Jordan Spieth at the A T & T Championship in February. Is the Masters’ champ and new golf phenom on his way to a rivalry with Rory McIlroy? Photograph by Erik Charlton.

On a recent installment of the “PBS NewsHour,” John Feinstein, author and sports columnist for The Washington Post, was asked to comment on the ascent of Jordan Spieth, golf’s latest phenom. He said he thought that Speith and Rory McIlroy had the opportunity to develop a great rivalry now and that for him, rivalries rather than dynasties make sports interesting.

Tell that to the fans of the New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers in various eras. They’ll tell you there’s nothing sweeter than the monotony of winning year after year.

But I know what he means: Fed and Rafa, Rafa and Nole, Nole and Andy, Andy and Fed, Fed and Nole, Andy and Rafa – tennis has always thrived on great rivalries and has a round robin of them going on now. Even when you have a dynasty like the Yanks have been, they were made better by their clashes with the Bosox (even if it sometimes tore your heart out as a Bombers’ fan). ...

The man who is perhaps the best swimmer in the world won’t be helping the U.S. win another “Duel in the Pool” when the five-year-old event is contested Dec. 20 and 21 in Glasgow. (This is one of those events that pits us against everyone else.)

It seems that an enthusiastic teenage girl ran into Ryan Lochte, literally, tearing a ligament in his left knee and spraining another. (In my second novel, “In This Place Your Hold Me,” the rakish star quarterback of the New York Templars breaks his leg when he slides off his girlfriend in a particularly lubricious encounter, paving the way for my main character, Quinton Day Novak, to become the signal-caller. I guess you can’t make this stuff up.) Read more...

Rivals spark sports

In praise of Ryan Lochte