The Ultimate Grudge Match

NPR is running a story today (link here) on the Cricket match tomorrow, between Pakistan and India.  Having visited India in the past, and worked with both Pakistanis and Indians, I CANNOT think of another match, anywhere in the world, between ANY rivals, that is as extreme as this one.  Having fought 3 wars this century, and both having been part of the same British colony (from whom they learned the sport), separated by an arbitrary line drawn up hastily in just 3 days by a rather clueless British politician, both Pakistan and India share the same continent, many similar cuisines, a hatred of the British, a visceral hatred of each other, and a passion for cricket.  I've heard both young and old, men and women, rich and poor, voice their extreme antipathy of their neighboring country.

Bears / Packers?  Yankees / Red Sox?  Miami / Jets?  Eagles / Steelers?  No, none of these rivalries have even a fraction of the same intensity that India / Pakistan does in cricket.