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The Greatest Has Died

TurtleDude

warrior of the wetlands
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Just heard Ali has died.
 
Man this sucks. All the legends are dying off fast. RIP Muhammad Ali.

given all the punishment he took plus the parkinson's he made it pretty far. I read someplace that he was the most recognized man in history-more people could ID his face around the world than Jesus,Mao, etc.
 
given all the punishment he took plus the parkinson's he made it pretty far. I read someplace that he was the most recognized man in history-more people could ID his face around the world than Jesus,Mao, etc.

That's pretty cool. I didn't even know that.

But yeah, Ali did make it pretty far. But apparently he was already in critical condition since at least yesterday.
 
1. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can't hit what his eyes can't see. Now you see me, now you don't. George thinks he will, but I know he won't.
2. "Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."
3. "I'm young; I'm handsome; I'm fast. I can't possibly be beat."
4. "Don’t count the days; make the days count."
5. “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it."
6. “It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am."
7. “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
8. “If you even dream of beating me you'd better wake up and apologize.”
9. “Braggin' is when a person says something and can’t do it. I do what I say.”
10. "I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was."
11. "Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even."
12. "I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."
13. "I should be a postage stamp. That's the only way I'll ever get licked."
14. “Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It’s a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
15. “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”
16. "A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
17. “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.”
18. "I shook up the world. Me! Whee!"
19. “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”
20. “At home I am a nice guy: but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.”
21. "A man who has no imagination has no wings."
22. "He’s (Sonny Liston) too ugly to be the world champ. The world champ should be pretty like me!"
23. "I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own."
24. “I’ve wrestled with alligators. I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning. And throw thunder in jail.”
25. "Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong."
26. “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”
27. "I'm the most recognized and loved man that ever lived cuz there weren't no satellites when Jesus and Moses were around, so people far away in the villages didn't know about them."
28. "It's just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up."
29. “I’m not the greatest, I’m the double greatest.”
30. “Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you're going to be right.”
howard cosell made a career out of this man
howard cosell and ali.JPG
 
He did a lot of good works here in the Phoenix area, and he was a good man, and role model.

I've already seen the hate over on FR, I can only imagine what the Breitbart trolls are saying.

Screw them, Ali was a true HERO and a damned fine person, the world is less without him. :(
 
When I was a kid, Ali appeared on the greatest, and longest running local kids show ever, Wallace and Ladmo. Here is a clip, great stuff....

 
He did a lot of good works here in the Phoenix area, and he was a good man, and role model.

I've already seen the hate over on FR, I can only imagine what the Breitbart trolls are saying.

Screw them, Ali was a true HERO and a damned fine person, the world is less without him. :(

Well, thus far, the only one whose made this about politics is you.
 
Well, thus far, the only one whose made this about politics is you.

Just a bit of a forewarning, there are people out there that are real idiots that are disrespecting a hero. Its not about politics, it is about boorish people.

This isn't about you or me, and I make no accusations about anyone here, this is a good forum, so drop it.
 
I was seven years old when my two older brothers took me to Wheaton Plaza's movie theater to watch a live closed circuit television broadcast of the "Cassius Clay"/Sonny Liston fight.

AliWheatonImage1.jpg

Numb.
I don't have words yet.
He was "The Greatest".
Maybe John Beyrooty has some words.
They fail me at the moment.
 
As someone who has loved boxing since he was five years old, I'm really sad to hear this. Muhammad Ali was a very fine man, and one of my heroes. I admired his courage and decency, and I loved his sense of humor. I used to watch every one of his fights. His win over Cleveland Williams didn't last long, but it was a masterpiece. Here's the clip:


https://www.google.com/search?q=ali+cleveland+williams&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8


The whole fight is Ali showcasing his skills against a big puncher he had thoroughly baffled. But I think the left-right combination for the first knockdown at 5:24, delivered while backing up, is especially a thing of beauty.
 
Ali was a hero to millions all around the world as well as a great athlete. He took principled stands on his beliefs and those may end up counting for more greatness that all the people he defeated in the ring.

He lived a full life and will be fondly remembered.
 
From the book "Sound and Fury" about the special relationship of Howard Cosell and Ali.
A night in Baltimore. Room 428 of a hotel. A man in the hallway bangs his fist against the room door. The man is Cosell and he is shouting. From inside the room comes a raspy voice.

"Who's there?"

"Cosell."

"Go away."

Cosell beats on the door again. "Ali, it's me, Howard."

"Ain't Cosell. Tryin' to sleep."

Then comes a sentence of percussive consonants and melodramatic phrasing. "I'm warning you, nigger, you open this door, and open it now, or I will destroy it and tear you to ribbons."

The door flies open, Ali out of bed, laughing. "Cosell, get your white ass in here."

Only the inimitable, irascible Cosell could have roused Ali from bed that way. Only the inimitable, sweet-hearted Ali would answer those slurs smiling. Across a generation of tumult, they were friends, partners, and co-conspirators in an improbable dialectic that charmed and bedeviled us. One was Beauty, one was the Beast, and we never quite knew which was which.

Ali was truly The Greatest.
 
RIP, another great has passed on.
 
He was a hero to me.

So sad to hear of his passing.

Nancy and I were just talking about him last night. I had seen a picture of him...in a story talking about his hospitalization...and I could not make it look like him.

His impact on the world is enormous...and will endure.
 
Posted this picture in another thread just a few minutes ago. Gotta post it again.

My favorite picture:

maxresdefault.jpg
 
I hope the government can find the find the intestonal fortitude to appologize for robbing him of some of the greatest years of his fighting life. It's unlikely because they never come clean. He was a genuine hero, a role model, a giant among humans, and a champion of human rights.
 
Ali was the best heavyweight of all time. No doubt. What made him even more special was that he fought in an era where at any given time there were 10-15 boxers that could win the title. There were very few 1 and done's in that era.
 
Ali was the best heavyweight of all time. No doubt. What made him even more special was that he fought in an era where at any given time there were 10-15 boxers that could win the title. There were very few 1 and done's in that era.

I remember Ali's "bum of the month" tour. Joe Louis used to fight a "bum of the month." Not taking anything away from Louis. Ali's "bum of the month" tour was to fight each country's Heavyweight Champion, not pugs or names, but genuine champions, and he kicked butt. No boxer has ever been as dominant as Ali. Frazier gave him good battles, but Ali's stature and principals held him head and shoulders above his peers in the sport.
 
Ali made trash talk an artform
 
Rest in peace. you'll never be as pretty as Muhammad Ali, and that's ok.
 
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