After thoroughly enjoying Thursday's latest installment of the eternal, ongoing Giants-Dodgers rivalry -- a 9-4 win in which Mr. Lincecum was just stellar -- you might be intrigued to see that Forbes magazine decided to rank America's most intense baseball rivalries. And that our own Giants' rivalry with the Dodgers topped the list, beating out even Yankees-Red Sox.
Why in God's name this would fall under the jurisdiction of a stock market and investment analysis magazine, I have no idea. But those cigar-smoking, billionaire fatcats are good enough put articles up online for free, and it is a very interesting read.
Forbes approaches these rankings in more of a historical context, as opposed to what's been hot in the last few years or what garners more national media. They also consider the consistency, from decade to decade, in which both teams have had competitive teams and played significant games and playoff contests. To wit:
"To calculate our list, we looked at every season since 1950 and tabulated how many times the two clubs had finished first and second in their division and how often they'd finished the season within five games of one another," the piece says. "Weighted equally with those two stats in our methodology is how much the meetings matter to fans--in other words, how much extra money people are willing to pay for a ticket."
Take that, East Coast! This is measured in cold, hard numbers.
The author also notes that the timing of the outrageously pricey new Yankee ballpark has marred their Red Sox rivalry. "Yankees-Red Sox tickets are no longer difficult to come by. Not long ago, scalpers charged the Bronx faithful epic markups for the benefit of a seat in the stadium. Now, if you log on to the Yankees' Web site or walk up to the ticket window, you can get seats in almost any section."
See that? Whereas Giants-Dodgers is a recession-proof rivalry.
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So on the unique historical and financially unwavering character of the rivalry, it is ranked ahead Yankees-Red Sox. But needless to say, East Coasters are now giving that author some serious hell in the Forbes.com comments section.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who knows a thing or two about getting some serious hell in the comments section.
