The Greatest

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Oh, you mean the guy that became a Muslim as soon as he was drafted? Odd, he tried to tell us that his religion forbade him fighting, does not seem to bother the other muzzies hmmmm.
He would not shoulder a rifle for his country but he would beat someones brains out in a heartbeat for money. Good on the dead azzhole.

You mean the guy who didn't run away to Canada, but went to jail for his convictions. In retrospect, the Vietnam War was a complete waste of human life. Unless of course you were rich enough to go to college, then you didn't have to go off and die somewhere in the jungle. If Ali had gone along he would have probably gotten a pass because of his celebrity, but he chose instead to do the unpopular thing and went to jail.

 

[Curious Cdn]

You mean the guy who didn't run away to Canada, but went to jail for his convictions. In retrospect, the Vietnam War was a complete waste of human life. Unless of course you were rich enough to go to college, then you didn't have to go off and die somewhere in the jungle. If Ali had gone along he would have probably gotten a pass because of his celebrity, but he chose instead to do the unpopular thing and went to jail.

This won't be a popular observation but one of the main original reasons for fighting in Southeast Asia was to stop the spread of Communism. The cost was likely too high but after the fall of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the classic Soviet version of Communism went no further. Just a look over our shoulders. A century or two from now, the Vietnam War may be considered to have been a limited success.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

This won't be a popular observation but one of the main original reasons for fighting in Southeast Asia was to stop the spread of Communism. The cost was likely too high but after the fall of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the classic Soviet version of Communism went no further. Just a look over our shoulders. A century or two from now, the Vietnam War may be considered to have been a limited success.

I have nothing but respect for the soldiers who fought there, but poor folk were used as fodder. The fact that draftees could get a pass if they were in college makes it all the more disgusting.

 

[lone wolf]

This won't be a popular observation but one of the main original reasons for fighting in Southeast Asia was to stop the spread of Communism. The cost was likely too high but after the fall of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the classic Soviet version of Communism went no further. Just a look over our shoulders. A century or two from now, the Vietnam War may be considered to have been a limited success.

This is a less popular version ... but Vietnam was a war to unite the Vietnams and evict the French. The sad part is, Ho Chi Minh welcomed the support of Communists as much as he did Americans,

It really wasn't Clay's fight

 

[Blackleaf]

Other Christians not only fight, they torture, murder, and rape little boys.

Such people have nothing to do with Christianity.

 

[Locutus]

You mean the guy who didn't run away to Canada, but went to jail for his convictions. In retrospect, the Vietnam War was a complete waste of human life. Unless of course you were rich enough to go to college, then you didn't have to go off and die somewhere in the jungle. If Ali had gone along he would have probably gotten a pass because of his celebrity, but he chose instead to do the unpopular thing and went to jail.

pretty sure the dude didn't go to prison. he won an appeal.

he might have been a good boxer but the rest of his personal life seemed as much of a steve harvey dog's breakfast as most. multiple marriages, kids out of wedlock, money troubles, trying on different religions, sunni, sufism...not to mention his 10 years with those racist nation of islam bastards.

 

[MHz]

How did he get that disease that messed up his co-ordination?

 

[Ludlow]

Oh, you mean the guy that became a Muslim as soon as he was drafted? Odd, he tried to tell us that his religion forbade him fighting, does not seem to bother the other muzzies hmmmm.
He would not shoulder a rifle for his country but he would beat someones brains out in a heartbeat for money. Good on the dead azzhole.

Well I'll be. You mean to tell me one of our heros that we put on a pedestal actually turned out to be less than perfect like Elvis, Pres. Kennedy, and 100% of all our other heros ? Thank you for reminding all of us that he was human on the day of the mans death. We can only hope that one day a hero will come along as virtuous as you.

How did he get that disease that messed up his co-ordination?

I heard that every time you take a blow to the head, the brain bleeds some. Most boxers end up punch drunk I think.

 

[coldstream]

Nobody was so emblamatic the turbulent 60s and early 70s in America and world, as Muhammed Ali... from Civil Rights, to Viet Nam to Social and Cultural revolutions.. Ali was at the centre of the whirlwind. His charisma gave voice to the disenfranchised and to dissent out of the stultifying political conformity and systemic racism of the 50s.

As far as his career as a boxer goes, I never saw Ali live, but three notable events of his career are branded onto my memory. The first was the Ali/Chuvalo fight of 1966, televised live as i remember it. It was a bruising, bloody brawl (as were many of Chuvalo's fights), with Chuvalo beaten, but standing at end of it. The first and last to do so until Frazier in 1971. Ali remembered Chuvalo as toughest man he ever fought.

The second was the Ali/Frazier fight of 1971. Some highschool friends and I bought tickets (i think $9) to what was likely the first global sports simulcast in history on the big screen at Maple Leaf Gardens. The place was packed and electric with excitement. We were treated to what was, imho, the greatest boxing match in history, although Ali lost the decision (you could argue the Thrilla and Manila was as good).

The third was in 1974. I was in a student bar, watching a live band. The Rumble in the Jungle in Zaire was on that night.. but everyone assumed the Ali would be destroyed by the impregnable George Foreman. The lead singer started a set by announcing that Ali had knocked out Foreman in the 8th round to a spontaneous, fist pumping cheer from the audience. Got roaring drunk in salute.

Thanks for memories, Champ... rest in peace.

 

[FiveParadox]

Threads merged.

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

pretty sure the dude didn't go to prison. he won an appeal.

I stand corrected. He was sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000 and stripped of his championship status and banned from boxing for four years. He won on appeal.

he might have been a good boxer but the rest of his personal life seemed as much of a steve harvey dog's breakfast as most. multiple marriages, kids out of wedlock, money troubles, trying on different religions, sunni, sufism...not to mention his 10 years with those racist nation of islam bastards.

With greatness, and Ali was a great boxer, comes celebrity, with celebrity comes arrogance. He wasn't perfect, but find me an athlete or celebrity that is.

Another myth is that he became a Muslim after being drafted, he converted to Islam in 64 and was charged in 67.

 

[Remington1]

A family man with a huge personality, a legend. That's how I saw the Great One. Rest in peace.

 

[talloola]

I stand corrected. He was sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000 and stripped of his championship status and banned from boxing for four years. He won on appeal.



With greatness, and Ali was a great boxer, comes celebrity, with celebrity comes arrogance. He wasn't perfect, but find me an athlete or celebrity that is.

Another myth is that he became a Muslim after being drafted, he converted to Islam in 64 and was charged in 67.

find me one human who is perfect, there are none, many just don't recognize their own imperfections, and if they
do, they think everyone elses are much worse.

just take notice of how 'so' many on this board trash each other, over and over, a constant
repetition of imperfections.

 

[Mowich]

A belief that served him well throughout his life. Fare Thee Well Muhammad Ali.
​

 

[JLM]

find me one human who is perfect, there are none, many just don't recognize their own imperfections, and if they
do, they think everyone elses are much worse.

just take notice of how 'so' many on this board trash each other, over and over, a constant
repetition of imperfections.

A lot of them thrive on it, both the giving and receiving!


Sometimes when people start being polite to each other, the friendship is diminished!

 

[Johnnny]

Rest in Peace...

 

[Mowich]

I stand corrected. He was sentenced to five years in prison, fined $10,000 and stripped of his championship status and banned from boxing for four years. He won on appeal.



With greatness, and Ali was a great boxer, comes celebrity, with celebrity comes arrogance. He wasn't perfect, but find me an athlete or celebrity that is.

Another myth is that he became a Muslim after being drafted, he converted to Islam in 64 and was charged in 67.

“Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights?

No, I am not going ten thousand miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would put my prestige in jeopardy and could cause me to lose millions of dollars which should accrue to me as the champion.

But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is right here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality…

If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. But I either have to obey the laws of the land or the laws of Allah. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail. We’ve been in jail for four hundred years.”


Muhammad Ali explains his refusal to fight in Vietnam (1967)

​

 

[Curious Cdn]

How did he get that disease that messed up his co-ordination?

http://www.dementia.org/dementia-pugilistica

 

[JLM]

How did he get that disease that messed up his co-ordination?

Is it something to do with a lack of El Dopa?

 

[Curious Cdn]

Is it something to do with a lack of El Dopa?

It is a lot to do with the brain sloshing ... smashing into the back, then the front of the skull when you punch them in the face. It's not nearly as exotic or complex as unbalanced brain chemistry. It is bruising, scarring, dying of brain tissue that has hit a bone wall, over and over for year after year. This has been known about for a very long time.

This article about Ali's condition is three decades old but they've known about this since the 1920's.

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-16/sports/sp-4337_1_muhammad-ali