RIP Muhammad Ali

[JC]

The only other one on his level as far as being legendary goes is Pele and he's still with us.

Gretzky

 

[wicked]

What the man did for humanity in his last 30 years, while battling a horrible disease, on its own makes him great.

I think Ali-Liston was supposed to be in Boston, but got moved for some reason to Lewiston?

 

[Vombatus]

Who was the last truly iconic sports figure to die? I was born after 1975, so I wasn't around for Ali's heyday, but I can't remember someone's this legendary passing. Maybe I have a poor memory.

This triggered a thought - not really to answer your question, but I was reading about Evel Knievel the other day. Between Ali and Evel, they sure showed up on a lot of Saturday afternoons on ABC's Wide World of Sports in the 1970s.

Will miss them both. RIP.

 

[Huggy]

RIP to the greatest sports figure of my lifetime.

 

[cranberry]

The thing to me about Ali was that it had so very little to do with boxing. It was refusing to go to Vietnam and articulating his reasoning so loudly and clearly and never backing down from it. He lost three years at the peak of his career, but nobody brought him down or silenced him. He kept saying a lot of things white people didn't want to hear or weren't ready to hear at the time, but he was right about all of it.

 

[MileHigh]

The absolute greatest athlete of my lifetime -- and it's not even close. Transformative, charismatic, a true giant. We will never see anyone like him again.

RIP to the Greatest.

 

[YankeeFan]

What the man did for humanity in his last 30 years, while battling a horrible disease, on its own makes him great.

What did he do in the last 30 years that was so great for humanity?

 

[Huggy]

The thing to me about Ali was that it had so very little to do with boxing. It was refusing to go the Vietnam and articulating his reasoning so loudly and clearly and never backing down from it. He lost three years at the peak of his career, but nobody brought him down or silenced him. He kept saying a lot of things white people didn't want to hear or weren't ready to hear at the time, but he was right about all of it.

Ali risked everything he had with his stance on the war, almost inconceivable to imagine an athlete doing that today. Can never imagine Ali throwing out a version of the " 'Republicans buy sneakers, too" line like Jordan did.

 

[cranberry]

Yep. There is a clip of him of him getting into it with a Doug Neidermeyer-type clown on a campus somewhere where he says something like, "White guys like you are my enemy. I'd rather die right here fighting you."

Edit: The clip is in the video at the bottom of this story:

Flashback: When Muhammad Ali refused to fight for the Vietnam war

 

[Huggy]

Yep. There is a clip of him (I'll try to find it) of him getting into it with a Doug Neidermeyer-type clown on a campus somewhere where he says something like, "White guys like you are my enemy. I'd rather die right here fighting you."

I believe I saw that in the PBS doc on Ali's conversion to Islam. That also had a clip of him and George Plimpton at - I believe - Yale - where they were seeing who could come up with the shortest poem. Ali won with "Me? Whee...."

 

[Steak Snabler]

Yep. Other than some oddball fights in the early 20th century, it might be the weirdest place to ever stage a heavyweight title fight.
It's also part of the reason people think that fight was fixed. That was the infamous "Phantom Punch" fight. There's conspiracy theories out there that say it was in Lewiston to keep the scrutiny a bit lower. IIRC, their first fight was in Miami.

It was originally supposed to be at the Boston Garden, but after Liston was arrested a second time right before the fight, the local promoters pulled out. They were scrambling for a venue to hold the fight, and the governor of Maine stepped up at the last minute.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I believe I saw that in the PBS doc on Ali's conversion to Islam. That also had a clip of him and George Plimpton at - I believe - Yale - where they were seeing who could come up with the shortest poem. Ali won with "Me? Whee...."

Cosell: "You're being awfully truculent."

Ali: "I don't know what truculent means, but if it's good, I'm that."

 

[HanSenSE]

Ali risked everything he had with his stance on the war, almost inconceivable to imagine an athlete doing that today. Can never imagine Ali throwing out a version of the " 'Republicans buy sneakers, too" line like Jordan did.

I can't either. Excuse the grumpy old man ramblings, but while the athletes of today may be packaged slicker than Ali, few have the social consciousness he had. Pat Tillman comes to mind. And the minor league catcher who quit to join the priesthood.

 

[Steak Snabler]

 

[YankeeFan]

I can't either. Excuse the grumpy old man ramblings, but while the athletes of today may be packaged slicker than Ali, few have the social consciousness he had. Pat Tillman comes to mind. And the minor league catcher who quit to join the priesthood.

We're going to compare Ali with Tillman?

Their responses were the exact opposite.

 

[YankeeFan]

Wow. Two guys whose health were completely ruined by the sports they played.

 

[Steak Snabler]

We're going to compare Ali with Tillman?

Their responses were the exact opposite.

Well, considering Ali was being asked to fight for a country where he wasn't even allowed to vote, do you blame him?

 

[Mr. Sunshine]

He wasn't allowed to vote?

 

[MisterCreosote]

I can't either. Excuse the grumpy old man ramblings, but while the athletes of today may be packaged slicker than Ali, few have the social consciousness he had. Pat Tillman comes to mind. And the minor league catcher who quit to join the priesthood.

I don't think it's that no one has the social consciousness nowadays, just that the stakes simply aren't as high anymore.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

RIP to my first and biggest childhood hero.