Here are five words that won't shock the world: Muhammad Ali changed the game.
Here are seven more words you've heard plenty of times before: There will never be another Muhammad Ali.
Here's why we'll never see another athlete the likes of Ali. We won't let it happen.
"Ali Rap" aired this weekend on ESPN. The hour-long special hosted by Chuck D (who is the new best friend of my boy -- and Newsday NFL columnist -- Bob Glauber) highlights the captivating personality of Ali. Through his rhymes and his ability to entertain, Ali was really the first athlete to embrace and succesfully use the power of the media.
We're not here to discuss Ali's boxing or his impact on the world. Everyone already knows that. What you may not realize is that we'll never have another personality such as Ali. We'll never have someone who can captivate us the way he did. We'll never have it again because we won't let ourselves have it.
Every time an athlete opens his mouth and says something other than the typical cliches, those quotes are on the Internet. Then they're on ESPN. Then they're in the newspapers. Then they're on sports talk radio.
Then the analysts come around and debate for three hours the effect those words will have on the psyche of the team in the locker room and on the field. Then, the fans will call the talk radio shows and hammer the Internet message boards with their two cents. Occasionally, they'll chip in a nickel if the Web site's bandwidth allows for it.
Then the athlete will respond either with a retraction, a clarification or a statement issued through his team, agent or attorney.
Sportswriters hate getting canned, cliche quotes. Editors hate editing them. Readers hate reading them. But, when we come upon an athlete who speaks his mind and answers questions honestly, the media blows it up to outrageous proportions. All of a sudden, what was once a thoughtful response to a question is front-page news and top-flight material for television.
See: Jeremy Shockey, TIki Barber, Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, dozens of others.
Could you imagine Muhammad Ali's rhymes and bravado getting by today's media? Impossible. Because 38 seconds after he said "I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I'm in a world of my own," Google servers would shut down from all the search results produced by a news search for "Muhammad Ali."
It would be a field day for bloggers, columnists, TV talking heads, etc. See: "Ocho Cinqo."
The extensive media coverage isn't necessarily a bad thing. It isn't necessarily a good thing. But the next time you watch an interview or read a story about an athlete, pay close attention to the words they are actually saying. Then realize that they've probably said next to nothing.
We'll never have another Muhammad Ali because we won't allow it to happen. Athletes may float like butterflies still, but it's the media that now stings like a bee.
Comments (7)
Right on, guy! That was an interesting show last night, and an insightful follow-up column. In my book, players who are all heart (and sometimes no brain) and always give 110 percent like Shockey can say whatever they want. People knocked Michael Strahan for criticizing Plaxico Burress, but when you're the veteran leader of the team, and you're speaking the truth about someone's lackluster effort, what's so wrong with that? Sorry for equating your column to the Giants, but it's just what comes to mind right now. Every time something doesn't go right in a game, the cameramen are on them like flies on s%@#, waiting for someone to start whining and crying so that they can then start whining about them. T.O., though is a different story. The guy talked himself from most dangerous receiver in the game to the biggest pain in the ass. He would like to think he is the Muhammed Ali of football, but the problem is this is a team game. He's more like the Mike Tyson of football, a head case who had the world on a platter but pissed it all away because he started to believe all the hype about himself.
It's fine when someone speaks the truth. I remember Ali not as a beacon of truth but as the Grandfather of trash talking. He make it acceptable for athletes to publically degrade their opponents and the sad state of sportsmanship today is a reflection of the downward trend that he started. Of course the press loved it, it helped them. Too bad it did not help sports.
Ali made it okay to be a bad sport and a bad-mouther. He supported our nation's enemies against our own fighting men, and by doing so hastened the victory of the Communists in Vietnam, who proceeded to enslave their own people. He insulted Joe Frazier, a better -- and a blacker -- man than Ali himself. He ascribed to an ignorant, racist cult ("Black Muslims"), opening the door to terrorism and the current international plague of radical Islam. Other than that, he was a great guy. Face it: the only people who admire Ali are the left-wing press and their stooges, and the ESPN band-wagon hoppers who hope to sponge up some of his fame.
ur right there will never be another muhammed ali and the only boxer that may be in muhammed ali's league is Roy Jones jr.
Muhammed Ali was the best of the best .
woooooooooooooooooooooooooo
muslims rock just like me
Muhammed Ali is a phenomenon which won't be repeated
Muhammad Ali was a Dancer in the Ring!
He´s a Legend. He know which Religion are the best!