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I'm surprised nobody here has started a Muhammad Ali thread. The thread belongs in this forum, because of course Ali is much more than a sports great. When I think about the prism through which I perceived Ali growing up, and how that evolved over time, it really reinforces that I grew up in the heartland of "white America". (Mark E. Peterson must be rolling over in his grave!) I still remember vividly Paul James's exuberance as he reported Joe Frazier's upset of Ali in Ali-Frazier I--how he described Ali sprawling, and the red tassels flying. (Ticky Burden wore cool red tassels, in imitation of Ali.) Of course, we were clueless about Ali's important role in American culture and social progress, and ignorant of his gifts outside the ring. I heard only two eulogies, Billy Crystal's and Bill Clinton's. Both were great--especially Crystal's, which will certainly become as iconic as Jim Valvano's famous speech near the end.
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When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
--Jonathan Swift -
Don't you read the celebrity death poll thread? Hostile was all over it. -
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