What makes a rivalry?

It's Friday night and the scoreboard resets for the varsity game.

You question why you are even out in such loud, noisy stands. But you see your team rush out on the field or court, wearing the colors of your alma mater. Then, that team you despise so much steps in the footprints of your favorite team.

It's another case of a good old inner-city rivalry, part of what makes high school sports so magical.

How did these rivalries begin? Why are they still around? Who were some of the major players involved with forming them? And why do we care so much about them?

These are questions our Iowa BIG group is exploring in a sports documentary about local high school rivalries. There is nothing that brings a city together more than high school sports and our group feels we need to revive the great Cedar Rapids/Linn County rivalries.

We can't complete this project alone, though. We would greatly value any contributions from the Cedar Rapids-Marion community. You are the people who make these rivalries happen, so we need your help to create an accurate representation of them. No matter if you're a Kennedy Cougar, Linn-Mar Lion, Washington Warrior, Prairie Hawk, Jefferson J-Hawk or a Xavier Saint, we can use your resources and knowledge.

We want to do the histories of these rivalries justice because we know how important they are to our city.

If you have information to help with this project, contact Nate Pruett and npruett@iowabig.org

For more on Iowa BIG click here.