Most of the people you’re supposed to hate in a rivalry just grew up a few miles the other way.

Rivalries run on an accident of geography. The people on the other side went to the school down the road, support what their family supported, and would be your teammates if one line on a map had been drawn differently. The hostility is borrowed and the actual difference is tiny.

Talk to somebody from the rival team or school this week as a person rather than an opponent. Keep competing hard, and keep the competing inside the game where it belongs.