"The Greatest" is no more. Muhammad Ali (née, Cassius Clay) has died at age 74 from Parkinson's disease complications. Yes, he is receiving kudos from across the land ... most of which are deserved. He was a unparalleled boxer and a macho media magnet who taunted his opponents and his audience with imaginative insults. Who does this remind you of? Why, bigger than life Donald Trump of course ... just substitute business acumen for athletic prowess.
I won't recall all of Muhammad Ali's ups and downs here because most know them better than I, but he did do and say some outrageous things ... for which he was unapologetic. The price he paid for his hubris and grandstanding was years of declining health. Yet he also received many awards ... including the Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush ... another American of a similar age who never had to endure the rigors of Vietnam ... justly or unjustly.
I suppose that many with great natural talents carry their resulting successes differently ... some with humility, some with indifference and some with arrogance, but "The Louisville Lip" clearly fell in the latter category. His early conversion to Islam and his refusal to be drafted alienated him from many of his countrymen ... including myself. But I never hated him. I just didn't fully understand him ... and seeing him shake his way through his later life softened these feelings. But, like Ted Williams, Ty Cobb and Donal Trump, today I see his greatness with some scudding shadows.
Yet, for all time, I can't help but acknowledge Muhammad Ali's overall luminosity.
