Famous Sports Rivalries Examined in New University of Arkansas Press Book

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Rivals: Legendary Matchups That Made Sports History, edited by David K. Wiggins and R. Pierre Rodgers (paper $29.95), is a collection of 16 original essays that examines great sports rivalries. One-on-one rivalries featured in the book include Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, and Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Team rivalries include the Red Sox and Yankees, Ohio State and Michigan, and the Cowboys and Redskins.

A variety of sports, including track and field, golf, boxing, basketball, tennis, ice skating, baseball, football, and soccer, are covered, and together illustrate what is common to any rivalry: equally matched opponents that often have decidedly different backgrounds, styles, and personalities. These differences may center on race and culture, political and societal ideologies, personality, geography, or religion — a mix intensified by fans and the media.

According to Michael Oriard, author of Bowled Over: Big-Time College Football from the Sixties to the BCS Era, “rivalries distill sport to its essence: one on one, Us against Them, Good Guys vs. Bad Guys, however fans choose to define them.” Richard C. Crepeau, author of Baseball: America’s Diamond Mind, stated “Rivalries provide a public purpose that intensifies the meaning of a contest and gives it an emotional quality that produces a burning urgency for participant and spectator alike.”

David K. Wiggins is professor and director of the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism at George Mason University. He is also the editor of the UA Press’s Out of the Shadows: A Biographical History of African American Athletes, which was called “essential” by Choice Magazine. Co-editor R. Pierre Rodgers is associate professor in the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism at George Mason University.

On the University of Arkansas campus, the book is available at the University of Arkansas Bookstore in the Arkansas Union.