Thursday Movie Picks (TV Edition): Rivalries

For the 52nd and final week of 2019 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We go into the subject of rivalries on television as it is a unique subject that always make things interesting. Even in the world of sports as my three picks are all based on HBO sports documentaries that were all narrated by Live Schreiber:

1. Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina

For anyone who follow college basketball probably know about the legendary rivalry between Duke and North Carolina as they’re both separated by eight miles of road with the former being a school of mid-upper class kids and the latter being a school for kids from Carolina. Featuring interviews with students of both schools as well as coaches including Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, the late North Carolina coach Dean Smith, current North Carolina head coach Roy Williams, former and current players from both schools including a guy who played for North Carolina named Mike. It’s a fascinating doc that showcases the intensity of the rivalry and how far both schools and its students are willing to go to piss each other.

2. Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals

For anyone that was born or grew up during the 1980s definitely know about Larry Bird and Magic Johnson as they were the guys who basically were part of a legendary rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Laker that defined basketball in the 1980s and saving the NBA from irrelevance. Featuring interviews with both men as well as journalists, teammates, coaches, and celebrities like Arsenio Hall, the rivalry of the two men were discussed but also an unlikely friendship between these two men who were different in a lot of ways but also had a lot in common in terms of value and sportsmanship despite the intensity of the rivalry.

3. McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice

In the world of tennis, the rivalry between John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg was intense and made something like tennis exciting to watch. Featuring interviews between the two men who have become lifelong friends, it is a documentary that showcases what was at stake in the rivalry that occurred in the late 70s/early 1980s and how it made both of them famous as well as infamous. Notably as McEnroe was this young American with a chip on his shoulder and Borg as this gifted Swede who had attracted the ladies. Both men discuss their ups and downs as well as how it helped them both in their later years as both of their tennis careers would wind down and even find brief joy as a team before they retired.

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