Sports define American culture. No matter the sport, fans across the nation support their local teams. Some fans are so passionate that that they cannot stand the name an opposing team. Out of this, some of the greatest rivalries, between specific players and teams, have grown. Rivalries are the reason that sports are so great.
Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady
Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are both considered two of the best quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League. Unlike the other greats in NFL history, Manning and Brady have played against each other an astounding 16 times, creating one of the greatest sports rivalries of all. Like every quarterback, Manning and Brady each possess great qualities. But each also has kryptonite. The question at hand is, who has had a better career?
Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning was drafted first overall in the 1998 NFL draft out of the University of Tennessee. He immediately secured the starting job for a team where he acquired the tag, Greatest of All Time.
In the 2000 season, Manning was getting ready to begin his third year in the league, already having secured the starting quarterback job for the Colts, when Michigan quarterback Tom Brady declared for the draft. It is unlikely that Manning knew who Brady was at the time, for he was a seventh string quarterback in his sophomore season, just two years prior. Little did he know that the Michigan-man would become the Apollo Creed to his Rocky Balboa.
At first glance, the average person would jump to a conclusion and say that Brady is the superior quarterback. He does, in fact, have three Super Bowl Rings to Manning’s one.
In Peyton’s illustrious 17-year career, he has taken down dozens of records. These are headlined by most passing touchdowns in a season (55). In fact, Peyton Manning holds the record for the most MVPs won, five, to Brady’s two. If this is not a testament to the fact of who the most dominant player of the NFL’s history is, than nothing is.
He led the Indianapolis Colts from the worst team in the NFL to a team that consistently won double-digit games and were fierce competitors for the Lombardi Trophy in January.
Throughout his career, Manning has made his wide receivers Pro Bowlers, most notably Marvin Harrison. The two played together for 11 seasons in Indianapolis, where the tandem broke all sorts of records including most yards between a quarterback and wide receiver in a career, with 12,756. In a sense, Manning made Harrison. In his only two seasons without “The Sheriff”, Harrison only totaled 12 touchdowns and 1702 yards receiving. The Syracuse product matched those stats in just the 1999 season.
In a league dominated by statistics, Manning is clearly the superior quarterback. Forgetting his postseason and cold-weather woes, Manning gets the job done. His team is incapable of winning without him. Brady, on the other hand, has a team that considers him expendable. The year before Manning was drafted, the Colts were a league worst 3-13. He transformed them into one of the winningest teams of the decade. The pre-Brady Patriots were a respectable 8-8.
When Brady was forced to sit out of the 2008 season, Matt Cassel led the team to an 11-5 record. When Manning sat out the 2011 season, his Colts went 2-14. By these simple facts, we know that that the Patriots are able to win without Brady, but not the Colts without Manning.
No quarterback in the history of the game adds as much value to his team as Manning does. That’s not a knock on a Brady—it’s a testament to how truly great Manning is as a quarterback. The better quarterback in the debate of “Brady vs. Manning” is none other than Peyton Manning.
Tom Brady
Brady. That is the simple answer to this argument, Tom Brady is better. Success at the quarterback position in the NFL has always been based on winning; and that statistic belongs to Tom Brady. Brady has the highest winning percentage among qualified quarterbacks ever in the National Football with a percentage of .775. He also holds the records for most consecutive regular season wins with 21, the quickest quarterback to reach 150 wins, and the most postseason victories in NFL history. He also has three Super Bowl titles in five appearances. And unlike some of the others that play his position, Brady doesn’t care about his personal stats, just the number of wins.
“If the defense is showing him something vulnerable to the run, then he’ll call for a run play 50 times,” said Brady’s former teammate Brian Hoyer. “If the defense shows him something susceptible to the pass, then he’ll throw the ball 50 times on you.” said Brady’s former teamate Brian Hoyer.
When it comes to winning, Brady is the best. The thing that stands out about those amazing win totals, is Brady’s surrounding cast. The first year that Brady was able to have some elite talent at the wideout position was with Randy Moss in 2007. He lead the Patriots to a perfect 16-0. Brady also won the MVP award that year and lead the Patriots to his fourth Super Bowl appearance. It was considered to be Brady’s best season and one of the greatest seasons in the history of the NFL at the quarterback position. Well it was, until Brady’s 2010 campaign. Brady’s 2010 receiving core consisted of the most talent he has ever had at his disposal, with wideout Wes Welker as a great number two option along with Moss and a great duo of tight ends to compliment the two receivers. With this talent, Brady broke the record, at the time, for the most touchdown passes ever in a single season with 50 touchdown tosses. He also became the first ever player to be unanimously voted as the league MVP that year and lead the Patriots to yet another Super Bowl.
“No game is too big for Tom Brady,” said future Hall of Fame coach John Gruden.
Gruden is not the first to make that remark. This can also be seen in their head to head matchups where Brady has all but owned Manning in all of their meetings, including a big win in week nine of the current NFL season Brady threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns while the Pats crushed the Broncos.
Even Manning’s former Indianapolis Head Coach and friend Tony Dungy recently admitted that Brady has had the more successful career.
So while both quarterbacks are amazing and two of the best to ever play the game, Brady is the better of the two. In the words of the Patriots radio announcer, Bob Socci, when Brady led his comeback against Manning in their 2013 meeting, “You can have your Manning, I’ll take my Brady!”
Yankees vs. Red Sox
Over the past century, two teams have stood out from the pack. The New York Yankees have taken home a league record of twenty seven rings since 1903 and the Boston Red Sox have won the fifth most in baseball with eight. It is no secret that the two are the most bitter rivals in the game.
Yankees
It all started with Babe Ruth. Ruth was a star pitcher for Boston in the early 1900s. He consistently threw a sub 2.50 ERA and was feared by hitters.
Still, he was not the legend would later become.
Because of his adequate performance, the Sox decided to cut ties with Ruth and trade him to the Yankees for cash, thus began the Curse of the Bambino.
Ruth went on to become the most feared hitter in all of baseball. Babe helped the Yanks win their first four World Series while the Red Sox did not win it all until 2004, 86 years after the trade.
Boston fans blamed the Sox’s misfortune for the Ruth trade and the Yankees. The Yankees boasted their winnings and created the first MLB dynasty.
Since the 1920s, the Yankees have not just been the most dominant team in the rivalry, but the most dominant team in baseball. No other team boasts as many World Series rings as New York’s 27. By just looking the facts, history and performance of the two teams, it is no contest. The Yankees are best.
Red Sox
The Curse of the Bambino plagued the Red Sox for nearly a century. From the year in 1919 when Ruth was traded away to the Yankees up until their World Series victory in 2004, the Red Sox became the lovable losers in the American League. The Red Sox have won three World Series in the past decade and have a completely different style franchise than the Yankees.
They won the inaugural World Series in 1903 and won four more by the time of the Babe Ruth trade. During the years of the curse, the Red Sox were known for being good but somehow always finding a way to lose. In 2004, the Red Sox finally won another World Series after beating the Yankees in the American League Championship. They then went on to win the 2007 and 2013 World Series. Their recent success has put the Red Sox back in contention when it comes to the discussion of the better franchise between them and the Yankees.
And when it comes down to it, in my opinion, the Red Sox have been more successful because they constantly create new teams instead of buying them.
Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson
The Lakers and Celtics have always been heated rivals, ever since the Minneapolis Lakers and Boston Celtics squared off in the 1959 Finals, where the Celtics beat the Lakers and went on to win eight straight Finals. But inside of the greatest team rivalry stands arguably two of the best players of all time, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.
Magic Johnson
The Bird-Johnson rivalry was undisputably the greatest rivalry in all of basketball.
Each player possessed amazing qualities and traits that made them great basketball players but ultimately, Magic Johnson is the best of the two.
Johnson was a flashy, gregarious point guard who was expected to do big things in the NBA.
He was selected first overall and was an immediate starter for the Los Angeles Lakers.
He played along side with NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and was still able to up great stats as a rookie, 18 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game.
Magic Johnson redefined the point guard position.
Before Johnson, the position was dominated by short, quick players who were excellent ball-handlers and were known for assists rather than points.
Johnson couldn’t have been more different. He stood at 6’9’’, the same height as many power forwards at the time.
Even though he loved to pass the ball to his team, he also was an excellent scorer, finishing his career with 19.5 points per game.
Magic Johnson was the more complete player.
Though he was not known for his defense, he was dominant in every other statistic in the game.
He also brought home more hardware than Bird, winning more career awards. These are the reason why Johnson is the superior player.
