Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
Friday, June 16, 2006, Washington Post

Better Rivals Aren't Always Bitter

Golf fans are hoping that this week's U.S. Open comes down to a battle between the game's biggest stars: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

For years, Woods has been the best player in the world. He has won the four major golf championships -- the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA -- a total of 10 times. Mickelson has been just as good recently. He has won three majors, including the last two.

Now golf has a big rivalry. Woods vs. Mickelson. (In yesterday's first round, Mickelson shot an even-par 70, while Woods struggled to a 6-over 76.)

Rivalries make sports fun. It's great when two top athletes challenge each other to play their best. On Sunday, Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer for the French Open tennis title. Federer is the top-ranked men's tennis player in the world, but he can't seem to beat Nadal, currently ranked No. 2, on clay. Now every time Federer plays Nadal, it's a big match.

There have been lots of great sports rivalries.

Jack Nicklaus was one of the best golfers for about 25 years. He had rivalries with Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Lee Trevino. But his biggest rival was Tom Watson. In 1977 Nicklaus and Watson played together in the final two rounds of the British Open. Watson sank a short putt on the final hole to beat Nicklaus by a stroke. Golf fans still talk about that memorable match.

Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe had a great tennis rivalry. Borg beat McEnroe in the 1980 Wimbledon final in five heart-stopping sets, including a fourth-set tie-breaker that McEnroe won 18-16 to keep the match going. What made their rivalry interesting was that Borg was calm and cool on the court while McEnroe would scream, yell and be a bad sport.

Here's another great rivalry: Affirmed vs. Alydar. Affirmed was the last horse to win racing's Triple Crown, in 1978. Alydar came in second in each of those three races. What made the races so exciting was that Alydar came so close. Affirmed beat Alydar by one length in the Kentucky Derby and by a nose in the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes.

But my favorite sports rivalry was Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova. They were the top women's tennis players for much of the 1970s and '80s. Over 16 years they played each other 80 times, including 60 tournament finals. The matches were almost always close: Navratilova won 43 times, Evert 37.

But what made their rivalry special was that the two women remained friends. That's tough to do in competitive sports. When you are trying your hardest to win, it's easy to think that your opponent is a jerk or a poor sport, even though she is just trying to win, too.

Navratilova and Evert played hard and played fair. They forced each other to become the best tennis players they could be. But they always remembered that the person across the net was not the enemy. And that's something that all sports rivals -- Woods and Mickelson, Federer and Nadal, or kids on the playground -- should never forget.