Playing it hard
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NBA Legends: Boston Celtics versus LA Lakers
Before we shouted “Kobe!” as we shot a crumpled piece of paper into a trash can, a raging combat between the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Boston Celtics and Los Angeles (LA) Lakers was already forged in the early 1950s when the NBA began.
Back in the heyday of the NBA, the names that truly stirred audiences were the greats of the 1980s—Celtics’ deadly shooter Larry Bird and Lakers’ 6’9 point guard Irvin “Magic” Johnson. Coming off the NBA draft, Johnson paved the way for his “Showtime” team to win the trophy against Larry Bird’s unloaded team in 1980 after an eight-year drought.
After a decade of basketball war, the Bird-Magic rivalry ended in the 1990s—which featured one of the greatest teams ever and the comment section of sports pages’ G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time) Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls.
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Pure loathe: Ortiz versus Shamrock
If you haven’t heard of Filipino MMA fighter Brandon Vera, you surely haven’t seen his humbleness and outstanding work ethic—which is taught by the sport he practices inside and outside the cage.
Although modern-day prominent Ultimate Fighting Championship match-up Connor McGregor and Nate Diaz gave the sport a bad name with their rude remarks, respect was still ongoing outside—with the deep honor in fighting each other as shown in a certain recent tweet. However, Tito Ortiz disregarded it as he showed rudeness in and out of his match-ups, including fellow Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock. Ortiz’s quarrel with “The world’s most dangerous man” commenced in 1999 when Ortiz defeated a fighter in Shamrock’s club, also known as the Lion’s Den. But instead of showing respect after the game, the “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Ortiz threw f-bombs at the faces of his foes which eventually blew a fuse in Shamrock. Four years later, the “Ortiz vs. Shamrock 1st fight” dawned and saw one of the most provocative fights in sports’ history.
Destroying Shamrock, Ortiz won the fight through his destructive elbows. Extending his dominance in the next revenge matches, Ortiz made sure Shamrock wouldn’t see the second round thanks to a few technical knockouts.
