[M_B_S]

Ali the Champ is dead long live the Champ!



In memory of the GREATEST

M_B_S

[Tanada]

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Muhammad Ali, widely hailed as the greatest heavyweight boxer in the sport’s history, died late Friday night after being hospitalized in Arizona a day earlier with a respiratory issue.

Ali, 74, had suffered from Parkinson’s disease since the 1980s.

“After a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening,” family spokesperson Bob Gunnell said in a statement.

Ali died at Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center, where the scene outside was quiet. Law enforcement sealed off entrances and news media was station across the street. Earlier Friday family members arrived at the hospital.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/20 ... /85357592/

[Tanada]

A movie every fan should watch,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2489734/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[Cog]

I will not speak ill of the dead.

[ennui2]

I would have paid good money to see someone like Cog with his confederate flag brazenly talk about lynching Obama next to Ali in his prime. He'd be on the ground like Sonny Liston before he'd have time to take a breath.

[ennui2]

There's PStarr, never missing an opportunity to find fault in everyone other than himself.

[ennui2]

Rarely if ever do I see PStarr post anything positive. All he has to contribute are criticisms of groups or individuals. The more honored and respected the individual, the more PStarr takes pleasure in knocking him down a peg. Just really tired of his whiny-complainy view of the world.

[jedrider]

Reading a bit about Greek heroes: Archilles, Odysseus, etc.

We also need our heroes.

[salinsky]

I recall when Cassius Clay fought Sonny Liston back in '64, he won the match and proclaimed himself "The Greatest." Uh huh, that's right! He was pretty damn good at giving brain damage to his opponents. He went on knocking noggins so hard that George Foreman named all five of his sons George. Guess he wasn't ashamed of his slave name. Perhaps he had a lucid moment and realized had there not been slavery, he and his flock of Georges would not have existed. Know what I'm saying?

[Cog]

For those who may have missed it: Ali was/is a hero and brave man. And anyone who disagrees needs to have a conversation between my right hook. And their face

Such angst.

It is unfortunate you will not have the opportunity to demonstrate your prowess, in the manly art of self-defense, against a worthy opponent.

[Oneaboveall]

I'll never forget his 1978 fight with Superman.

[Plantagenet]

Muhammad Ali RIP

[Shaved Monkey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd9aIamXjQI

[Poordogabone]

When things got sour with my ex girlfriend I used to watch Ali's fights. His ability to take severe punishment and come out winning gave me inspiration.
We lost the greatest.

[KaiserJeep]

People do tend to romanticise the dead. For all his status as a folk hero, I believe that Ali did great damage to the common cause of Black athletes with his widely publicized "trash talking".

In fact he started boxing at age 12 and may have already been brain damaged when he took the AFQT at age 18 and was found to have an IQ of 78 and was thus ineligible for conscription (the minimum was originally 85 but was lowered to 75 during the Vietnam conflict).

Undoubtedly he was a polarizing figure, a Black folk hero, and a famous anti-Vietnam War protestor. His refusal to be conscripted after being re-classified as eligible the second time was a famous moment in the anti-war movement. However I have more respect for those that choose alternative service than those that refuse the duties of a citizen entirely.

We now know that he continued to fight after being diagnosed with Parkinson's and being told that the accumulated brain damage from boxing was the underlying cause, using drugs to suppress the tremors in his hands (which prescription drugs were not among those then tested for). His craving for media attention was probably his motive, he was already wealthy even though supporting over a dozen kids and three ex-wives, and had married a fourth time.

Far from his ability to "take severe punishment" being an inspiration, we now understand the man so craved media attention that he allowed himself to be beaten to death on camera over several years. I believe it was his right to do so, as he never was a public burden, but I refuse to be inspired by his example, I am actually appalled.

[onlooker]

Yeah, well maybe some can find inspiration in these words he uttered because I know I do :
Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.

This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars.

But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here.

I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality

If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.

I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

Muhammad Ali

[KaiserJeep]

Yeah, well maybe some can find inspiration in these words he uttered because I know I do :
"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over.

This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars.

But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here.

I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality

If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow.

I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years.”

Muhammad Ali

I have no problem with anti-war sentiments, but I need to point out:

1) Vietnam is not 10,000 miles from Kentucky.
2) Slavery in the USA was approximately 200 years old in 1967 when he said that, not 400 years.
3) If there is any place in the world where White slave masters and Black slaves exist, either in 1967 or today, I don't know of it. There are several African countries where Blacks oppress Black slaves, and have for hundreds of years.
4) Army conscripts do not drop bombs and people killed under the international rules of war have not been murdered. Nor are bullets "dropped".
5) He did not spend "millions of dollars" in legal fees (although already wealthy, he was defended by the ACLU for free), nor did he spend a single night in jail, being released immediately. Two months later, he was convicted of draft evasion and sentenced to 5 years, but was never imprisoned, and eventually his conviction was overturned.
6) He declared his conversion to Islam but never practiced any religion whatsoever. Even his name change from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali was never formalized with legal paperwork.

His trash talk was infamous, his exploits in the boxing ring are famous but brought about dementia and eventually premature death.

Color me uninspired.