Used to be a great, bitter rivalry, the NL equivalent of Red Sox-Yankees, and possibly, at its peak even more intense. Has cooled steadily since the mid-sixties, but I suspect it wouldn't take much to bring it back. 

Of course, what it would take is both of them to have half decent teams.  Until the 2008 Giants stop playing their 1954 roster, that's not going to happen

THERE HAS SERIOUSLY BEEN MURDERS OVER THIS RIVALRY

Legit, ancient rivalry on both coasts, strongest in the old days in Manhattan and Brooklyn in the 40's and 50's and in the 60's on the West Coast, though it's still there to this day. The Dodgers were usually pretty bad up until the 40's while the Giants had some amazing teams in the early 1900's and the 20's. I'd say that it was always there, but really took off in the 40's.

jgls is right. I don't really care about hating the Dodgers because I respect them and they're a good team every year. Giants fans do get more hyped up. I mean, a few years ago, a Giants fan shot a Dodgers fan and killed him after an argument of simply who was better outside of Dodger Stadium.

A great one but nowhere near as bitter as it was from 1947 to 1957. There has NEVER been a rivalry as intense, at any time and in any sport, as the Dodger-Giant rivalry of that period. (The current Yankee-Bosox rivalry is NOTHING in comparison.) It was still going strong in the 60's, the most famous moment being the Marichal/Roseboro bat incident. Still strong but nothing like it was.

i get the feeling the giant fans take this one a lot more seriously than the dodger fans do.