Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Not all heroes wear capes.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Giving up is unforgivable. ~Joe Biden

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Breaking: Muhammad Ali has Died

Reader Interactions

124Comments

  3. 3.

    amygdala

    I had a bad feeling when I heard about his hospitalization for respiratory problems, which are notoriously hard to manage in advanced Parkinson’s. What an incredible life he had.

    And 2016? You suck.

  4. 4.

    Cat48

    2016 has been cruel, first Prince & now Ali, the champ, float like butterfly, sting like a bee! Sad

  6. 6.

    Mai.naem.mobile

    I had a feeling yesterday they were preparing the public for his death. RIP. Just a great person.

  11. 11.

    Yutsano

    May Allah judge his soul justly, and may he taste the fruits of Paradise.

    Also: FUCK. THIS. YEAR.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Cat48:

    2016 has been cruel, first Prince & now Ali,

    Not to mention David Bowie, Natalie Cole, Alan Rickman, and I’m sure many more I can’t remember right now.

  14. 14.

    Petorado

    Though I grew up seeing his bouts, I was too young to really understand his story. Watching “When We Were Kings” finally gave me a clue about Ali. He was brave in everything he did, within the ring and especially outside of it — from working for civil rights, opposing the Viet Nam War, and dealing with Parkinsons.

    Peace to him and his family and community. The world has been a vastly better place for his being in it.

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    2016 has sucked.

    RIP Champ.

    You stood up for what’s right when it was not popular. Thank you for all your fights, inside and outside the ring.

    There will never be another like you.

  17. 17.

    Bruuuuce

    RIP. Great at what he did professionally, greater at what he did personally. A true hero, he will be missed.

  19. 19.

    cmorenc

    I got to very briefly meet Ali back in the early 70s. I was with three of my buds riding around one Saturday afternoon in my hometown in SE North Carolina, and we stopped at a gas station on the north edge of town near an intersection with I-95. A gold-colored Mercedes pulled in to the pump immediately beside us, and at first two very large, intimidating men stepped out of the car, and then a third tall, very fit-looking guy stepped out – it was Muhummed Ali ! One of my buds (John) was by nature a bold extrovert, and started playfully making shadowboxing gestures toward Ali from about ten feet away. Ali glanced at his companions (obviously his bodyguard-drivers) with a look that said “it’s ok guys” and playfully returned John’s shadowboxing gesture by putting up his fists, with a smile and mock expression of fear on his face and said “please don’t hurt me now”. Ali then briefly chatted with us – they were on their way to Florida to a training site. He then shook all our hands, got back in the car, and they were quickly gone back onto I-95 south. The whole encounter lasted just long enough for one of Ali’s companions to buy gas and go inside to pay for it (this was before you could pay by swiping a credit card at the pump) – five minutes at most.

  20. 20.

    James E Powell

    Ali was my hero when I was in high school – Stood up to the government & paid the price.

    Words fail.

  22. 22.

    gf120581

    This isn’t as devastating as losing Prince, Bowie, or Rickman, simply because he’d been in ill health for so long and it’s impressive he lasted as long as he did, so we at least had some expectation for this one. But still…

    RIP, greatest.

  25. 25.

    SarahT

    Fuck this shitty fucking year indeed. Had the enormous privilege to have met Mr. Ali when I was a kid. He was training in Philly and had moved across the street from a classmate. He was so kind to all the neighborhood kids – let us all run wild on his lawn, showed us around the house (he had a phone in the bathroom – SUCH a big deal to us at the time, LOL…), even brought us cookies for chrissakes. I was too young to really understand the full significance of what he stood for, just knew that my parents said he was a hero for standing up against racism and the war. Of course the older I got the more I appreciated each individual achievement, but more than anything, I’ll never forget what a kind man he was. RIP, from the bottom of my heart.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    Ali gave up his LIVELIHOOD for what he believed in.

    his LIVELIHOOD.

    none of these modern athletes, let alone the twitter kids, understand that.

    let alone have that kind of conviction.

  28. 28.

    Cacti

    @rikyrah:

    He didn’t enroll in college. He didn’t beat feet to Canada.

    He showed up at the draft induction center in Houston, and refused to step forward when his name was called. Lost his heavy weight title, risked a prison sentence.

    Now that’s a role model.

  29. 29.

    pseudonymous in nc

    I saw him once, briefly, in the mid-90s: he was doing a ticketed thing at a book shop and a crowd of the unticketed gathered outside for the hope of a glimpse. After a long wait, a limo pulled up, and he was helped out onto the pavement. And everyone, after a split second of seeing, started clapping, and didn’t stop for a long, long time. He paused to take it in, and then went inside.

    Even diminished as he was, he had a presence that I have never experienced before or since. I’m not a religious person any more, but the feeling of that moment makes me think of the feeling people had in the presence of saints. Greatness emanated from him.

    RIP

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cmorenc:

    What a cool story! I met him briefly a couple of times — this would have been mid-to-late-1970s — in Benton Harbor, MI. He was owner or co-owner of a Howard Johnson’s there, and I always used to stop there for a meal break driving between Flint and Chicago. He was often at the restaurant, just greeting people. Quite a treat.

    Then in 1996, he lit the Olympic Torch in Atlanta. I met him a few days later when I was visiting Team Canada at the Olympic Village and he was with another group. We all stopped and chatted for about 10 minutes. A most gentle and gracious man.

  32. 32.

    PurpleGirl

    @efgoldman: Never been a sports fan but some stories you just pick up, sort of by osmosis. I remember his Olympics win, when he turned professional and all that other stuff you mention, ef. He took a lot of shit for the religion change, the name change, the draft refusal. And I understood it all, as well as a young white woman could.

    RIP Mr Ali, you deserve peace now.

  38. 38.

    eemom

    @efgoldman:

    He and Howard Cosell had a real symbiotic relationship – each of them helped make the other.

    I remember as a kid hearing Cosell’s broadcast on WABC the day after Ali fought George Foreman.

    eta: Nope, that was Joe Frazier.

  43. 43.

    amk

    “It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”

    “A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”

    “Live everyday as if it were your last because someday you’re going to be right.”

    RIP, the greatest.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    It’s not as shocking as when Prince or Bowie died because Ali had fought Parkinson’s for so long, but that doesn’t make it suck any less.

  45. 45.

    lamh36

    “you want me to go…fight for you and you won’t even fight for me at home”
    Muhammad Ali

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    “I ain’t draft dodging. I ain’t burning no flag. I ain’t running to Canada. I’m staying right here. You want to send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I could be there for 4 or 5 more, but I ain’t going no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I want to die, I’ll die right here, right now, fightin’ you, if I want to die. You my enemy, not no Chinese, no Vietcong, no Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. Want me to go somewhere and fight for you? You won’t even stand up for me right here in America, for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won’t even stand up for my rights here at home.”

  49. 49.

    Cacti

    “If you even dream of beating me, you’d better wake up and apologize.”

    -Muhammad Ali

  50. 50.

    lamh36

    @chrisdonovan 34m34 minutes ago
    If you read only one thing about #MuhammadAli, read what he wrote in his memoir about how he wanted to be remembered

    @chrisdonovan 34m34 minutes ago
    If you read only one thing about #MuhammadAli, read what he wrote in his memoir about how he wanted to be remembered

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    Awesomely Luvvie ✔ @Luvvie
    Remember that Blackness. Because when the greats die, folks love to windex away their melanin. Nah. He was unapologetically BLACK.

  53. 53.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:
    @lamh36:
    Some people like that he was a great boxer. I used to follow the sport and thought it was fine. But it wasn’t.
    But what he did for a living was not the best part of the man. What was and what made him great in my mind was his life outside of boxing. That he was able to stand up and be counted when it meant the most. That he had the courage to say exactly what needed to be said. He didn’t seem to have to think about not standing up for what was right. He paid a huge price for doing the right thing but in the end it was still the right thing to do. A true person to look up to. To admire. To honor. RIP Muhammad Ali.

  54. 54.

    TriassicSands

    Very sad. It was horrible seeing what brain damage did to him. He could really take a punch — but his brain couldn’t. And he kept fighting much too long. He was the only fighter that ever got and held my attention. The only one I wanted to see fight.

    I had more affection for Ali than any other athlete, but the one disappointing thing about Ali was his inexplicable cruel streak. I think he got control of it in later years, but it always really bothered me the way he treated some of the other boxers, especially Joe Frazier (whom I never cared for, but he was someone who certainly deserved Ali’s respect). I could never figure out why a person of such enormous talent couldn’t resist treating other fighters the way he did. It wasn’t the normal kind of back and forth verbal sparring that goes on between fighters (and other competitive athletes); Ali went far beyond what was defensible.

    He was a great fighter, and in some ways a great human being. Seeing him in his later years, I have teared up after watching him struggle to speak — such a horrible contrast with the young Ali. I’ve never been much of a sports fan (I’ve always preferred “doing” to “watching”) but Ali was undeniably worth watching — so fast and graceful for a big man. He made a barbaric sport, beautiful. If only the point weren’t to damage another person.

    RIP. He certainly made an impression.

  55. 55.

    mark

    RIP Mr. Ali. You were a great champ and a great human being. Your place in history is set in stone.

  57. 57.

    lamh36

    “I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”

  58. 58.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TriassicSands: Watch the documentaries I put up above. The questions you’re asking are an important portion of what they cover. The way its covered makes Ali much more of a dynamic, multifaceted person. He was not cut from a single bolt of cloth and he and Frazier were representative of very different parts of the African American reality at the time.

  59. 59.

    lamh36

    Finally off to bed, but ESPN SportsCenter is non-stop on Ali.

    I have never watch this much of ESPN…and I’m mesmerized…

    Good night BJ

  60. 60.

    TriassicSands

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Thanks, Adam, I have seen the documentaries, and I agree he was certainly “multifaceted.” But the cruel streak was unnecessary and troubling. I always struggled with that aspect of his personality. He could be extremely generous, but he was too great a fighter to need to be as cruel as he could be. After I wrote my first comment, I went to the NYTimes site and watched a short video in which Robert Lipsyte (Times reporter) made a number of comments about Ali. He said he loved Ali as a person, but “there were things about him I hated.” Lipsyte was almost certainly referring to Ali’s cruelty and the way he treated Joe Frazier, which he mentioned explicitly earlier in the video.

    I supported Ali’s insistence on being called Muhammad Ali instead of Cassius Clay (even though I was disappointed when he changed his name, since Cassius Marcellus Clay had to be the most beautiful and theatrical name in the history of boxing) and fighters like Floyd Patterson and Ernie Terrell were absolutely wrong to insist on calling Ali by his birth name. They probably saw that as just some of the typical pre-fight reparte that was common to improve the box office. Ali didn’t take it that way. I think he took it as an insult to his autonomy as a human being and his recently adopted religion. Calling him Clay showed a lack of respect that was unbecoming of both Patterson and Terrell. But neither fighter had more than a fraction of Ali’s boxing skill, and out of respect for the sport, I don’t think Ali should have carried both fighters just so he could punish them more. Still, it was his treatment of Frazier that was the most troubling. I wasn’t a Frazier fan and wanted Ali to beat him convincingly every time they fought. In Ali’s case, I always thought it was better to watch him fight than it was to watch him knock someone out. He was something to behold — gliding, doing the Ali shuffle (a pointless display of speed and agility — pure showmanship), and moving his head out of the way of punches in a way no other fighter before him had ever done. (It was this defensive move that ultimately probably cost him so dearly. To do so, took incredible reflexes and speed — and eventually both would fail him and leave his jaw exposed to more and more punches.)

    Ali had a right to be called whatever he chose to be called and his response to a reporter asking him why he didn’t go to court to change his name was priceless. He asked the reporter what color the judge would be (simple — white); so the reporter was telling him he ought to go before a white judge and ask “May I call myself Muhammad Ali, boss?” I don’t know if he ever did go to court and legally change his name. If he did, I’ll bet he made sure it was an African American judge.

    I was still in high school when Ali won the title from Liston (I won a bet with my father at 7-1 odds. Thanks, Dad.) I was almost at the point where I was going to stop being a sports fan altogether. The only two athletes I ever considered anything remotely like an “idol” (though that word overstates my feelings) were Ali and Mickey Mantle. Mantle was finished by the time Ali became champ, and I would never again think about any athlete the way I did Ali. I respected his principled stances — against the Vietnam War and for his religious choice (though I’m an atheist).

    I wanted him to win every fight, and was saddened by his inability to make retirement stick. I’ve often thought that if he’d quit around the time when I first thought he should quit, he might not have suffered such devastating damage to his brain.

    I had great affection for Ali, but I simply saw no justification for his cruelty. I still feel that way.

  61. 61.

    benw

    “My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me n*gger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father… Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”

    RIP

  62. 62.

    TriassicSands

    “I don’t have to be who you want me to be; I’m free to be who I want.”

    Ali referring to himself and the expectations of the white dominated society in which he lived. But they have much wider meaning.

    They’re words that could be spoken by every LGBT person in the US today. Money and fame made it possible for Ali to live those words in a way that was much easier for him than it is for many LGBT people today, but they have just as much right to those words (and the life they demand) as Ali did.

  63. 63.

    Mary G

    He was unique and so dignified in living his principles. Even my racist uncle respected him.

  64. 64.

    NotoriousJRT

    Courageous, charismatic, brilliant, damaged by the sport that brought him into our collective life. An icon whose like we won’t likely see again. RIP, SIR.

  65. 65.

    Keith G

    Ali was my hero during my middle school and high school years. I would hijack the newspaper the morning after one of his fights and read the details of his victory or defeat. I would walk to the drug store and buy the Sports Illustrated published a week later so I could see the pictures and read more details about the action. I remember watching a presentation the weekend after the Thrilla in Manila when ABC Wide World of Sports did a round-by-round narration of how the fight unfolded using still pictures to show the action since the film of the fight was licensed by other parties.

    I loved him for his intellect, skill, and courage (and if I were honest back then his beautiful body). The fact that he drove certain members of my family crazy was an added bonus.

    Years later, I got to greet him up close and personal when he visited a private club in Columbus Ohio where I was a bartender. It was a jaw-dropping thrill of a lifetime. He is the only one of the great heroes of my life that I have been able to say “Hi” to.

    It seems as if the final stage of his departure from this level of consciousness was comparatively smooth. If that’s the case I’m very glad for that.

  66. 66.

    Brachiator

    Float like a butterfly,
    Sting like a bee.
    Rumble in heaven, young man,
    Rumble

  67. 67.

    Baud

    I got a breaking alert from the NFL about Ali’s death. He was bigger than his sport.

  68. 68.

    Zinsky

    Ali refusing to be drafted was epic and earned him a lot of cred in my book. His personal life was a mess, though, fathering seven children with at least four different women, only three of whom he married. He was a jackass, but a very entertaining jackass!

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale;
    Handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail;
    Only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick;
    I’m so mean I make medicine sick.”

  72. 72.

    raven

    All this “2016” stuff is bullshit. People live and people die. He was great and was an important part of my life. I had just arrived in Korea when he refused induction and but he time I left MLK had been killed. Living with African-American soldiers was an eye-opening education for a 17 year old kid from the Chicago suburbs. When I came home all I heard from my old man was “how can he fight for a living and not fight for his country”? The Generation Gap had occurred for me and things would never be the same. I think I’m glad Ali is done suffering whatever is next.

  73. 73.

    Central Planning

    @cmorenc: Somewhere I have a picture of a buddy of mine doing the shadow boxing with Ali when we were at the ’96 Olympics because we ended up in box seats next to his. The arena pointed him out and he got a standing ovation from everyone there. It was really cool.

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mary G: He’s just being pedantic as xenophobia is different from racism, but Halperin has a short memory too. He seems to have forgotten the times Trump said Curiel was ‘Hispanic’, which according to the US census bureau, IS a race..

  78. 78.

    raven

    RE Ali’s mean streak. He was in a sport where you tried to beat the living dog shit out of your opponent.

  79. 79.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Mary G: Just remember Halperin thinks Trump will put CA in play for the general and he, of course, called the President of the United States a dick on live TV.

  80. 80.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @raven:

    All this “2016” stuff is bullshit.

    Agreed, I could say the same for each and every year.

    ETA: Maybe my jaded feeling comes from loosing both my parents by the time I was 30.

  81. 81.

    Central Planning

    @raven: No, one of the basketball games. USA was playing someone, but I don’t remember whom.

  84. 84.

    The Thin Black Duke

    I don’t believe in heroes, but I believe in men and women who do heroic acts in their lifetimes. And Muhammed Ali was a brave and complex human being whose greatness transcended the mistakes he made. That’s what heroism is.

  86. 86.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    I know that celebrities and important transformational historic figures die all the time, but doesn’t it just seem like this year (at least from December 2015 onward) into 2016 that we’ve seen FAR TOO MANY of artists and athletes and politicians and just ANYBODY who had touched our lives on a grand scale just pass away before our eyes?

    There is too much heartbreak this year.

    #DamnYou2016

  89. 89.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mary G:
    I’ve been put on allopurinol to treat the gout. For now, no talk of amputating the finger to the wrist. And then we’ll see.

  91. 91.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Elizabelle:

    The Ali Center is a block from my office and next to my parking garage. It is a wonderful facility, and a great reflection of the life of the man.

    We were out last night doing downtown stuff and knew it had gone bad by the amount of activity and number of news trucks there.

  92. 92.

    bystander

    @lamh36: Thanks for that quote.

    This was while Dick Cheney, Mitt Romney and Donald Trump were all getting multiple draft deferments for various life-threatening ailments.

  93. 93.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @TriassicSands:

    My estimate was that he went about 5 years too long. The comeback was a mistake.

    I saw him several times in person; only interacted with him once. He was in court for a relative – this was 28 years ago, and the damage was really evident already.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    For a time, between Ali and Cosell, there wasn’t much ego left to go around for the rest of us.

  97. 97.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @bystander:

    Romney wasn’t sick – after demonstrating in favor of the war while collecting a college deferment, he went on to collect a further deferment for being a bullshit missionary for a misogynist, racist cult and got to hang out in the south of France, missioning.

    THAT is conservatism in action.

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    @Raven

    Oh, I did, I did. Blotter or sugar cube?

    Flaming youth. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

  101. 101.

    NotMax

    @BillinGlendaleCA

    Those were the days my friend
    We thought they’d never end
    We’d sing and dance forever and a day
    We’d live the life we choose
    We’d fight and never lose
    For we were young and sure to have our way

  103. 103.

    PST

    I was on a flight in the late 80s sitting in the same row as Ali. Before we took off, he walked up and down the aisles of the wide-body handing out pamphlets explaining Islam. Imagine the fuss that would cause today. Many years later, he came into a big-and-tall store in Chicago where I was picking something up. The clerk said he never minded when fans said hello, and so, since he seemed to be taking much less interest in shopping than the family members accompanying him, I walked over and introduced my young son. Ali was nonverbal by then, but he was kind and friendly, shaking my boy’s hand and shadow boxing with him. We kept it very brief. I was struck by his graciousness and happy to see that he was moving easily and gracefully.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    @raven:

    Mean streaks certainly aren’t unusual for boxers. I worked with someone who grew up in Tyson’s neighborhood and even as a kid, she said he gave new meaning to the word “bully.”

  113. 113.

    jharp

    I remember listening to his bouts with Frazier and Foreman on the radio.

    And I remember rooting for Joe Frazier.

    That said. What an amazing man. We were lucky to have him grace our presence.

    I’ll be attending his funeral. Only 100 miles away.

  114. 114.

    SFAW

    I saw Ali interviewed by someone — David Frost, maybe, but not sure — before his Parkinson’s became blindingly obvious, perhaps even before the public was generally aware. Sometime in the early 1990s? I don’t remember. I was so sad to see him in that condition, because I remembered quite well what he had been like, and how great he was. I was almost in tears then, and pretty close to it now, remembering that.

    RIP, Champ

  116. 116.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    To some of the real old timers, they say Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano, but Muhammad Ali is the best boxer I have witness hands down, the 70’s and 80’s were best boxing in my lifetime, I wish it come back, and replace that bullsh#t MMA. Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, all gone, just George Foreman is left, :-(

  117. 117.

    The Lodger

    @OzarkHillbilly: The USB actually lists Hispanic as an ethnicity (the choices are Hispanic and non-Hispanic.) When I was an enumerator a lot of my interviewees insisted on being listed as Other race, Other usually subdivided into Latino or Mexican. Very few wanted to be classified as white or Native American race, Hispanic ethnicity even though that’s how the statisticians wanted to break it down.

  119. 119.

    rikyrah

    From the President and the First Lady on Muhammad Ali:

    Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d “handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.”

    But what made The Champ the greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing.

    Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time.

    In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him – the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston. I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was – still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden.

    “I am America,” he once declared. “I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me – black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own. Get used to me.”

    That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age – not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.

    He wasn’t perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes – maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves. Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he’d make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn’t take the spark from his eyes.

    Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace.

  121. 121.

    Davebo

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    John Berry, Merle Haggard, Denise Matthews, best known as Vanity, Maurice White, the founder of Earth, Wind & Fire, Paul Kantner, Glenn Frey, Guy Clark (one of my all time favorites). This is just a partial list and just of musicians. And we have a half a year to go still.

    Fuck!

  122. 122.

    El Caganer

    @rikyrah: That’s a beautiful statement. I imagine the wingnuts are already tearing it to pieces: “racist!” “Muslim!” And on and on….

  123. 123.

    Pete

    Ali was a giant. For years, undoubtedly the most famous person in the world, for being the most himself he or anyone could be. What’s my name? He was no saint, but no one is so maybe he was. Street smart, quick, generous. Spartacus for our era, but he won. He showed us some of what is possible, he made us believe. RIP.

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