View From Bennett Ave

So I was watching a little of the bronze medal-determining beach volleyball game between China and Brazil yesterday and struggling with the team I felt I needed to root for.  Being a fan of the USA, of course, and desiring that we hold off the Chinese in the overall medal count, I was determined to root for the Brazilians.  And normally I would be happy to root for bikini-clad women from the land of the samba.  But these two, especially Larissa, made that difficult.  While the Chinese pair played hard and rarely complained, either to each other or the officials, the Brazilians bitched about everything.  Larissa was constantly in her teammate's grill and while I assume not all of that was negative--after all she was screwing up as much as the other--it was difficult to watch.  So under normal circumstances I would root for the Chinese team, based on how they acted on the sand, but I was struggling to root against them.
Which brings me to a question for you all (and I want some feedback!).  In rooting for a team in any sport, but let's keep the discussion to the best one there is, do you root against your chief rival in every game they play or do you want them to win the others so that your victory over them is that much better?  In other words, Auburn fans, do you hate Alabama so much you want them to be 0-12 every year or do you want it to play out like 2010 every season?  I root for Notre Dame (when I am not an impartial college football writer of course) and want them to beat good Michigan and USC teams.  ND wins championships when their rivals are playing at the best (and the Irish actually have a good squad...it's finally returning in 2012) and not when they stink.  But I have friends who hate those programs so much that they come close to wishing bodily harm to every member of the team, past and present.
So where do you stand on the subject?  Root against your rivals 365 days a year or begrudgingly want them to win a lot of games each year because your 75-2 dismantling of them will look so much better?