I just saw part of a cover of sports illustrated and they had a little preview of the "lost Muhammad Ali pics". I guess nothing happened in sports that week.
The NHL is mid-season, football was mid-playoffs, basketball is mid-season...but they're using part of the magazine to show 35 year old pictures of a boxer.
I've never quite understood the big deal with Muhammad Ali. I get that he was a great boxer. He is probably one of the top 2 or 3 heavyweights of all time...but the best boxers are the lighter guys anyhow. And I can't say that he was a better athlete than Jordan, Harris, Gretzky, Dan Gable, or even Tiger Woods (if we're counting golfers as athletes)
This country is obsessed with Ali. This is the guy who supposedly threw his Olympic medal away...and we had him light the torch for the US at the last summer Olympics held here. This is the guy who made T.O. seem like the nice, quiet little fella that respects others and doesn't shove his every accomplishment in your face.
Great fighter - bad poet = all time great?
He is remembered for more than his boxing though. He took a social stand against the Vietnam war. I mean his boxing record and victories in big matches made him great, but he is remembered because of his cultural impact. He lived with conviction, right or wrong, he lived with a swagger. I am not sure, but it was probably the week of his b-day and it is something to comemorate in sports.
ReplyDeleteAlso potentially the most dominant athelete of all time could be Roger Federer.
ReplyDeletei triple dog dare you to forget about the h-cane....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hurricanepetermcneeley.com/Images/Gallery/Peter26.JPG