A Legend

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Muhammad Ali once said:

"I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world."

He was certainly loved.

He was also roundly hated for quite awhile...and even today...the day after his death...because he stood up for what he believed in and was the world's most famous objector to the Viet Nam war.

"Impossible is just a 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 potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."

I grew up in the 1970's.

It was impossible not to have an opinion on Ali.

Impossible!

That's a fact.

Ali was on television all time time. He was the most famous man in the world. He boxed, he sang, he danced. He spoke about political things. He was a Muslim and he even changed his name.

We still have plenty of bias about the things we don't know, right?

Ali was loved?

Certainly. But he was also hated. There wasn't a man or woman alive who didn't know of him.

My viewpoint?

I rooted against him every single time he fought a big fight. I loved Frazier, and Norton and Foreman.

Ali was too pretty.

But man, he was great.

He was entertaining.

He made me laugh.

As an adult he made me think.

I read a lot about him, of course.

He was well aware that he was black, Muslim and despised by those who did not comprehend what it means to be different than them.

(Sadly there are millions like that still hanging around).

He was a civil rights hero.

A humanitarian.

A thinker.

A Parkinson's battler.

And then a boxer.

The Greatest?

Put the entire package together and you just have to say yes.

He may have been knocked cold by Rocky Marciano or Frazier...or any of the other greats...

...but all told...

He was way more than just a fighter.

R.I.P. Champ

Ali stood up for himself..in every single scenario.

That's awesome.

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