MMA fighter Kimbo Slice dead at 42
While he was no Ali, one can't help but wonder if the blows to the head and all that. I haven't read the report so I don't know what happened. I doubt he will get the attention that Ali is getting, perhaps justifiably. I'm not arguing anything. I'm just pointing out observations regarding the media coverage.
Time to check the scorecards.
Back in the day when I was a kid I rooted for Frazier and Foreman. I liked the guys who did their work and kept their mouth shut. Even at such a young age I had been programmed to obey authority. I hated Ali (as children hate for no reason other than immaturity and the programming to choose sides). Saw Ali as a loudmouthed braggadocio, nothing more. Never even thought of the war stuff back then.
Now, in the later rounds of my life I see things entirely different. Not only do I understand the sacrifices he made, the whole name change thing was a huge issue. He was joining up with those militant and separatist blacks, thus calling public wrath down upon himself. Who does that easily? We all want approval and adulation more than anything else. That would come to Ali after his boxing career was over.
It also puts Cosell into an entirely different context in my mind. It was fashionable to hate Cosell back then, too, although I see now why he was reviled, turning on his own as he did, be it media or religion. That's why he was run out of the industry for the remark about the Redskin(!!) receiver. I'm not defending what he said, far from it, but didn't Ali also call Frazier a gorilla? I know there is a white-black component to certain word usage (words, mind you, not actions), but from this seat at ringside one can also say Cosell stuck his neck out. But more on him later.
As for the other judges of the fight:
"It is now a virtual certainty that Clinton will face presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in November."
It's a unanimous decision! Conveniently timed before California!
No sense voting now, and even if Bernie wins, big deal right?
At least their convention should be more exciting.
"Cleveland’s message to the rest of us on GOP convention: Calm down." by Tracy Jan Globe Staff June 06, 2016
WASHINGTON — Ohio GOP leaders are projecting a cheery front and a sense of normalcy, even while faced with an unpredictable nominee with little regard for the Republican establishment or its norms.
Rank-and-file Republicans, including some who embraced the Never Trump movement during the bitter primary, say their sense of duty to their party is overcoming their aversion to the real estate mogul turned reality TV star.
So all this arm-flailing, political show fooley we have been treated to the last six months.... ?
So what if major political figures are vowing to sit this convention out?
“To be blunt about it, good riddance. We don’t need ya,” said Cuyahoga County Councilman Mike Gallagher.
Convention planners aren’t even sweating the fact that some corporations are bowing out from sponsorship.
From Cleveland’s point of view, the July 18 show must go on. There was the ribbon cutting last week for a new Hilton hotel, a downtown skyscraper with views of Lake Erie from many of its 600 rooms — booked solid for next month’s convention.
Convention planners are touting a new exhibit at the nearby Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, showcasing the power of rock in politics along with the guitar with which John Lennon performed “Give Peace a Chance” in 1969....
As a famous Republican once said, "There you go again!"
In addition to the usurpation of Ali and MLK, you can now add Lennon.
Which brings me back to Cosell. It was there, on Monday Night Football, New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins, that we learned Lennon had been shot and killed. Cosell was as distraught as I'd ever heard him. I'm not saying he was an angel, but it is hard to imagine a ma$$ media personality taking up the antiwar cause today. We are all required to bow down to the military machine and its personifications now.
Of course, Lennon was another lone nut shooting that had all the signs of a Manchurian candidate. But why? The Beatles were broken up, Vietnam was over. What and where could a motive come for killing the man?
Well, there was the fear of a reinvigorated antiwar movement as Reagan came to office. Interestingly, Reagan would be shot a few months later by another lone nut gunman. This came at a time when Reagan was beginning to back off his tough campaign rhetoric and was starting to sound like the relatively moderate governor he had been in California. What most people don't know are the connections between certain families and the fallout of the event. For the next eight years, George H.W. Bush was the de facto president of the United States. All the national security and presidential briefings went through his office, not Reagan's. Reagan was in the truest sense of the word a figurehead, with the perfect training for it.
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Well, if they can't be champions on the ball court....
I'm going to finish off this post with a moment of silence and prayer.
