Arizona and Arizona State rated the biggest sports rivalry

To any doubters of the intensity and importance of the Arizona rivalry with Arizona State, you may be shocked to hear that it’s rated as the biggest in sports!

As if you needed any other reason to feel rightful in your hate of Arizona State as a Wildcat fan, two business professors went and sought out to learn which rivalry was the biggest rivalry in sports. It turns out it’s the Arizona rivalry!

It’s always a hotly debated subject, who has the best, biggest and the most intense rivalry in sports? Surely it’s the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, right? No! Well what about Ohio State and Michigan? Surprisingly that would also be a no…

Arizona Wildcats

Well according to the New York Times, two business professors were interested in finding out what the biggest rivalries in sports were, based on and objective and statistical basis.

Using a 100-point scale, the professors asked avid fans of professional and college football teams, asking them to allocate those 100 points to their most hated rivals in football.

So for instance, an Oregon fan might allocate 60 points to Oregon State for instance, and then the remaining 40 points may got to Washington as well. A true bitter rival like Auburn and Alabama for instance might have some other rivals, but fans may but those points even higher, like at 80 perhaps.

Well, applying that same grading methodology, the article noted that when asked, “Arizona fans gave an average of 89 points to their cross-state rival, and Arizona State averaged 83 points [in the return hate].”

Surprising? Well, perhaps it shouldn’t be when you really look at it. I mean, when looking at Arizona and ASU, there are no other major rivals for either school.

Also, this shouldn’t come as much of a shock to us fans, as it really is one of the most underrated and most intense rivalries in sports.

Or need we be reminded of heated moments like;

• ASU fans chanting PLO (the Palestine Liberation Organization) after Steve Kerr lost his father
• ASU fans taunting Lute Olson after his late wife Bobbi had passed
• Lute Olson leaving his starters in late to run up the score and pointing at the scoreboard
• The basketball scuffle between Kevin Parrom and Ty Abbott
• Arizona’s Daniel Greer getting a cheap shot from ASU offensive lineman Glen Gabel in the 1996 Territorial Cup that required surgery
• and so many more…

Anyways, at Zona Zealots, we’re proud to see the recognition this rivalry gets and only hope for more dominance of that school up north! As always, Bear Down, Arizona!