East vs. West

The battle rages on. The most prolific, yet peaceful, regional warfare since the Civil War has dominated North American popular culture, from hip-hop music to sports for decades, season-in, season-out.

East vs. West. Tupac vs. Biggie. Magic vs. Bird. The NBA Finals, NHL Playoffs and the NCAA basketball regionals host the most tear-jerking, heartbreaking, riot-inducing and elation-riddled battles in the history of competition.

The battles crown champions and breed vengeance while promoting fiery rivalries that envelope entire populations.

March Madness is bursting bubbles and awarding monstrous basketballers the opportunity to slip on Cinderella’s glass slipper, as awkward as it may sound, and it’s doing it all while being split into regional brackets — including an East and West.

Even exhibition leagues compete for superiority. Major League Baseball divides itself every February and March and heads for both an East and West Coast spring training destination. Most MLB teams from the East Coast are destined for the Grapefruit League, a Floridian escape for their preseason, while the Westerners make their pilgrimages to the Cactus League in Arizona’s southwestern paradise.

Both states compete to host the Spring Training camps along with their fans, teams, vacationers and above all else, their money.

The PGA Tour begins its season on a West Coast sweep in the heavenly Hawaiian Islands before its stop in the iconic hills of Pebble Beach. The tour makes a final West Coast appearance in Cardinal Country at the TPC Scottsdale in Arizona. The gentlemen’s game is sent eastward in the most unorthodox fashion by the Arizonians. The stadium course is the only in the world of its kind, boasting raucous and rabid fans complete with foam-fingers and beer. The boos, “Get in the Hole!” and “USA!” chants are hurled at every tour professional brave enough to swing his stick on the par-3 16th hole.

The Western display of fanhood utterly opposes the atmosphere of the Eastside swing; one that will present the royal prestige of Augusta National and release the rage of the Blue Monster at Doral.

All biases aside, the East Coast means business for a professional golfer, get serious or get embarrassed. The Green Jacket that will be awarded to the winner of the Masters is one of professional sports’ most paramount trophies, only to be worn by the golfer that can conquer the elite undulations of Augusta’s greens and drive its unrivaled rolling fairways. The following week gifts the Plaid Jacket to the victor at The Verizon Heritage. Those two East Coast tournaments are capable of adding instant, chic upgrades to any golfer’s already eclectic wardrobe.

The Winter Olympics have left the West Coast in the wake of the world’s premiere sporting events that happens only twice a decade. The games appear to have securely placed the NHL back on the sports map with its thrilling and unfortunate performance by Teeam U.S.A. in international hockey. The NHL pits the best of the West vs. the beast from the East for their Stanley Cup Championship trophy.

North Americans are eyeballs deep in the most passionate encrusted turf war in the history of regional conflicts. Keep watching, fighting and representing.

Get it. Got it. Good.