RIP Muhammad Ali

Jackson 2 said:

Why?

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why? because political comments are not welcomed....or did you miss that part

I never was a boxing fan, my father, 92 now, was a huge boxing and football fan never cared about other sports.

He watched a lot of MArciano's fights live and was a big Marciano fan, Felt he was better than Ali.

His contention was that Ali didn't face the quality of fighter consistently. His feeling was that in the 50's and earlier the best athletes went into boxing and that when athletes including Black Athletes had other options a lot of the best athletes skipped boxing to play other sports.

In his view Marciano was undefeated fighting against a deeper and better heavyweight class.

I would observe that Ali had great athleticism, his reaction time was measured at the Rome Olympics he had the fastest reaction time of anyone measured. The guy in second IIRC was a West German Sprinter who won the 100 M dash.

sambam94 said:

why? because political comments are not welcomed....or did you miss that part

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I guess I did miss that part. There's certainly lots of political stuff attached to Ali, but I didn't sense a whole lot of political in the posts from Ivan or others there. Did you?

Jackson 2 said:

I guess I did miss that part. There's certainly lots of political stuff attached to Ali, but I didn't sense a whole lot of political in the posts from Ivan or others there. Did you?

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just the part about Trump not liking Muslims...again, I guess you missed that part.

sambam94 said:

just the part about Trump not liking Muslims...again, I guess you missed that part.

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You're right, I did miss that part. But, I'm guessing most people, including The Donald, wouldn't dispute that one.

@Ivan - Please stop farting benign peripheral political side notes in an otherwise excellent post in a Boxing thread placed in a football forum about an American Icon who passed away the other day.

People have sensitive noses or at least one overly sensitive guy with a hair across his ass does.

Next time post your thoughts about Ali's passing in the "In Memoriam" forum, place his Boxing accolades in the "Other Sports" forum and politically related issues in the "Political Discussion" forum. You can then provide links of posts of from each thread to the other respective threads with disclosures such as "Warning: this link leads to a political statement with a slightly negative Trump tinge".

Do this and follow the checklist of "637 things that may offend anyone" and your next post may be your least offensive post to date.

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays. (Sorry about the usage of holidays. Just found out that its derived from Holy Days)

Ivan said:

Just got done finalizing my trip to Louisville to pay my respects to The Greatest on Friday. Spend Wednesday in Nashville then Thursday, Friday, in Louisville before doing it reverse on Saturday. I'm really grateful to have the opportunity to pay my respect to an incredible person.

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Post pictures.

Tony2046 said:

Post pictures.

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Yes. Primarily nice-looking women. Skip the Titans. Even average-looking women are OK...

PP2 said:

Agreed, and to elaborate on this:

Unlike Bush, Clinton, and Trump, Ali refused to have strings pulled for him so that he could escape the draft. He didn't run away to Canada. His disavowal was at a time when support for the Vietnam war was at its highest. He just stood right there and took his punishment.

During his four years of court battles, he was given many chances to recant, to compromise. The Army didn't even want to send him to Vietnam; they would just give him a cushy gig, an entertainer's gig as long as he put on the uniform, but he still refused because he knew the power of that image. Even the Nation of Islam turned against him (!) and Jackie Robinson spoke out against him.

The actions he took, required a special kind of courage; the courage to be lonely but right.

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Don't forget **** 6 Deferments Cheney.

robertweathers said:

Just checked it out. Outstanding lineup.

Thursday, June 9:
Jason Aldean, Kelsea Ballerini, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels Band, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, and The Oak Ridge Boys (National Anthem)

Friday, June 10:
Clint Black, Eric Church, Sam Hunt, Chris Stapleton, Carrie Underwood, Hank Williams, Jr., and Frankie Ballard (National Anthem)

Saturday, June 11:
Florida Georgia Line, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Blake Shelton, Cole Swindell, Steven Tyler, Chris Young, and Marshall Tucker Band (National Anthem)

Sunday, June 12:
Luke Bryan, Brett Eldredge, Exile, Little Big Town, Thomas Rhett, Keith Urban, and Ray Stevens (National Anthem)

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I'm going to try and switch some plans tomorrow so I go back to Nashville on Friday evening instead of staying in Louisville until Saturday morning.

this is the one time I wish I was older so I could have seen Ali in his prime. He is before my time unfortunately.

Ivan said:

The description of Muhammed Ali as THE GREATEST takes into account his life as a whole, not simply his boxing record. Ali was transformative figure and remains one today, despite his passing. The fact that a Muslim American is loved by pretty much everyone except those wearing white hoods or running for president speaks to how great a person he was. Ali belongs in a category with Mandela and Ghandi not Mike Tyson.

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Yes. Unlike most athletes, to separate him from his social implications is a form of deconstructionism that may be comforting and convenient, but extremely disrespectful at the very least. He was an amazing athlete, and that's comparatively inconsequential and completely integrated with the rest of his life, and the impact he had that rolls forward to this day. We are surrounded by a professional athletic culture the quibbles over how many millions they will make ("feed my family") and elevates narcissism and this guy stood his ground under extreme circumstances. Whether one agrees with his views is secondary.

the joy of sox

No nickname matches its owner better than "The Greatest" does Ali.

I unfortunately had to cancel my trip, I was all set until I found out that Bonnaroo and the CMA festival were both going on, I was able to get the Louisville end of it set up but not tickets to the outdoor service, and hotels in Nashville are booked solid. The only positive is that I have round trip fair credited on Jet blue and can use it anytime in the next year.

I will have to watch it on tv.

Tony2046 said:

@Ivan - Please stop farting benign peripheral political side notes in an otherwise excellent post in a Boxing thread placed in a football forum about an American Icon who passed away the other day.

People have sensitive noses or at least one overly sensitive guy with a hair across his ass does.

Next time post your thoughts about Ali's passing in the "In Memoriam" forum, place his Boxing accolades in the "Other Sports" forum and politically related issues in the "Political Discussion" forum. You can then provide links of posts of from each thread to the other respective threads with disclosures such as "Warning: this link leads to a political statement with a slightly negative Trump tinge".

Do this and follow the checklist of "637 things that may offend anyone" and your next post may be your least offensive post to date.

Merry Christmas Happy Holidays. (Sorry about the usage of holidays. Just found out that its derived from Holy Days)

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oh please..

I have heard all the good anecdotes about him, then when I scour youtube for his videos, he sounded like a first class racist. I know racial injustice exist and was blatant then but I wonder how he managed to be met with approbation from white people as well.
Exhibit 1:
Can you imagine a white person saying this? Why did the audience laugh and clap?
Please don't misconstrue my post as an attack on the man but I desperately want to understand. I feel I am in the twilight zone. I see a lot of these ideas from him. I love learning about different cultures and spending time with all sorts of people to learn from them as long as they will have me.

vuudu said:

I have heard all the good anecdotes about him, then when I scour youtube for his videos, he sounded like a first class racist. I know racial injustice exist and was blatant then but I wonder how he managed to be met with approbation from white people as well.

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Yes that is what I had in mind when I said I didn't agree with everything he said. Personally I put that into a time period context and know that he lightened up on that type of rhetoric later on in life. That aside I appreciate his enormous contributions he made to this country including civil rights, rescuing hostages, raising money for various charities etc....

Remember that the 60's and 70's were a wild couple of decades. Rock n Roll, Hippies, Drugs, Sex revolution, Civil rights, assassinations, Vietnam, Man on the moon, Watergate (the real Gate), etc... How people ate, spoke, disciplined their children etc. back then would not fly today.

I would be critical of what he said in the early 70's if he said them in today's age.