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Portland, Santa Clara renew heated rivalry

By Graham Hays
ESPN.com

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Few things inflame passions quite like a good soccer rivalry. Just ask Mike Gilleran, the commissioner of the West Coast Conference. Before taking his current job in 1984, Gilleran was a young American living in London who enjoyed taking in matches from the league's top division, now known as the Premier League. But on one particular day, Gilleran nearly found himself face to fist with a decidedly unhappy group of fans of the London team West Ham United, a club which boasts a lengthy and fierc ...

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