Super Bowl Plays Into Boston Vs. New York Rivalry

Paul Pierce spotted a few pals seated courtside at Madison Square Garden and wanted to make nice. So on his way to the foul line, the Boston Celtics star stopped by to slap hands and say hey to Plaxico Burress, R.W. McQuarters, and some other New York Giants.

Real friendly, real peaceful.

A minute later, Mr. Pierce went ballistic. His trash talking with Quentin Richardson of the Knicks escalated, and both of them were ejected.

"With the Super Bowl, with New York Yankees-Red Sox, that's just the way New York-Boston sports are," Mr. Pierce said. "For some reason when we play the Knicks, it's a heated game."

Oh, for the record: Mr. Pierce hopes the New England Patriots beat his buddies Sunday.

Be it on the field, court, diamond, or ice, that's how it is between Boston and New York.

Goes beyond Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent, and Bill Buckner, too. Way past Spygate or when Bruins rabble-rouser Mike Milbury climbed into the stands and banged a Rangers fan with his own shoe.

Think of Boston Pops vs. Metropolitan Opera. "Boston Legal" vs. "Law & Order." Boston cream pie vs. New York cheesecake. New England clam chowder vs. Manhattan clam chowder.

Culture or colleges, politicians or players, bring it on.

It's a long-running rivalry — say, Boston Marathon vs. New York City Marathon — that dates to the original Patriots and settlers. Maybe Paul Revere vs. Henry Hudson, right up to Governor Romney vs. Mayor Giuliani.

Now, the biggest game in America. Super Bowl, super rivalry.

"In every sport, doesn't matter what it is — could be checkers or chess — they want to beat the heck out of each other," the captain of the New York Islanders, Bill Guerin, said.

Mr. Guerin, by the way, is from Wilbraham, Mass. "Of course, I'm pulling for the Pats," he said.

The Islanders played at Boston a few days ago and lost. Among the fans watching at the TD Banknorth Garden was Paul Redmond, wearing a Patriots shirt.

To Mr. Redmond, it's pretty simple."I think of classic good vs. evil, right vs. wrong," he said. "Any stereotype you could use when you pit two people or groups against each other."

Leave it to a Steinbrenner to be a bit more blunt.

"Let's face it, I don't like 'em, any more than they like us," the New York Yankees senior vice president, Hank Steinbrenner, said, referring to the Red Sox.

"Of course, I'd like to see the Giants win because it's New York against Boston," he said. "But at the same time, I love Bill Belichick. I just think he's a genius. I hate to see the Patriots not get their just due because they've been dominant. More so than the Red Sox. Obviously more so than the Red Sox. Boston's doing pretty well right now."

Mr. Belichick, formerly an assistant with the New York Jets and Giants, will be trying to coach the Patriots to their fourth NFL championship in seven seasons.

Mayor Bloomberg, meanwhile, got his start in the Hub. Born in the suburb of Medford in 1942, he got his MBA from Harvard.

"I can tell you that when I lived in the Boston metropolitan area, they did not have a football team. So nobody can accuse me of having been a Patriot fan. I am a New York fan," he said. When Bloomberg was in graduate school, Fenway Park was home to the Boston Patriots of the old American Football League. At the same time, Yankee Stadium housed the Giants.

But the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry might be the most charged in sports.

"Right now the competition between the Red Sox and Yankees kind of parlays into the Rangers and Bruins," a Boston Bruins defenseman, Aaron Ward, said.

"It's always fun to beat New York. And when I was in New York, it was always fun to beat Boston."