Muhammad Ali, the three-time heavyweight champion who proclaimed himself “the Greatest”, defied the US government over the Vietnam war, and later became one of the most well-known – and loved – sportsmen in history has died. He was 74.His boxing career need not be discussed.
Ali died late on Friday at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, the family’s spokesperson Bob Gunnell said. His funeral will take place in his home town of Louisville, Kentucky.
What you will read are comments that Ali was a "draft-dodger", like Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney, and the rest of the Iraq War Chickenhawks. That is most assuredly a lie. Those men were all cowards, hiding behind multiple draft deferments or familial connections.
Ali was a draft resister. He took a stand. It cost him his title (which he later won back) and it damn near got him sent to prison for five years. Ali had courage in buckets. Those other gents, their only "courage" is in sending other people to fight.
Of course, this:
Ali, was a Great Human. That has nothing to do with his sports achievements.
ReplyDeleteHe stood up tall or what he believed in.
w3ski
Of all the people who have had the chutzpah to call themselves "Great", this gentlemen wasn't very far from the truth. Most wouldn't have known the truth if it bit them on the ass.
ReplyDeleteAli was one of a kind. I remember watching one of his televised fights when I was a little kid and seeing my racist father get mad at me for rooting against the white guy, but not too mad because of how good of a boxer Ali was. Turned out that my old man was golden gloves back in Oklahoma when he was young, and couldn't deny what he saw on the screen, whether he liked it or not, kind of like boxing itself. I learned a lot about life watching that fight, and looking back I respect my dad for at least admitting what was true, a quality I find in short supply these days.
ReplyDelete-Doug in Oakland