Thanks for posting that barefooted. I tried for several hours this morning to compose my thoughts about this man whom I hold in about as high a position of respect and honor as any public figure that has emerged in my lifetime. I have had a few "sports heroes" and it was as an incomparable sports champion that Ali walked into the limelight but it was as a man with the courage of his convictions who risked everything his physical talent promised and voluntarily walked off the stage of pander and submission so as to walk the walk of courage and dignity and in doing so became a hero to me in a much greater sense. Long live Ali. He will always be a champion.  

Thanks for posting, barefooted.

I may have a genetic defect in that I seem emotionally blocked from eulogizing Ali even though intellectually I see the enormous contribution he made toward bringing this society into some kind of racial harmony.

As an anecdote, when I had a real job in Manhattan and flew several days a week I remember being pushed out of a line at LaGuardia by Ali and his entourage barreling through. It's kind of dumb remembering one's life in terms of these kinds of incidents.