RIP Muhammad Ali

[TheThan]

So late breaking news, retired pro-boxer Cassius clay AKA Muhammad Ali passed away today from respiratory issues. He was 74 and had been fighting Parkinson’s disease for 32 years.

He won gold at the 1960 summer Olympics in Rome as a light heavyweight. His professional fight record is 6 fights, 56 wins with only 5 loses; 37 of those wins coming by K.O.

Muhammad Ali was a legend in his own right and his passing is a great loss to all of sports, not just ring sports or boxing.
I was going to say he’s been knocked out for the last time but he was actually never knocked out.

[Razade]

Should probably change that to RIP Muhammad Ali. He legally changed his name to Muhammad Ali, Cassius Clay was a name he saw with a great deal of contempt. While his death isn't particularly meaningful for me, he deserves respect and using the name Cassius is insanely disrespectful to his memory.

[Rater202]

What Razade said. He changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to Islam, and once beat the hell out of an opponent he kept calling him Clay.

It's disrespectful to the man to call him Clay when he preferred Ali.

[DoctorFaust]

Genuinely sad that Muhammad Ali has died. I'm not a massive fan of boxing, but The Rumble In the Jungle is one of the best fights I've ever seen, real or scripted, and he was an icon of the sport.

And while I hate to be a pedant in situations like this, I will note that he actually did lose one fight by TKO, something that is actually thought to have worsened his Parkinson's Disease. Also what Razade said.

[Professor Gnoll]

One fight too many, it seems. Well, he certainly secured his place in sporting history.
And yes, change the title to R.I.P Muhammad Ali. Seriously, he didn't just change his name on a whim, and it wasn't a nickname.

[blunk]

Cassius Clay died in 1964.

[Feytalist]

Goodness knows, GitHub has frustrated me in the past too, but unless he was secretly a very passionate programmer, I do believe you mean he passed away from respiratory issues, not repository :smalltongue:

Also, yeah. His name was Muhammad Ali.

[Rodin]

Damnit, 2016.

What is with this year? The Grim Reaper has put away his scythe and taken out a combine harvester. So many great names gone and we're not even halfway through the year yet.

RIP, Mr. Ali. You were an inspiration to us all.

[Leewei]

Anyone else remember the Muhammad Ali Saturday morning cartoon?

As a kid, I lived many years in very white, very Christian Texas. All my buddies and I thought that Muhammad Ali was the coolest guy on the planet. It's very remarkable that a black Muslim man could pull that off in the 1970s.

[anjxed]

Damnit, 2016.

What is with this year? The Grim Reaper has put away his scythe and taken out a combine harvester. So many great names gone and we're not even halfway through the year yet.

RIP, Mr. Ali. You were an inspiration to us all.

I think its just because all of the deaths are contemporary to us. Every year I think a lot of big names die every year. We just don't know them but probably our grandparents of great grandparente knew them

[TheThan]

Goodness knows, GitHub has frustrated me in the past too, but unless he was secretly a very passionate programmer, I do believe you mean he passed away from respiratory issues, not repository :smalltongue:

Also, yeah. His name was Muhammad Ali.


Oops, I'll fix that mistake.

{scrubbed}

[Peelee]

{scrubbed}

Personally, I'm with Eddie Murphy on this.

Also, NSFW, for anyone who doesn't know this scene already.

[Rogar Demonblud]

I think you NSFW for anyone who's never heard of Eddie Murphy before.

Ali is one of the few professional athletes I would've liked to have met. He was the last one living, too. I'm glad he's found some peace after years of illness.

[Ramza00]

{scrubbed}

[DoctorFaust]

Considering the dearth if LGBT threads on these forums, I'm going to assume this metaphor is allowable under the rules:

Frankly, that strikes me as disrespectful as refusing to call a transgender person by the pronouns they ask you to. Or, I guess more appropriately, refusing to call them by their new name after they legally change it.

[T-Mick]

Have I read this thread before? I feel like I have, but that's obviously not possible.

Classic case of deja vu, I guess.

[Haruki-kun]

The Winged Mod: Everybody, please drop this line of discussion now and stay on topic with the thread. Thank you.

[ChaosPerfected]

RIP Muhammad Ali

[otakuryoga]

my favorite quote from him is
"Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn't matter which color does the hating. It's just plain wrong."

[Mystic Muse]

RIP Muhammad Ali.

At least it sounds like he will be at peace, and it was something that wasn't so bad, considering his quality of life at the time.

[SaintRidley]

Rest in Power, Ali.

[Avilan the Grey]

He was one of the greatest athletes during his peak, and definitely the greatest boxer.

Rest in peace.

[HandofShadows]

Rest in Peace Mr. Ali.

[Scarlet Knight]

Muhammad Ali was a great athlete and a brave man. But what made him brave also made him despised.

In his day, he was not unique to give up years of his career for a cause. Most Americans knew that thousands of athletes did so in the World Wars and Korea. Christy Mathewson and later Pat Tillman sacrificed much more than Ali.

What Ali did was stick up for an unpopular belief that most of America did not share and he did it at a time when questioning the government when just starting. If he came along today, switched his name from Clay to Ali, became a Muslim, and refused to fight ISIS, how would we view him? Still heroically?

Knowing Ali is part of knowing history. I would suggest those who have older relatives to sit down, ask about him, and listen to some history.

[The Glyphstone]

That would probably get into Inappropriate Topics to discuss. But I don't think the fact that other professional sports figures also paid a price for their convictions lessens or trivializes the impact of Ali's choice to do so; they can each be viewed and respected in isolation for having done so.

Float like a butterfly forever, Muhammed Ali. RIP.

[thompur]

This is my favorite Muhammad Ali story (http://www.newsfromme.com/2016/06/05/the-champ/)

[Frozen_Feet]

Just three weeks ago, we had a seminar with one of the higher-ranking teachers of our style of kobudo, and we got into discussing Ali. I never met Ali personally, but our teacher did years ago, and they kept in touch to these days. Our teacher showed us a letter Ali had sent him, that was very dear to him.

When earlier today I logged on Facebook, I saw he'd put the same letter up on his wall. I didn't immediately catch up to what had happened, and thought it a weird coincidence. Then I came here and saw this thread. It is a strange feeling.

Rest in peace, Ali.