Welcome into the Winklerverse. I am Bart Winkler.
Thought I'd slap something together for a quick car ride. I just wanted to take a look with the emergence of the Indiana Pacers the last couple of years in the NBA playoffs and the Milwaukee Bucks falling to them twice. I've been talking a lot about them.
I've been asking myself a lot about them in terms of where do I rank them in my hatred. I do not like the Pacers. And I didn't like the Pacers back in the 90s, late 90s, when the Bucks would make playoffs. We'd come home from school when they made the playoffs. TNT games at 4.30 in the afternoon. Not all of your buddies had TNT at the time.
So it was weird. That's what the playoff memories I have are of those early playoffs with Ray Allen and Big Dog. But we'd lose to the Pacers. And now, all these years later, they're losing to the Pacers again. But in between that, I haven't really thought about the Pacers. And I think that's kind of the way that these NBA rivalries have gone, where it's like the Bulls are a rival for a while, the Sixers are a rival for a while, the Celtics are a rival for a while, but they never stay that long.
Somebody else emerges. Kind of the same thing with the NFL. Like, who's outside of the Packers' division? Who's the big NFL rival? Right now, I would say it's the 49ers. But could it be the Eagles with everything going on tush-push? Could it be the Seahawks? I know it was that for sure for a long time.
But that seemingly is not what it was. The Cowboys, of course in the 90s it was the Cowboys, but I don't think they always stick. So I put together a list, which I think can be pretty stagnant with some qualifiers. So I put together a list. Over the course of my life, I think how these rivalries have gone and how I would rank teams with some spots being fluid.
So some spots are fluid. So I put together a list of my 10 biggest sports rivals, but with some spots being a bit fluid. At number 10 is a tie between, follow me here, NBA rival 2 and NFL non-divisional rival number 2. So higher up the list, there's going to be a divisional rival of the Packers that is not in their division. There's going to be a rival of the Packers not in their division. Everybody in the division is going to be on this list, but there's also going to be a team not in their division.
That rotates. But with the NFL being a little more intense and the Packers having all these playoff spots, we're going to put NFL rival 2. There's going to be two rivals on this list, but then again in the NBA, you could possibly have that as well. There could be two rivals.
However, we're not doing divisions. So on this list, for sure the Lions, Bears and Vikings will be on. There will be five NFL teams on this list. There will be two NBA teams on this list. So technically it's an 11 team list.
But at number 10, it's either NFL rival 2 or NBA rival 2. And I'll kind of go through who those teams might be right now at the end here. So it's not our divisional team. It's not the team we hate the most. Actually right now I would probably put for the Packers, I'd probably put the Eagles here or the Pacers.
That's where I'd put them. Oh, the Celtics. Eagles and Celtics. Because Celtics we hate, but it's been a little bit since that's happened. Yet anytime I watch the Celtics, my skin crawls, so they're still on. But right now I think I dislike the Eagles more than the Celtics, but that could rotate based on season.
So I feel like I've explained that decently from what it is in my head to what it is on your ears. At number 9 is the Minnesota Gophers. Now this is for Wisconsin Badger fans exclusively. And I don't put any other college football rivals here because those seem to come and go as well. Like Nebraska and Northwestern and Ohio State and Michigan and now with us not playing them as much, they seem to ebb and flow.
The Gophers, it's not that I even have disdain for the University of Minnesota. And when they play in basketball or any other sport, I'm not that bothered by it. But when they take the ax, it sucks. When they take the ax, it sucks. It drives me nuts. I hate that visual. Especially the P.J.
Fleck era. For the visual alone, the Gophers. And they should be, but they're on this list at number 9. At number 8 is Marquette for Wisconsin fans and probably Wisconsin for Marquette fans. Although I think if you're actually a Marquette fan, Wisconsin is number 1 on the top of the list.
You play them one time a year, but it's all that matters. The level of the rivalry is not the same. I'm not going to say it's big brother or little brother, but it's clear that Marquette cares about Wisconsin more than Wisconsin cares about Marquette. Marquette's jumped around conferences, Wisconsin's been in the Big Ten for forever, but they play each other and it's a good rivalry and it's a good in-state rivalry.
It would be better if they were losing recruits to each other more, which it doesn't seem like they do, but it's more of a one-sided thing. I would have put the Gophers over Marquette actually, but when the Gophers do win the acts and then Marquette fans make fun of Wisconsin football, which makes no sense because they don't have a team, that irks me. Marquette's on the list at number 8 of my top 10 sports rivals. I'm trying to keep this list as solid as I can.
There are some teams that rotate, but they're usually locked into a spot. At number 7 is the Detroit Lions. This may seem low, but typically there are other teams that I will hate more than the Lions, even in football. The Lions have been really nothing for most of my life. I think they're really cocky now. I thought everyone was like, okay Lions, good luck, we're rooting for you, kind of or not, but now they feel like they run the North because you win the division twice. Anybody who focuses on run the North, that's lame.
It is. I'm a big division guy, but it just feels lame. There's usually somebody I hate more than the Lions. The Lions, in 10 years if they're good, they could certainly change this, but there's usually another team in football that I hate more than the Lions. At number 6 is going to be NBA rival number 1. Whoever I hate the most in the NBA, I usually hate more than I hate the Lions.
I think that starts to make sense a little bit. The Pacers are number 1 right now. There's no team in the NBA I dislike more than the Pacers. This is previously and normally occupied by the Celtics, in the past the Sixers, maybe the Bulls, but those do ebb and flow. They really do. I don't think the Bucs, I think if you asked Bucs fans out of 100 who's their big rival, I mean for a while we would have said the Raptors.
Okay? It changes a bit. Right now it's the Pacers. And I do hate the Pacers more than the Lions right now, but when the Pacers aren't relevant to me or if the Bucs aren't relevant or whatever, that will change.
So right now that's where they're locked in. NBA rival 1. At number 5 is the St. Louis Cardinals. So I would say I dislike the Cardinals historically more than I dislike NBA rival 1. The Cardinals beating the Brewers in the playoffs multiple times. They've got a World Series win against you. To have a World Series win and be a divisional rival, that sucks.
That you can hang over their head a lot, and they do. And the 2011 NLCS, the Brewers have been able to have better success against them, but the whole devil magic thing. When you hate the Cardinals, you hate the Cardinals. And even though the rivalry doesn't seem as red hot right now, I'm comfortable with some changes of course, but I'm comfortable floating them at number 5. The point of this is, there will be moments where the Cardinals might not be 5. They'll be like 8 or 9 if I ranked them in that moment. Or they'd be 1 or 2 if I was ranking them in that moment.
But over the course of my life and how I think is a good barrier, is they come in at number 5. Number 4 is NFL non-divisional rival 1. So this team is a team that normally the Packers face in the playoffs. Right now it's the 49ers. I dislike the 49ers very strongly. And I do dislike them more than the Lions. But typically there's usually a team if you think about the last 30 years. Like I said, this has been the Seahawks, or the Niners, or the Giants, or the Cowboys. And because of the playoffs, you've typically hated them more than you've hated the Lions.
So Lions on there is a divisional team for sure, but usually there's another team that you hate in the NFL more than Detroit. And number 3 is the Chicago Cubs. Chicago Cubs is a tricky one because if you're old enough, the Brewers were your American League team and the Cubs were your National League team. I don't run from the fact that I loved Ryan Samberg, Andre Dawson, Mark Grace, anybody on the 89 Cubs.
You watch them on WGN 100 times a day. And if the Brewers never switched leagues, I probably would have tried to get to a game at the 2016 World Series. I'd probably be like one of these guys that likes them both because I have an AL team and an NL team at a time when that was a thing.
It's scary thinking about that world. It's scary knowing that I could have owned a Brewers jersey and a Cubs jersey. I never would have picked the Cubs over the Brewers. I didn't, but I did like them both. But now I really don't. And the whole Miller Park or Wrigley North thing, the invasion, the way that there is a distinctly different crowd, it is unbelievable.
I don't think the Venn diagram combines on itself at all. When you go to Wrigley, it's an entirely different fan base than the people that come here for games. Not the same people. I wager I'm one of few people to have ever gone to Wrigley for a Brewers-Cubs game and American Family Field. I think a lot of Brewers fans maybe have done that. But Cubs fans, I think, are very limited. I don't think there's a lot of Cubs fans that have done both at least within the same five-year standpoint. Not in one season. There's nobody that's going to bowl because you're a different breed of human.
You're a different breed of human. So Cubs come in at three. Vikings or Bears?
I struggled with this one. I had Vikings at first at one and Bears at two. I think the team, the Vikings team disgusts me more. I can picture myself growing up in Chicago and being a Bears fan. I feel like if I grew up in Minnesota and was a Vikings fan at age 10 or 11, I'd dip out in the Broncos or something.
I hope I would. But the team, I've actually hated the Vikings team more with the Jared Allens and the other people that I've not liked. That I can clearly think of at the top of my head. But the team, I've hated more. The Bears were the one that I got ingrained in my head. This is your rival. And yeah, in the late 80s, early 90s, it was. The Vikings have taken that over time.
Plus when I lived in western Wisconsin, right on the border, especially in college, you can get a lot of that. But I think the Bears have, like the Vikings, Vikings fans, it's like they hate you, you hate them. What I'm trying to say is I think Bears fans are innately stupid. I think the way that they argue is stupid.
It's like a Marquette fan arguing about Wisconsin football. They will find things that don't matter and try to brag against them. Like they think that the game they won at the end of the 2024 season mattered when it really didn't. But they'll talk about that. They'll use that. They'll say, you know, we've won at NFC North more recently or we've had more. Even things that aren't true, they'll find the one true thing that doesn't make sense, like we've had a longer winning streak against.
They'll always find something stupid. They're bad at memes, which matters. The Facebook accounts are worse.
The Twitter accounts are worse. They do feel a little brought to the Green Bay and they won't admit it. They're trying to now move closer to the border with this Arlington Heights move. So just like, I think if we're going to do this historically, in my 40 years and hopefully 40 more, the Bears are going to be the typical rival of a Wisconsin sports fan. The whole fib thing in Illinois and it just feels like, it feels like they should be one. So to go backwards, one, I'm going to put the Bears. Two, I'm going to put the Vikings. Three, the Cubs. Four, NFL rival number one, which right now is the 49ers. Five is the St. Louis Cardinals. Six is NBA rival number one, which right now is the Pacers. Seven, Lions. Eight, Marquette. Nine, the Gophers. And then 10, either NBA rival two or NFL rival two.
And right now I'm kind of pissed at the Eagles for this whole tush push thing. So I'll put them ahead of Boston right now. So that I think is a good starting point for where a rivalry truly lies. Again, at different points they can move. You know, sometimes if you ask me, yes, the Cubs are number one or the Vikings are number one or, you know, even game one after the Pacers beat the Knicks, they're number one for an hour.
But I think that's a good basis of where things stand as far as rivals. Thank you as always for stopping into the Winkler-verse. Just wanted to chime in with that, do something a little different, a nice little car ride podcast for you. We're always brought to you by Happy Place Hemp. The promo code is BART. 25% off each and every order at HappyPlaceHemp.com. The gummies, the seltzers, very popular, different flavors and different varieties and different levels of how much THC is in each. So certainly check those out at HappyPlaceHemp.com or visit them in Mosquigo. Thank you as always for stopping into the Winkler-verse and we'll talk to you again very soon.
