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http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/04/world/muhammad-ali-obituary/index.html

RIP

Always will be the Greatest in my book.

This has been a messed up year for celebrity deaths.

I work at the local paper in his hometown of Louisville. We've been preparing for this for about five years. Even so, it's a big blow.

Goodbye, GOAT.

Damn you 2016! Damn you to heck!

Arguably the greatest boxer of all time and a very clever speaker. I have great respect for his performance in the ring and his outspoken attitude against the Vietnam War.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/150/680141.page

Continuing in the 2016 strikes again thread

 Ouze wrote:
This has been a messed up year for celebrity deaths.

Is it really any worse than any other year? Statistically we are always going to lose some. 2009 saw Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett on the same day, then Patrick Swayze, Dom Deluise, Brittany Murphy, Edwood Woodward, Les Paul... I guess now is around the time when the baby boomers are approaching life expectancy, so maybe we really are heading towards a funeral boom, but I think we probably just forget that it happens every year.

Ali had been sick for a long time, which I think was the saddest part, as Carlson793 pointed out: this could have happened any time over the last decade and it wouldn't have been unexpected.

Like Smacks, I am more sad about the years of ill health he endured. I wish he had retired from boxing years earlier than he did.

Relapse wrote:
Like Smacks, I am more sad about the years of ill health he endured. I wish he had retired from boxing years earlier than he did.

This. Ali participated in some of the greatest boxing matches of all time but they almost certainly took their toll on his health. No body could withstand the punishment he received in fights such as the Thrilla in Manila and come out unscathed.

He had many more years than some those who honored their duty when the country called on them whether they wanted to or not.

Great bixer, bad person. I feel for his family, losing loved ones sucks, and I hope they got to say good bye. I personally am not saddened.

 redleger wrote:
He had many more years than some those who honored their duty when the country called on them whether they wanted to or not.

Great bixer, bad person. I feel for his family, losing loved ones sucks, and I hope they got to say good bye. I personally am not saddened.

Honestly man, as a guy who served and deployed, the fact that Ali fought for what he believed in to not serve, instead of just running to Canada or some other country "until it all blows over" earned my respect.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 redleger wrote:
He had many more years than some those who honored their duty when the country called on them whether they wanted to or not.

Great bixer, bad person. I feel for his family, losing loved ones sucks, and I hope they got to say good bye. I personally am not saddened.

Honestly man, as a guy who served and deployed, the fact that Ali fought for what he believed in to not serve, instead of just running to Canada or some other country "until it all blows over" earned my respect.

This. And really, America should never have been in Vietnam to begin with and if you are the kind of country which forces its people to fight a war that they don't truly think is necessary or just, against their own conscience and beliefs, then what does that say about your country?

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 redleger wrote:
He had many more years than some those who honored their duty when the country called on them whether they wanted to or not.

Great bixer, bad person. I feel for his family, losing loved ones sucks, and I hope they got to say good bye. I personally am not saddened.

Honestly man, as a guy who served and deployed, the fact that Ali fought for what he believed in to not serve, instead of just running to Canada or some other country "until it all blows over" earned my respect.

This. And really, America should never have been in Vietnam to begin with and if you are the kind of country which forces its people to fight a war that they don't truly think is necessary or just, against their own conscience and beliefs, then what does that say about your country?

People I know who served in Southeast Asia (including family) were proud of the fact that they served, even if they were cynical about the leadership of the time. They (and their survivors for those who have passed) also had or have no respect for draft dodgers. And neither do I, coming from the generation that had to deal with the fallout from Vietnam, and it's effect on our society. I don't give a damn if they ran to Canada or not.


As for Ali, while he was a great showman and athlete, he was an unapologetic racist, a black separatist, an admirer of George Wallace for his segregationist views, involved with the criminal black supremacist Nation of Islam, and anti-homosexual, in addition to being a draft dodger.

But it's amazing what people are willing to overlook if you are a living legend, backed up by people with money.

There's another thread for this, linked above. Thanks