JCC 2016 Celebrity Deadpool (Congratulations Ramza!)

Muhammad Ali has passed away.

 

Man this year has been something else. RIP to one of the greats.

 

Butterfly / Bee.

 

RIP to the GOAT. I was just talking this morning about how amazing it was watching him light the Olympic torch in Atlanta...

 

Frieda, you can stop now. Some Healer.

 

Ali and Joe Louis will probably be remembered far longer than any other boxers.

 

I've had enough of 2016 now!

RIP Ali.

 

Tributes are all over BBC News this morning. RIP..

 

R.I.P. Mr.Ali.

 

R.I.P

All Heart, all the time.

 

Maybe as a tribute to Ali it's time to end the scourges of boxing and football. The world would be so much better off without these awful, dangerous, debilitating "sports."

 

So I was just getting my hair cut and they had ESPN2 on which was showing The Rumble in the Jungle. During the post fight interview, the entire shop went silent to listen to Ali. It was pretty cool.

Amazing.

 

Neil Leifer is almost the same age as Ali was, and so of course he's getting up there now as well. He was (and I'm sure still is) a phenomenally talented photographer, and it's in part thanks to him that we have some of our most iconic pictures of Ali. Leifer was just 22 when he made his iconic picture of Ali standing over Liston, and 23 when he made the picture he considers his favorite, which was made from above the ring just after Ali knocked out Cleveland Williams. The former picture is iconic in part because Leifer was among only a few photographers to use color film that night.

 

You floated like a butterfly,
And stung like a bee.
Great like no other to be
Rest forever, Ali.

 

For those in the UK, BBC1 has changed their programming for this evening and will be presenting Muhammed Ali: The Greatest from 9:30 - 10:30 PM. If you were wanting to watch The Musketeers, you're out of luck as it won't be on. (This is according to the Sky TV program guide).

 

Read: "we should ban adults from making decisions about risk in their own lives because I know better than they do what's best for them"

Come on, dude. There have obviously been shameful cover ups in the past, although for most of sports history people just genuinely didn't know better. But there is zero logical argument for banning these sports for adults now. They know the risks. They are adults. They really don't need you to foist your own personal opinion on their life choices that affect no one but themselves.

They don't need you to decide for them what the acceptable level of risk for their chosen profession and passion is, whether they are a boxer, football player, rock climber, diver, welder, construction worker, police officer, bmx biker, etc.

People who knowingly had dangers withheld from them have a right to sue in any field. Current players have the right to quit. But they also have the right to say, "I'm okay with the risks, because this is the only thing I want to do in life." They don't need to rely on you to make that decision for them. They're grown-ups.

For instance, from an interview with Muhammad Ali's wife, she had this to say:

"Does Muhammad express regret?

Muhammad usually has no regrets about anything. The closest he will come is when he will look at a documentary and say, “I was crazy, wasn’t I?” I say, “Yeah, you were!” I think he is amazed at some of the things he did — at his boldness, at times, without being afraid."


Oh you mean he just expressed regret at seeming over-zealous, but not about likely getting brain damage (or having it accelerated) by being punched in the face?

It's almost like he loved what he did and didn't need you to question his personal choices.

I am not at all a boxing fan, but I can appreciate Muhammad Ali as someone who loves many other sports and realizes how special his dominance and passion was. Meanwhile you're basically saying he should have chosen some other profession he wouldn't have liked as much, leading to none of us giving a crap who he was at all, and also leading to him probably not enjoying his life nearly as much.

 

I don't know about boxing, but I know that football players almost always start when they are minors (children) and begin receiving brain injuries before they have the "choice" as legal adults. People as young as teenagers have suffered from CTE.