*In light of Kobe Bryant's tragic passing, we're re-airing our series on the rivalry between Kobe and Shaquille O'Neal.* 

It’s 1996, and the Los Angeles Lakers are priming for greatness. First they sign the gargantuan, indomitable Shaquille O’Neal. Then they bring on a 17-year-old with epic potential: Kobe Bryant. What a coup, right? There’s only one problem. Shaq and Kobe can’t stand each other. (This is the first episode in a six-part series.)

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For years, football fans were divided. You were either a Tom Brady fan or a Peyton Manning fan. The two quarterbacks came to define the modern NFL, as they cemented their status as all-time greats. It was a rivalry between two players with remarkable similarities and differences—one who came from football royalty, and one who’d been long overlooked.

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It was the king versus the upstarts. The superman versus the superteam. It was LeBron versus the Warriors. The rivalry, which spanned four straight NBA Finals, would reshape basketball for years to come. And it began with two kids from Akron, Ohio—one who lived in poverty, and one who grew up the son of NBA royalty.

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For nearly twenty years, Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice wowed football fans with their dazzling speed and athleticism. And for nearly twenty years, neither man could stand the other. There were on-field battles, handshakes ignored, wars of words, and blow-ups in the media. And for one contentious season, they were forced to be teammates with a shared goal: a Super Bowl championship.

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The Mets and the Yankees may share a city, but they’ve never really been rivals. That all changes in the summer of 2000. 

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Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. It's one of the greatest rivalries in boxing history, and it began with sterling mentors, Olympic dreams, and bad luck.

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Blasts. Jacks. Moonshots. Grand salamis. Nothing's quite so mythical as baseball's home run. In 1998, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa reminded the nation of that as they tried to smash into the record books. They thought they were going to save baseball. Instead, they destroyed their reputations.

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What makes the rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma so doggone contentious? Maybe it’s that these states hate each other so much they almost went to war over a bridge. Maybe it’s the underhanded stunts coaches like Mike Leach have pulled to win. Or maybe it’s just because with great proximity comes great hostility. Over the next three episodes, we’ll dig into this unparalleled grudge match.

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For the next six episodes, we're focusing on two of the greatest rivalries in college football: Georgia vs. Florida and Texas vs. Oklahoma. We begin with Georgia vs. Florida, a long-simmering, start-studded, completely unruly matchup. These schools have hated each other for a century. Here's why.

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It’s 1996, and the Los Angeles Lakers are priming for greatness. First they sign the gargantuan, indomitable Shaquille O’Neal. Then they bring on a 17-year-old with epic potential: Kobe Bryant. What a coup, right? There’s only one problem. Shaq and Kobe can’t stand each other. (This is the first episode in a six-part series.)

You can binge all episodes of Sports Wars exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.