Muhammad Ali - The Greatest

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yebbut? Why change the TV schedules?

Overkill, as usual.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well - except that Ali is as important in political/social/cultural history as he is in sport, if not even more so. His work on behalf of Civil Rights and the understanding of Islam (and the profile he unwittingly but positively gave to Parkinson's Disease) marks him out as an extraordinary human being fully deserving of a change of scheduling. And the articulacy of the man, too - there's enough in the archive away from the Boxing Ring (a sport that I dislike) to demonstrate that a great man - not just a great sportsman - is worthy of special treatment.

(And I loved Cali's story, too )

[Richard Tarleton]

Yes to all of the above.

(and the profile he unwittingly but positively gave to Parkinson's Disease)

An important distinction - according to Hugh MacIlvanney's coverage in today's Sunday Times tribute:

He didn't have Parkinson's disease but Parkinsonism or Parkinson's Syndrome, according to Dr Stanley Fahn the professor of neurology who supervised his diagnosis in 1984. Fahn explained the difference: "With Parkinson's disease, the cells in the brain stem that produce dopamine progressively degenerate and die and produce less dopamine. In Muhammad's case there's damage to these cells from physical trauma...my assumption is that his physical condition resulted from repeated blows to the head over time".

Neither Fahn nor Dr Dennis Cope, a professor of medicine at UCLA who treated Ali regularly over the years, detected signs of dementia pugilistica (punch drunkenness) but they agreed the source of his afflictions was boxing. "If Muhammad hadn't been a professional fighter, none of these problems would have occurred", said Cope.

But then....greatness, but at a terrible price.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

An important distinction, indeed, Richard - and one which I hadn't seen before. Many thanks.

[Lento]

Overkill, as usual.

"Everything in proportion" would be nice, but that has long gone out of the window, especially on rolling news channels who never seem to exercise any self-restraint. I liked Michael Parkinson's tribute which balanced his like of the man with an acknowledgement that, like all of us, he also had his faults.

[Conchis]

I've been away for the weekend, so have missed the tv coverage. Normally, I'd agree about the re-scheduling: the fact is, most sports personalities are UTTERLY BORING as people, once divorced from their sporting achievements (which are of no interest to me, anyway). But M.A. was a great entertainer, aside from being a great sportsman/icon/leader of his people, etc, etc, and I could watch him talk and fight all day.


As my memories of him principally begin with the Rumble in the Jungle, it wasn't until years later that I realised his best years were in the 60s and that a lot of his fighting was defensive after the comeback. Really loved his balletic stye in his heyday. :)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

"Everything in proportion" would be nice, but that has long gone out of the window, especially on rolling news channels who never seem to exercise any self-restraint. I liked Michael Parkinson's tribute which balanced his like of the man with an acknowledgement that, like all of us, he also had his faults.

Yes, that was the sort of balanced treatment that is appropriate, rather than gushing, as much of the media does at these times.