“Rivalries kick sports up a satisfying notch, as almost all fans have a big game or big match they look forward to on a regular basis. These 16 essays by academics in recreation-related fields-no beat sportswriters here-are all naturally on the scholarly side, yet they are accessible in their examination of famous rivalries and what stoked them (parity in skills, polarities in team or athlete personalities that enable fans to bestow a meaning greater than sports on their contests, and, yes, media hype, to name a few factors). Some will quibble with the choices: why not Dempsey-Tunney, Army-Navy, 1950s-era Yankees-Dodgers? Does anyone on this side of the Atlantic truly hang on the outcome of the Davis and Ryder Cups? But no one can dispute the importance of Ali-Frazier, Bird-Johnson, Navratilova-Evert, Ohio State-Michigan, Yankees-Red Sox, and most other picks.

VERDICT

Reader interest may flag when the editors, both professors at the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism at George Mason University, move out of the mano a mano realm and into team rivalries, but this book will be appreciated by a wide audience. Recommended for many sports buffs.”

—Library Journal (Jim Burns, Jacksonville P.L., FL)