City rivalries?

[Franknburger]

There exist a number of established rivalries between larger cities, and I am curious about how they have developed and are maintained.
First a delineation: I don't mean the traditional national anti-Capital sentiment, nor the arrogance of a larger city vis-à-vis a smaller suburb. I also don't mean a rivalry that is only based on sports (the Schalke-Dortmund type for those of you acquainted with German soccer), though sports of course is one of the mechanisms to maintain such a rivalry.

Let's start with a few German examples:
1. Run for No.2: Hamburg-Munich (of course enhanced by religion, geographic and cultural distance, etc.)
2. Economic vs. political regional centre: Leipzig-Dresden, Lübeck-Kiel
3. Historical discrimination (that's an interesting pattern I only came across after some research): Cologne-Düsseldorf. Cologne used to have the trade monopoly on the Rhine, meaning trade ships by-passed nearby Düsseldorf. When industrialisation set in, however, Düsseldorf took over. Moreover, when Prussia gained possession of the Rhineland, they selected Düsseldorf as provincial capital, deeply hurting Cologne's pride (Roman founding, largest German city throughout the middle-ages).

So, what city rivalries exist in your country/state? How have they developed?

[Gass3268]

A couple I can think of off the top of my head:

New York-Chicago
Alberta-Edmonton
Toronto-Montreal
Los Angeles-San Francisco

[Sol]

Chapel Hill-Durham-Raleigh

(Most pronounced in College football).

[RedSLC]

Within Utah, Salt Lake City-Provo. Like the above example, most pronounced in college football. (University of Utah for SLC, BYU for Provo.)

[bedstuy]

A couple I can think of off the top of my head:

New York-Chicago
Alberta-Edmonton
Toronto-Montreal
Los Angeles-San Francisco

News to me.

[Enderman]

A few I can note:

Milwaukee-Chicago, or Green Bay-Chicago, (Packers v Bears)
Detroit-Toledo (actually all of Michigan against Toledo)
Orlando-Tampa is a possible one, if not, Orlando-Miami

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Philly and Pittsburgh, of course (primarily in sports)

[Napoleon]

New York-Boston
New York-Los Angeles
Los Angeles-San Francisco
Cleveland-Pittsburgh

[old timey villain]

on citydata forum there's apparently a big rivalry between Atlanta and Charlotte. Everyone in Charlotte thinks Atlanta is on the decline and Charlotte will take its place as king of the south, and everybody in Atlanta thinks Charlotte is a pathetic ATL wannabe with a superiority complex.

There's pages and pages of people fighting about it. It's hilarious because I was not aware this rivalry existed

http://www.city-data.com/forum/charlotte/1490417-atlanta-vs-charlotte.html

http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlanta/1457447-atlanta-vs-charlotte-king-south.html

[Smid]

Sydney vs the rest of Australia.

[HansOslo]

Oslo vs the rest of Norway

[Gass3268]

A couple I can think of off the top of my head:

New York-Chicago
Alberta-Edmonton
Toronto-Montreal
Los Angeles-San Francisco

News to me.

I think that is more of a Chicago view point.

[Ban my account ffs!]

There's an intense rivalry between Minneapolis and Portland regarding cyclists. 

There's also an old rivalry between Minneapolis and St. Paul... though at this point St. Paul has become a glorified suburb.  People are always like "but St. Paul such nice historic architecture downtown"...

Yeah.. because people wanted to build bigger and better buildings in downtown Minneapolis.  Nobody wants to build in downtown St. Paul... so they spin it into "yeah we preserve our historic buildings"

The two cities used to actually compete for having the biggest/tallest/best downtown... but now it's kinda pathetic

[traininthedistance]

New York is above considering any American city its worthy rival. 

Boston probably comes closest, because of the Red Sox and Patriots, and Philly a clear but distant second on the sports front.  If you're talking about more incohate cultural factors, I would say DC and San Fran actually loom much larger in our eyes than LA and Chicago.  LA is not really what we would consider a "city", and Chicago is just that odd place that operates under the collective delusion that upside-down tomato casserole is somehow "pizza", which of course it is not.

...

When I lived in Philly, we definitely considered NYC to be our main rival in everything.  Pittsburgh was mostly an afterthought, except when it came to hockey I guess.  And upside-down tomato casserole was still, of course, an object of well-deserved derision.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

New York vs. Boston
New York vs. Philadelphia
Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh
Cleveland vs. Cincinnati
Baltimore vs. Washington D.C.
Tampa Bay vs. Miami
Houston vs. Dallas
Chicago vs. Detroit
Milwaukee vs. Chicago
Toronto vs. Montreal
St. Louis vs. Kansas City
San Francisco vs. Los Angeles
Los Angeles vs. Anaheim
Seattle vs. Portland

[jimrtex]

New York vs. Boston
New York vs. Philadelphia
Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh
Cleveland vs. Cincinnati
Baltimore vs. Washington D.C.
Tampa Bay vs. Miami
Houston vs. Dallas
Chicago vs. Detroit
Milwaukee vs. Chicago
Toronto vs. Montreal
St. Louis vs. Kansas City
San Francisco vs. Los Angeles
Los Angeles vs. Anaheim
Seattle vs. Portland

Stephenville vs. Brownwood
Midland v Odessa
Texas City v Lamarque

[Ban my account ffs!]

New York is above considering any American city its worthy rival. 

Boston probably comes closest, because of the Red Sox and Patriots, and Philly a clear but distant second on the sports front.  If you're talking about more incohate cultural factors, I would say DC and San Fran actually loom much larger in our eyes than LA and Chicago.  LA is not really what we would consider a "city", and Chicago is just that odd place that operates under the collective delusion that upside-down tomato casserole is somehow "pizza", which of course it is not.

...

When I lived in Philly, we definitely considered NYC to be our main rival in everything.  Pittsburgh was mostly an afterthought, except when it came to hockey I guess.  And upside-down tomato casserole was still, of course, an object of well-deserved derision.

And yet Chicago is so much more American than New York.. which is increasingly unique... and unrepresentative of the nation as a whole.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

There exist a number of established rivalries between larger cities, and I am curious about how they have developed and are maintained.
First a delineation: I don't mean the traditional national anti-Capital sentiment, nor the arrogance of a larger city vis-à-vis a smaller suburb. I also don't mean a rivalry that is only based on sports (the Schalke-Dortmund type for those of you acquainted with German soccer), though sports of course is one of the mechanisms to maintain such a rivalry.

Let's start with a few German examples:
1. Run for No.2: Hamburg-Munich (of course enhanced by religion, geographic and cultural distance, etc.)
2. Economic vs. political regional centre: Leipzig-Dresden, Lübeck-Kiel
3. Historical discrimination (that's an interesting pattern I only came across after some research): Cologne-Düsseldorf. Cologne used to have the trade monopoly on the Rhine, meaning trade ships by-passed nearby Düsseldorf. When industrialisation set in, however, Düsseldorf took over. Moreover, when Prussia gained possession of the Rhineland, they selected Düsseldorf as provincial capital, deeply hurting Cologne's pride (Roman founding, largest German city throughout the middle-ages).

Don't forget Karlsruhe/Mannheim (category 1) and Bruchsal/Schwetzingen!

[traininthedistance]

New York is above considering any American city its worthy rival. 

Boston probably comes closest, because of the Red Sox and Patriots, and Philly a clear but distant second on the sports front.  If you're talking about more incohate cultural factors, I would say DC and San Fran actually loom much larger in our eyes than LA and Chicago.  LA is not really what we would consider a "city", and Chicago is just that odd place that operates under the collective delusion that upside-down tomato casserole is somehow "pizza", which of course it is not.

...

When I lived in Philly, we definitely considered NYC to be our main rival in everything.  Pittsburgh was mostly an afterthought, except when it came to hockey I guess.  And upside-down tomato casserole was still, of course, an object of well-deserved derision.

And yet Chicago is so much more American than New York.. which is increasingly unique... and unrepresentative of the nation as a whole.

Are you really trying to play the "Real American" card here?  For shame.

[Brittain33]

Newark vs. Jersey City
Rochester vs. Buffalo
Phoenix vs. Tucson

[memphis]

Memphis v Nashville. Same state, different worlds. Memphis is ghetto Deep South blues. Nashville is white trash Country rhinestones. They're growing way faster and they can have it. I don't want to be the next Atlanta. We're in the Goldilocks zone for size, as far as I'm concerned.

[ilikeverin]

A couple I can think of off the top of my head:

New York-Chicago
Alberta-Edmonton
Toronto-Montreal
Los Angeles-San Francisco

News to me.

I think that is more of a Chicago view point.

Yes.  You must not have been to the coasts much - they have no idea that the Midwest exists.  (They will grudgingly concede Chicago exists after some prodding.)

[Dave from Michigan]

Chicago vs Detroit. mostly sports but also a city rivalry. Chicago is a popular place to visit for vacations for people from Michigan. I have been to Chicago at least 5 times for weekend trips. Metro Detroit also loses people like college grads to Chicago, since it is the nearest big city. Also people look at Chicago when talking about fixing Detroit or what Detroit needs to do to comeback. I'm sure this is a one sided rivalry especially for the non sports part because Chicago is looking at New York. Don't laugh at Detroit one day it will comeback it's starting right now on a small level.

[Franknburger]

Oslo vs the rest of Norway

Does not count. Nobody likes capitals (Paris vs. rest of France, Rome vs. rest of Italy, Athens vs. rest of Greece etc.), while the capitals don't care.
What about Bergen-Trondheim?

New York is above considering any American city its worthy rival. 

Even not L.A.? Otherwise, I suggest for the purpose of this thread to declare NYC the unofficial capital of the USA, which means it is out...

Memphis v Nashville. Same state, different worlds. Memphis is ghetto Deep South blues. Nashville is white trash Country rhinestones. They're growing way faster and they can have it. I don't want to be the next Atlanta. We're in the Goldilocks zone for size, as far as I'm concerned.

That sounds interesting, and thrills the musician in me. Tell us more! Do you have "Nashville jokes" in Memphis? Band battles? Competing events aside from sports (like the Cologne-Düsseldorf carnival rivalry)? Does the rivalry reflect on state politics?

Stephenville vs. Brownwood
Midland v Odessa
Texas City v Lamarque

I must confess I am neither familiar with Stephenville, nor Brownwood, nor Texas City, nor Lamarque. Nevertheless, Midland-Odessa sounds quite interesting and makes me curious about more details.

A few more cases that caught my attention and interest, because they were new to me, and/or might provide interesting case studies:

Alberta-Edmonton
Rochester vs. Buffalo
St. Louis vs. Kansas City
Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh
Cleveland vs. Cincinnati
Houston vs. Dallas
Seattle vs. Portland

.. and of course
Karlsruhe/Mannheim (first time I have ever heard of it)

[traininthedistance]

New York is above considering any American city its worthy rival. 

Even not L.A.? Otherwise, I suggest for the purpose of this thread to declare NYC the unofficial capital of the USA, which means it is out...

Especially not Los Angeles.  I was being less than completely serious with that remark, but even so there are at least five different cities I'd think of before them (Boston, Philly, DC, SF, and, yes, Chicago).  Boston and DC are probably our "closest" rivals depending on the context, which of course makes the former-Philly-resident in me quite sad.