Jun 4, 2016 RIP the legend that is Mohamed Ali. If he was British, we would be saying RIP Sir Mohamed Ali.
Jun 4, 2016 Ali is a legend. He's probably the greatest boxer to ever live--it's tougher to pin that down than it is in any other sport, but he has five or six of the greatest performances of all time, and that's disregarding everything before Liston 1. Imagine what his career would have looked like if he didn't miss four years right in the middle of his prime. It's impossible to overstate his political impact. It wasn't just his refusal to report to the military; it was how he defended his decision and how unafraid he was of blowback from white America. Boxing occupied a much bigger space in sports and pop culture in the '60s, and its heavyweight champion and biggest star--by a mile--had not only shed his slave name, but was making American lawmakers swallow their own hypocrisy. In the end, Ali transcended boxing completely, but refused to transcend race. As I was tweeting earlier, he was a hero to people who never saw him box. I don't know if the same could be said about any other athlete, or about any musician. f--- off
Jun 4, 2016 The only other athletes I can say comes close are Michael Jordan and Babe Ruth, and I think it's a wide margin between them and Ali.
Jun 4, 2016 I always rooted against Michael Jordan when I was a kid because I was deep into the NBA... I had multiples of every players trading cards and memorized every stat and would dub VHS tapes of games and memorize every players moves and "tells" until I could see the plays before they were happening... I was such a fan of the NBA that I hated Jordan fans because I felt it was so lazy and generic to jock him. He is probably the most competitive person in the world. Financially he is probably the luckiest athlete in the world. The more his personality gets exposed the easier it is to see he is an abysmal person.
Jun 4, 2016 Ayyyy listen, if we're talking real heroes, obviously Jordan doesn't hold a candle to Ali (I even said it was a wide margin). He's been exposed as a pretty s-----y individual and I'd never place him with Ali in that regard.. Maybe I should've clarified he's a "sports" hero, rather than an actual hero.
Jun 4, 2016 We're talking about the shoe, right? They look good actually. I'm getting off topic this thread should be for AlI.
Jun 4, 2016 Jordan is absolutely a transcendent basketball talent/mind and I respect him immensely for everything he did on the court but yeah, looking at the totality of things, Ali is probably peerless.
Jun 4, 2016 I think Bo Jackson had potential to be Ali's equal. He is still an amazing and interesting individual and physically the greatest athlete ever for a short period of time... before he destroyed himself by running out of his skeleton.
Jun 4, 2016 Secretariat was up there. At one point, boxing and horse racing were the two biggest sports in America.
Jun 4, 2016 "Republicans buy sneakers too." Isn't even on my radar... it's actually true and kind of a clever way to stay apolitical. I watched Michael Jordan's hall of fame speech and cringed and felt sorry for his family... especially his son. He came off as a huge piece of s---... He flew the guy that made the last spot on his schools varsity team when he was cut as a underclassmen specifically to accost him in public... because of a grudge he never got over against his probably long dead coach. I imagine the guy didn't even think Jordan remembered or cared about that.. and probably thought Jordan invited him as an old friend or something... I haven't watched it since it was live... so, I might be a little fuzzy on the details... but my mind was blown by what a huge a------ he was being.
