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Smokin' Joe Frazier

Submitted by Roanman on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 15:05

 

I was and am a Frazier guy.

Muhammad Ali may well be the greatest of all time, but Joe Frazier is the one true hero of my life.

I decided that I had something more important to do and passed on the field trip with F Troop to Cobo Hall for the closed circuit presentation of the "Thrilla in Manila".

Then I couldn't stand it and went down alone in order to get scalped at the door like you wouldn't believe.

I sat there on the edge of my seat along with the rest of the building completely astonished at the magnificent courage of these two men.

When Eddy Futch threw in the towel on the 15th round I had tears in my eyes.

I have tears in my eyes sitting here now just thinking about it some 35 years later.

People, mostly women but the occasional man as well, will sit there and tell each other, "Boxing is stupid.  Look what it did to Ali." 

Usually I mostly agree.

Boxing is stupid.

The UFC is stupid.

Hell, football is stupid.

If played at the highest levels, football takes years off a life and invariably negatively impacts to a greater or lesser degree the quality of the life that remains after football.

Except ....... and what these people can't possibly even begin to understand ..... there are few things in this life that bless like having stared into the mouth of the cannon, whatever that cannon might be ..... and lived. 

For Joe Frazier, that cannon was Muhammad Ali, and for Muhammad Ali that cannon was Joe Frazier.

And for each, that was one big damn terrible M&%^#$ F*#$^% of a cannon (French, I beg your pardon).

One of the greatest exchanges in the history of sports occured somewhere in the middle rounds of this fight as Joe Frazier having been pounded early is now up in Ali's grill doing some pounding of his own.

Ali, "Old Joe Frazier, they told me you were washed up"

Frazier, "They told you wrong pretty boy."

Joe Frazier can no longer tell you having succombed to cancer last night at age 67, but Ali while he can no longer form the words has and will tell you straight out in whatever fashion he is able, that what boxing and Joe Frazier did to him can't even begin to detract from what boxing and Joe Frazier did for him.

"I always bring out the best in the men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I'll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I'm gonna tell ya, that's one helluva man, and God bless him."

Rest in peace tough guy.

 

 

Click on the photo above for the Mark Kram account of the Thrilla in Manila which is widely and rightfully acclaimed as one of the 20th century's greatest examples of sports journalism.

Seriously great writing even if you hate boxing.

 

To quote Muhammad Ali

Submitted by Roanman on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 07:51

 

I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.
 
It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief.  And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.
 
Champions aren't made in gyms.  Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, a vision.  They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
 
What keeps me going is goals.
 
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
 
I hated every minute of training, but I said, ''Don't quit.  Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."
 
If God ever calls me to a holy war, I want Joe fighting beside me.
 
Ali, "Old Joe Frazier, they told me you were washed up."  Frazier, "They told you wrong pretty boy."
 
I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me.  It would be a better world.
 
I got nothing against no Viet Cong.  No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger.
 
A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.
 
I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be.  I'm free to be what I want.
 
I have not lost [Allah's] hope in us to show compassion where none exists and to extend mercy in the most difficult of circumstances.  We as Muslims must lead by example.
 
We have one life; it soon will be past; what we do for God is all that will last.
 
Silence is golden when you can't think of a good answer.
 
It's not bragging if you can back it up.
 
 The man who has no imagination has no wings.
 
He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.
 
Hating people because of their color is wrong.  And it doesn't matter which color does the hating.  It's just plain wrong.
 
To be able to give away riches is mandatory if you wish to possess them.  This is the only way that you will be truly rich.
 
You don't want no pie in the sky when you die.  You want something here on the ground while you're still around.
 
My way of joking is to tell the truth.  That's the funniest joke in the world.

 

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