Muhammad Ali

An UPDATE Jan 21

After I made this post I realized that there's a lot of people who don't actually realize the place Ali has in our history and culture. Not everybody is as old as I am and some things just don't get passed down in the cable news shows. So, I thought I'd start making some updates to this post, talking about who Mahammad Ali is.

He started life as Cassius Clay. The name Mohammad Ali came later. He became a professional boxer in 1961 (or late 1960) after 2 years as a Golden Gloves champ and winning a gold medal in the 1960 Olympics. For those of you who weren't around at the time, a black man winning a gold medal for the USA in 1960 was pretty much a big deal.

More updates later.

A Brit pays tribute

He's always put his money where his mouth is.

Sportswriters pay tribute.

His birthday will pass with calls from his nine children and other relatives. Ali's only request to mark the occasion is a trip to one of his favorite magic shops so he can pick up a new trick or two to show visitors.

Many of our children really don't have any concept of how much Ali impacted our society.

As I don't believe hype, all I really see in Muhammad Ali is some old dude with a neurological disease and a daughter following in his footsteps who has no tits to speak of.

Or maybe he just thinks if he says something really stupid he'll impress some girl.

More comments here.

He might have been a draft dodger, but he's still an American Hero.

At least when he dodged the draft he did it on his own, without running to daddy's friends for protection, and stood up about it.