I disagree. Every Braves fan I know hates the Mets more than any other team (along with the Yankees), with a passion, too.

I hear what you are saying, but I don’t think the Phillies will spend enough on a consistent basis for there to be an extended rivalry of the likes of a Mets/Braves.

Sure everyone had a rivalry with the Braves b/c they were the Best team in the NL for a long long time. But if you asked anyone on Mets who they loved to beat it was always the Braves and vice versa. That was the rivalry.

Phililes aren’t even close to that in my book…although I am starting to despise them. The difference b/w them and the Braves is that I have respect for the Braves. Philles get zero respect.

That’s what I’m thinking too. They won’t spend what it takes to keep Howard, Utley, and Hamels in Philly… and they’ll be right back where they started. I think we’ll definitely enjoy a nice rivalry with the Phils for a few years, but I don’t see it sustaining itself long-term… which is a shame because it makes perfect geographical sense.

As long as they have Larry, and Tom takes the mound at Shea to a Gregorian Chant of boos, the Braves will always be a rival. But, something just isn’t the same. No Maddux, No Smirk, no Don Sutton. It’s just a hair below where it used to be. . . though a pennant race could change that very quickly.

And a lot of that has to do with how quickly the Phillies got in our faces. With the Phillies, we have the Perfect Cliche of rivalries — geographic proximity, bad blood (be it real or the players’ tongue-in-cheek attempt to enter the world of pro wrestling), competitive balance, and a compelling storyline left over from last season. They swept us thrice last year, people. Thrice — and Jimmy Rollins took away an (in my view undeserved, though not a travesty) MVP simply for meeting the lofty expectations floated for him by his own big mouth.

You read a lot of grudging respect for Larry. Smoltz is just too much of a Ned Flanders to really despise. Teixiera?? Escobar? McCann? Does anyone really feel the same way about these players as we do about Cole Hamels, “J-Roll”, or Shane “Fake Hustle” Victorino?

Because rvialries go through ups and downs — sometimes, the teams just aren’t good at the same time for a long period. That said, with the Cards out of our division, I really can’t see it rekindling unless we have several playoff matchups or serious fights for the wild card (and we can hope it doesn’t come to that, because that would mean one of our other rivals got the best of us in the division.)

my step dad lives in GA, and I’ve also found this to be true. I got booed outside of the Fox theater because of my hat once (this is notable becasue Atlantans are pretty polite).