The Greatest of All-Time

[Pushfrog98]

RIP, Muhammad Ali. http://referentiel.nouvelobs.com/file/2978855.jpg

[Tim]

:bye:

 

My dad is a retired high school teacher. He actually had the Ali girls in his classes in the past. He always spoke highly of them. I wish them well. We've truly lost one of the greats today.

[badger]

Holy horsefeathers for real?

 

:(

[Guest]

Truly, the greatest.

[Guest]

Truly, the greatest.

 

In his prime, he was the best of all time. As an activist, he made a difference.

[SpongeWorthy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJbZR8M9a0

 

hbo/liev schrieber is the best at this kinda stuff

[weis21]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThJbZR8M9a0

 

hbo/liev schrieber is the best at this kinda stuff

wow. that was spectacular.

[CubinNY]

Ali lived in Berrien Springs in one of Al Capone's old safe houses on the St. Joesph river. His son went to highschool in Niles (my hometown). They needed to get the baseball field upgraded after years of neglect and couldn't get a millage passed, so Ali paid to have the field upgraded.

[David]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-japanese-muhammad-ali-20160606-snap-htmlstory.html

[David]

Ali lived in Berrien Springs in one of Al Capone's old safe houses on the St. Joesph river. His son went to highschool in Niles (my hometown). They needed to get the baseball field upgraded after years of neglect and couldn't get a millage passed, so Ali paid to have the field upgraded.

 

Interesting...I grew up nearby in Skokie.

 

Is this the son? http://nypost.com/2014/01/26/muhammad-alis-son-shut-off-dad-living-in-poverty-in-chicago/

[Banedon]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-japanese-muhammad-ali-20160606-snap-htmlstory.html

 

What a bizarre story.

[Omar]

So apparently Ronny Woo Woo was at Ali's funeral. In his Cubs uniform.

[CubinNY]

Ali lived in Berrien Springs in one of Al Capone's old safe houses on the St. Joesph river. His son went to highschool in Niles (my hometown). They needed to get the baseball field upgraded after years of neglect and couldn't get a millage passed, so Ali paid to have the field upgraded.

 

Interesting...I grew up nearby in Skokie.

 

Is this the son? http://nypost.com/2014/01/26/muhammad-alis-son-shut-off-dad-living-in-poverty-in-chicago/

No, his son's name is Asaad. He got drafted but choose to go to Louisville and play baseball. He's probably graduated already.

 

BTW, Niles Michigan, I should have mentioned that in the post.

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=ali---001asa

[raw]

Ali lived in Berrien Springs in one of Al Capone's old safe houses on the St. Joesph river. His son went to highschool in Niles (my hometown). They needed to get the baseball field upgraded after years of neglect and couldn't get a millage passed, so Ali paid to have the field upgraded.

 

My brother used to be a restaurant GM for the Shoney's in Berrien Springs. Ali and his wife dined there on several occasions. My mother has the picture somewhere, but I sorta met Muhammad Ali when I was about 9. I remember being in the same place as him, but apparently I was afraid to shake his hand and hid behind my mom because I was so in awe. There's a picture somewhere of him holding my nephew with me cowering in the background. LOL.

 

It seems like I'm saying this a lot this year, but Ali was another one of my favorites. I don't have this emotional story about how he played such a big role in my life, and I feel like he's probably one of everyone's favorite athletes. It's funny though, I'm a huge fan of the civil rights era and on the rare occasion I read something, it's either from the 1920s or 1960s and it's about being African American in the US during those very hard times for blacks. But as far as the activist athletes of those 2 eras, I seem to gravitate more toward Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, etc than Ali. I don't think Ali's story is any less great, hell it's probably the greatest, I just feel it was very well publicized so it's not much new knowledge out there.

 

Anyway, he's no doubt the greatest athlete any of us has ever seen and maybe the greatest that has ever lived. He was kinda not in the spotlight and had his problems with Parkinson's etc. so this loss isn't a huge surprise. But the world has lost another huge person in 2016.

[Sammy Sofa]

It's crazy how famous Ali was. Like, who do you even compare it to? He's arguably the most globally famous person who ever lived.

[biittner77]

It's crazy how famous Ali was. Like, who do you even compare it to? He's arguably the most globally famous person who ever lived.

 

Michael Jordan

[CubinNY]

It's crazy how famous Ali was. Like, who do you even compare it to? He's arguably the most globally famous person who ever lived.

 

Michael Jordan

Not even close.

 

Pele is the only athlete I can think of who might have compared to Ali at the top of his fame.

[Sammy Sofa]

It's crazy how famous Ali was. Like, who do you even compare it to? He's arguably the most globally famous person who ever lived.

 

Michael Jordan

Not even close.

 

Pele is the only athlete I can think of who might have compared to Ali at the top of his fame.

 

Pretty much. Jordan was arguably famous around the world more for a logo/brand than anything else; to a good chunk of the globe he might as well have been, I dunno, Calvin Klein, basically. Ali was famous and known everywhere just for being Ali.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

Michael Jordan

Not even close.

 

Pele is the only athlete I can think of who might have compared to Ali at the top of his fame.

 

Pretty much. Jordan was arguably famous around the world more for a logo/brand than anything else; to a good chunk of the globe he might as well have been, I dunno, Calvin Klein, basically. Ali was famous and known everywhere just for being Ali.

I'm not sure how or why you make the distinction for how either was known.

[Banedon]

It's crazy how famous Ali was. Like, who do you even compare it to? He's arguably the most globally famous person who ever lived.

 

Michael Jordan

Not even close.

 

Pele is the only athlete I can think of who might have compared to Ali at the top of his fame.

 

I disagree that it's not close. I think at their peaks, Jordan and Tiger Woods were both very close in international fame.

[Sammy Sofa]

Not even close.

 

Pele is the only athlete I can think of who might have compared to Ali at the top of his fame.

 

Pretty much. Jordan was arguably famous around the world more for a logo/brand than anything else; to a good chunk of the globe he might as well have been, I dunno, Calvin Klein, basically. Ali was famous and known everywhere just for being Ali.

I'm not sure how or why you make the distinction for how either was known.

 

From a personal standpoint, I lived overseas a lot when Jordan was at his peak popularity and it cracked me up how many kids I went to school with in Asia and Europe who were obsessed with Air Jordans, but couldn't tell you a thing about the NBA or even Jordan himself. It's not like I'm saying Jordan WASN'T popularity; he was, enormously so, but even just from a standpoint of how many people watched or listened to their respective sports, I have to imagine Ali trounces Jordan, and it's not even close. Ali's fights were global events, plus he was such a gigantic figure in terms of social activism. Ali was seen not just as an athlete or spokesman or a pop culture figure, but basically as an icon for politics and race and even philosophy.

 

Plus there's the big factor of how much Ali transcended just being famous for his sport. The guy ended up being famous worldwide for basically just existing, whereas guys like Jordan and Tiger never really got being just being crazy popular athletes and spokesmen.

 

I think Michael Jackson is much more comparable vs. someone like Jordan or Tiger. It's an incredible, almost religious figure-like level of fame. He's like Pele, Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee somehow rolled up into one person.

[Tim]

At the time of Ali's greatest fame, China was very much closed to the outside world and a very large part of the population in India was still cut off. I'd guess that there are current athletes that are known by both a greater number of people and a greater percentage of the worlds population than Ali. Messi, for example, could be more well known at this point.

[jersey cubs fan]

Ali's fights were global events,

that brings up the massive difference in the sports themselves. Boxing was huge at the time and Ali was the biggest name, but how many of his fights were truly global events? Maybe a half a dozen? Jordan had exponentially more games, and even if you just count things like series clinching games, his comeback, finals games, dunk contests and olympics, he was out there for world wide consumption far more often. I think Jordan competes simply on the globally famous question. He may not be as popular or beloved or respected, but those are different questions. But the dude is quite famous.

[Sammy Sofa]

Ali's fights were global events,

that brings up the massive difference in the sports themselves. Boxing was huge at the time and Ali was the biggest name, but how many of his fights were truly global events? Maybe a half a dozen? Jordan had exponentially more games, and even if you just count things like series clinching games, his comeback, finals games, dunk contests and olympics, he was out there for world wide consumption far more often. I think Jordan competes simply on the globally famous question. He may not be as popular or beloved or respected, but those are different questions. But the dude is quite famous.

 

I don't know what tell you; I was out of the country for most of that, and it was definitely popular, but nowhere near that "holy horsefeathers, everyone stop what you're doing/did you see what Jordan did last night?" I mean, I'm obviously not arguing that Jordan wasn't global famous; he clearly was and is. Ali just was on a crazy different level. Yeah, that is hugely influenced by the difference in their sports and the eras they were at their peak; Jordan's arguably the reason that basketball started spreading globally like it has, whereas Ali benefited by being the greatest at a sport that was already cemented as a global phenomenon and was basically at its peak in popularity. Whatever the reasons, Ali somehow ended up on a level you usually just see for religious figures or world leaders.

[Banedon]

Ali's fights were global events,

that brings up the massive difference in the sports themselves. Boxing was huge at the time and Ali was the biggest name, but how many of his fights were truly global events? Maybe a half a dozen? Jordan had exponentially more games, and even if you just count things like series clinching games, his comeback, finals games, dunk contests and olympics, he was out there for world wide consumption far more often. I think Jordan competes simply on the globally famous question. He may not be as popular or beloved or respected, but those are different questions. But the dude is quite famous.

 

I don't know what tell you; I was out of the country for most of that, and it was definitely popular, but nowhere near that "holy [expletive], everyone stop what you're doing/did you see what Jordan did last night?" I mean, I'm obviously not arguing that Jordan wasn't global famous; he clearly was and is. Ali just was on a crazy different level. Yeah, that is hugely influenced by the difference in their sports and the eras they were at their peak; Jordan's arguably the reason that basketball started spreading globally like it has, whereas Ali benefited by being the greatest at a sport that was already cemented as a global phenomenon and was basically at its peak in popularity. Whatever the reasons, Ali somehow ended up on a level you usually just see for religious figures or world leaders.

 

I think it's really tough because we're judging it based on reports of folks (old sportswriters and reporters) that are inclined to glamorize Ali's fame too. I sure wasn't around to see any of Ali's fights.