Football is a team game, sure. But there’s a reason Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have butted heads for 15 years, often when seasons are on the line. The best quarterbacks of their generation will meet again Sunday — for the 17th time — in the AFC championship game. “I’ve always given the boring answer: It’s the Colts vs. the Patriots, and now it’s the Broncos vs. the Patriots,” Manning said. Don’t be fooled. The rivalry is real. Brady holds an 11-5 advantage, but Manning has won two of their three AFC title game meetings. Manning vs. Brady is one of the best rivalries in sports, ranking somewhere among these classics:
1 Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, 1979-91
Scouting report: They first met in the 1979 NCAA championship game, when Johnson’s Michigan State team took down Bird’s undefeated Indiana State squad. The rivalry spilled into the NBA, where they combined to win eight of nine NBA titles between 1980 and 1988.
The peak: 1984-85. Bird’s Celtics won the 1984 NBA title after a series-swinging brawl in Game 4. Magic’s Lakers came back the next season to knock off the Celtics for the NBA crown.
The score: Each owns three MVP awards, and both were 12-time all-stars. Magic won five NBA titles to Bird’s three.
They said it: “When the new schedule would come out each year, I’d grab it and circle the Boston games. To me, it was The Two and the other 80,” Johnson said.
2 Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, 1971-75
Scouting report: The most thrilling rivalry in the golden age of heavyweight boxers, Ali and Frazier met three times during the 1970s, including “The Fight of the Century.”
The peak: 1971. Ali won the title in 1964. But boxing authorities banned him in 1967 because of his Vietnam War protest. Frazier took over the title. They finally met at Madison Square Garden, and Frazier won a unanimous 15-round decision.
The score: 2-1. Ali won the next two matchups, a decision in New York in 1974 and a TKO in the “Thrilla in Manilla” in 1975.
They said it: “It was like death. Closest thing to dyin’ that I know of,” Ali said after winning the match in Manilla.
3 Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova, 1972-89
Scouting report: After the Women’s Tennis Association introduced its ranking system in 1975, Evert or Navratilova held the No. 1 spot for 592 consecutive weeks.
The peak: 1984. Evert held the year-end No. 1 ranking in seven of eight years between 1974 and 1981. Navratilova took over in 1982. In the 1984 U.S. Open, Navratilova, using a newfound power game, rallied to win 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
The score: Each won 18 Grand Slam tournament titles. In 80 head-to-head matches (61 in tournament finals), Navratilova holds a 43-37 edge.
They said it: “To beat Martina, I had to take chances, I had to play out of the box,” Evert told The New York Times.
4 Jack Nicklaus vs. Arnold Palmer, 1961-75
Scouting report: Between 1960 and 1966, Palmer and Nicklaus combined to win six of seven Masters. But their back-and-forth extended all over the PGA Tour.
The peak: 1962. Just 22 years old, Nicklaus earned his first professional victory — but only after an era-changing, 18-hole playoff against Palmer, 32, in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Pa.
The score: Palmer finished with 62 PGA Tour wins and seven majors. Nicklaus won 73 times, with a record 18 majors.
They said it: “Not winning this one probably was the biggest disappointment of my life,” Palmer said of losing the 1962 U.S. Open.
5 Seabiscuit vs. War Admiral, 1938
Scouting report: Seabiscuit’s takedown of the mighty War Admiral was perhaps the first trash-talking, call-out event in American sports.
The peak: 1938. War Admiral won the Triple Crown in 1937. Seabiscuit was a small throwaway revived by an outsider owner, Charles Howard, and trainer, Tom Smith. They goaded War Admiral’s handlers into a match race.
The score: Seabiscuit 1, War Admiral 0. They met just once, at Pimlico. Seabiscuit won by 4 lengths and set a track record.
They said it: “A little horse with the heart of a lion and the flying feet of a gazelle yesterday proved his place as the gamest thoroughbred that ever raced over an American track,” Grantland Rice wrote.
