Rivalries aren't always as intense as they appear

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

In this Oct. 7, 2007 file photo, New York Giants' Jeremy Shockey breaks free of a tackle attempt by New York Jets' Kerry Rhodes to score a touchdown during the third quarter of an NFL football game in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 7, 2007. The Je...

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New York vs. New York. Albany vs. Albany.

We are talking rivalries. Except when we’re not.

This week, the Islanders played the Rangers, and the Knicks played the Nets. Today, the Jets face the Giants. As BarstoolSports.com pointed out, the last time that trifecta occurred in the same week was 1988.

For us locals, you can add a fourth backyard brawl to the calendar: Siena vs. UAlbany is less than a week away, slated for next Saturday at Times Union Center.

That Albany Cup basketball game has more in common with the Jets-Giants than the Knicks-Nets (or Rangers-Islanders) for one simple reason:

It’s not a true rivalry.

The fans sure are rivals. Like Jets and Giants fans, their backers bicker and battle, and the programs do compete for prime real estate in the Capital Region media, just as the New York teams vie for the back pages of the New York tabs. But in terms of being bitter foes on the field or court, the heat is not there, the passion, the hatred even. They don’t share a conference, or play often enough. The stakes just aren’t there.

UAlbany wants to beat Siena. Siena wants to beat UAlbany.

UAlbany needs to beat Vermont. Siena needs to beat Iona.

Say it together: Bragging rights alone do not make a true rivalry.

The Jets and Giants each need to win today’s game (1 p.m.; the Giants are the home team in the MetLife Stadium they share) because of their respective hunts for the playoffs. But the game is less important than a divisional matchup, just as UAlbany-Siena is, at its core, just another non-conference game, albeit one played annually.

That doesn’t mean these games aren’t worth the hype. Geographic proximity means there will be a passionate split in local fan allegiance. The same applies when the New York Yankees face the Mets. When they met in the 2000 World Series, yes, that was for everything, including bragging rights of the city. But ask any Yankee or Met if the other is their biggest rival: They will laugh at you.

To recap: Rangers-Islanders: Huge rivalry. Union-RPI hockey: Huge rivalry (same conference). Giants-Jets, and Siena-UAlbany? A bit more than just another game, with some pretty good social media smack and heightened local interest, but that’s it.

ADD TO WORST LOSS FILE

There are losses, there are bad losses, and then there are losses that suck the very souls out of fans, literally filling them with a burning numbness that jockeys with bouts of impotent rage, usually punctuated by bursts of profanity alternately muttered and shouted in the direction of the uncaring sports gods.

Yeah, been there.

I was in the stands when Dan Marino humiliated the Jets in the Fake Spike Game (1994), and when Carlos Beltran looked at strike three to end Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS at Shea Stadium.

That doesn’t make me special. All sports fans have scars.

(I put the worst loss, which I witnessed as a little kid on TV the very first year I began truly following sports, off to the side in a special category: The United States Olympic basketball team being jobbed of a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics. That was not just heartbreaking. That was a crime.)

What happened to Cleveland Monday night, losing to the Baltimore Ravens on a game-winning field-goal attempt getting blocked and turned into a kick-six the other way, was pure Browns. I can relate.

But the Detroit Lions, losing on a Hail Mary from Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who was given an untimed play because of an iffy facemask penalty, well, that’s enough for a Motown fan to contemplate giving up on sports entirely. Too painful.

Scars. For teams years, if not generations, removed from titles, it’s the only badge of honor that can be worn.

33 AND COUNTING

Union tied an NCAA record Saturday at Messa Rink. And that’s not good.

The women’s hockey team lost to Yale 2-1 in overtime, the 33rd straight winless game for the Dutchwomen (0-6-2, 0-12-4) dating back to last season.

Union had a chance to win it, but Kathryn Tomaselli’s shot off a breakaway with seconds to go in regulation whistled wide. Yeah, it’s been like that.

If the Dutchwomen have a star, it’s Melissa Black. She’s legit, with 43 saves on the afternoon. She recorded her 500th career stop Saturday.

She is freshman. Do the math. Again, not good.

In Union’s best weekend to date, a pair of 2-2 ties at Colgate and Cornell to close October, Black logged a ridiculous combined 97 saves. She followed that up with 104 the next weekend in a pair of losses, including 54 saves in a 2-1 loss vs. St. Lawrence. Goaltending is not the problem; despite being winless, Black has a 2.35 goals against average in 14 games.

Union has already eclipsed the men’s D-I winless record, held by Colorado College (32, January 1961 to February 1962). If the women lose their next game Friday at Maine (6-12), the dubious record is theirs alone. The next longest winless streak is 50, set by the Division III Wentworth men’s team from November 1994 to January 1997.

The ultimate mark should be impossible to best (or worst): D-III Chatham University did not win a contest from its inaugural Oct. 18, 2002 game until Jan. 19, 2008 — a span of 96 games. Chatham outright lost the first 73 games of the program’s existence.

But for now Union has only tied the Division I futility record, which was set from Nov. 10, 2006 to Nov. 10, 2007.

By Union College. Which lost every one of those 33 games — obviously also a record.

At least these Dutchwomen aren’t that bad.