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Red Sox, Yankees players share their favorite sports rivalries

Mike Stobe / Getty Images Sport / Getty

NEW YORK – The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees played this past weekend, play again this coming weekend, and have another four-game series left after that. There's also a realistic possibility that they'll meet in the playoffs.

Now that both teams are good again, there's some added spice in a rivalry that always has heat, but has suffered a bit in recent years.

"This is pretty special," Red Sox first baseman Mitch Moreland said of the rivalry. "This is a pretty good one."

It certainly is, but the world of sports contains many special rivalries, and players on either side of the Red Sox-Yankees tussle have their own favorites. For Moreland, who grew up in Amory, Miss., and went to college an hour down the road, it's an easy pick.

"Probably won't be your most popular answer, but I went to Mississippi State, so Mississippi State and Ole Miss would be my No. 1," Moreland said. "Growing up and having lived in that all the way through my childhood, yeah."

On the other side of the Boston locker room, there's a similar sentiment, but for a different reason.

"For me, it's Ole Miss-Mississippi State or Ole Miss-LSU, that's the big rivalry," said Drew Pomeranz, who played his college ball with the Rebels. "That's the only one I can compare. … Tailgating in college every time that game came along was always hardcore. Probably did some inappropriate things towards each other that you wouldn't want to share, but it was always fun to be around."

So, while Moreland and Pomeranz are united on the diamond, when it comes to college football, the teammates will have a rivalry of their own.

"I know it," Moreland said. "I ain't really much of the trash-talkin' type when it comes down to that stuff. They've had a little trouble over the last few weeks, so we haven't brought up the sore subject a whole lot. Might be a little more at stake this year now that we've been teammates, get a little something going in November."

November is not only time for the Egg Bowl, but it marks the start of college basketball season, and that's where a couple of Yankees find themselves on the same side.

"Carolina-Duke, basketball - this seems pretty similar to that," said Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle. "Two heated rivals, it's pretty cool. … Carolina is my team."

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

"Those Duke-North Carolina basketball games, man, that's a real good rivalry whenever they play," third baseman Todd Frazier said. "Mike Krzyzewski's been there for years, and Roy Williams, and back to Dean Smith, they've had a really good rivalry. Something I would stop my day and watch, that would be one of them. My cousin was a big Duke fan, so I was rooting against her all the time."

Frazier added that he wished he had been alive to see Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier box, while Yankees reliever David Robertson kept it simple, saying, "I love watching the Alabama-Auburn game, every year. That's my big game. Alabama, Roll Tide, man."

Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi attended an SEC school at Arkansas, but went outside the conference and picked Michigan-Ohio State as his favorite rivalry, having grown up outside Columbus. Reigning American League Cy Young winner Rick Porcello went the pro route, as the New Jerseyan chose Giants-Cowboys.

Aaron Judge went for the other Giants; having grown up in the Bay Area, he was a fan of baseball's great western rivalry between San Francisco and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"I never got a chance to go to any of them, but just watching on TV with my parents, it was still something to look forward to," the Yankees outfielder said. "You'd mark your calendar, as a kid, when those two would be playing. I was a Giants fan, always rooted for the Giants."

On the flip side was Yankees infielder Chase Headley, who didn't choose baseball or a team he grew up watching, but did pick one he gets to see all the time. Headley grew up in Colorado, then went to the University of Tennessee. While he is into the Tennessee-Florida football rivalry, he's also stayed in the Volunteer State as an adult.

"I'm a hockey fan, and I have season tickets to the Predators, so when the Blackhawks come in, it's fun," Headley said. "It hasn't been much of a rivalry - obviously pretty one-sided until this year, it was different. … It's a great city. We've had season tickets for four or five years now.

"I was surprised when we first got in, how much of a hockey town it was, because it wasn't a traditional market. They do a really good job with the arena and everything, and they put a good product on the ice, too."

Hockey, though, is not for everyone. Neither is football, nor basketball, nor even other baseball.

"I got nothing special," Red Sox catcher Sandy Leon said. "I really like to play the game, and I know the Yankees and Red Sox go way back. After that, it's nothing. I just enjoy this game."

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