Want to send an overweight, near-sighted sportswriter into a tizzy (and who doesn’t)? Tell him that there was no such thing as a Red Sox-Yankees rivalry before 2004.

I get very irritable whenever someone tells me the Sox could not be considered the Yanks rivals until they actually beat them when it meant something. My first response was to say “I guess the 1946, 1967, 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1995 regular seasons didn’t mean anything.” Then I’d cite Webster’s definition of rival – “one who tries to get or do the same thing as another, or to equal or surpass another competitor.” As we know all too well, hey weren’t succeeding, but weren’t the Red Sox at least trying to equal or surpass the Yankees for decades?

I bring this up because I’m hearing a lot of people in denial about the budding Mountain Valley/Cape Elizabeth rivalry. Granted, it doesn’t go back as far as Sox/Yanks, or even Jay/Livermore Falls, who renew acquaintances tonight. And one does get the sense that it’s been artificially fueled by the juvenille YouTube and message board battles. But if Mountain Valley/Cape isn’t a legit rivalry yet, it’s well on it’s way.

There is no denying that Mountain Valley is the standard against which all other Class B teams are measured. No one knows this better than the folks in Cape Elizabeth like head coach Aaron Filieo. He’s openly acknowledged that they’re not just trying to reach the level of success Mountain Valley has established in its brief history, but he would like to see the passion for high school football approach what it is in Rumford/Mexico.

Of course, Cape is one of the new kids on the Campbell Conference block, trying to establish its own identity and, naturally, using Mountain Valley as the template. This is met with disdain from some, including some in the Mountain Valley community who turn their noses up at the idea that such an unseasoned program could even be considered in the same universe as their mighty Falcons. They try to act indifferent about Cape, as if they’re just another newbie unworthy of their concern, like Poland or Gray-New Gloucester.

The funny thing is, a lot of these folks will be piling into their SUVs around 4 o’clock this afternoon and making the 2-plus hour drive south to support their Falcons. Many of them do the same thing for road trips to Cumberland or Falmouth, too, which is one of the things that sets them apart from every other program in the conference. But the Mountain Valley caravan will be longer tonight than it’s been for any road game this season, and Filieo knows it.

“They’re going to have more fans that we are. And they’re going to be louder than our fans,” he said. “Our fans don’t show up until halfway through the first quarter.”

To have a rivalry, you have to have a history of big games between the two teams. The list is short between the Falcons and Capers (a close regular-season finale in 2005, two intense games at Hosmer last year, including the conference championship), but it is growing rapidly. You also have to have some tension between the respective fan-bases, and if you don’t think there is tension between Cape and Mountain Valley, you probably don’t log on to the Internet very often.

This was why I never understood why the Sox and Yankees couldn’t be considered rivals. Red Sox fans were obviously obsessed with the Yankees, and Yankee fans, despite trying to act aloof around Red Sox fans, couldn’t help but show how much they cared with all the “19-18” chants and Bambino signs. Just pop in a tape or DVD of Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS and try convince yourself that Johnny Damon hit two home runs and Derek Lowe pitched a six-inning one-hitter and, poof, it was a rivalry all of a sudden.

Judging by Filieo’s comments, Cape still has a little ways to go to hold up its end of the bargain and send things to the next level, but any self-professed Mountain Valley fan who tells you he doesn’t pay any more attention to Cape Elizabeth than Lake Region or Greely probably couldn’t tell you where to alternative parking when the lot at Hosmer Field fills up at 5:30 p.m. on select Friday nights.

I will grant you that a win by Cape tonight and things will get even more interesting between the two teams. A documentary may not be enough to tell the story then. We may need a full-length feature film, with Anthony Michael Hall starring as Jim Aylward.

But even if Mountain Valley wins, it will not have been just another win for the Falcons. It will be their biggest one of the season, and a biggger one won’t come along for another two weeks, when Cape Elizabeth and Mountain Valley meet again in the Campbell Conference championship and another chapter in a budding rivalry will be written.