One crucial thing enduring sports rivalries have are on-field protagonists.
The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees had Bucky Dent, Bill Lee, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez for fans of both teams to focus on – and let’s be honest, hate — for decades. More recently, the Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers could count on Richard Sherman, Golden Tate, Colin Kaepernick, Michael Crabtree, Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll to keep things interesting.
But the Sounders and Portland Timbers? A storied 40-plus years of history to be sure, but few games lately of much importance.