:What bad blood? I live in Los Angeles and I don't care one bit about Phoenix. New York, Boston, San Fran all have more "rivalries" with LA than Phoenix does.
It doesn't bother you all the times that the Suns bounced the Lakers from the playoffs? What about what D'antoni said to Phil Jackson? Or what Shaq said about Kobe?
What about the fact that the Dogers and D-backs are battling for a division right now?
Maybe there isn't much rivalry between the two cities outside of sports. But I think there is a fun rivalry going on.
But the Suns bounced the Lakers for what, 2-3 years in a row when the Lakers were pathetically sneaking into the playoffs and the Suns were a top-2 team? D'antoni is no longer even with the Suns, and Shaq's feud with Kobe has 0% to do with the Suns. He's played half a season with them. The feud is Kobe vs Shaq, not the teams. Regardless, Laker fans hate the Celtics. We don't care about the Suns.
And sorry... but I can't get excited for a pennant race between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks when neither team is above .500. The NL West is a pathetic joke, and Dodger fans will always, ALWAYS, treat the Giants as their rivals. Not the Dbags (er, Dbacks). Go Angels.
I'm just sayin... what may be a "big rivalry" for Phoenix fans is brushed off by us Los Angeles fans. Phoenix is a pleasant place to go on vacation and for Mid-Westerners/New Englanders to retire. Not a place that Los Angelenos get worked up about.
The only reason a "rivalry" exists in sports for Los Angeles and Phoenix is because of location. They play in the same conference/division/league, but past that... there isn't anything. I can think of tons of other cities that would deserve a "rivalry" map ahead of Los Angeles/Phoenix. You have Boston/New York. Columbus/Ann Arbor (tOSU/Michigan). Durham/Charlotte (Duke/NC). Etc, etc. Phoenix wouldn't even rate in Los Angeles' top 5.