and in Golf:
Both men are the Greatest of All Times!
At the last moment a good friend and I scored tickets for the Rumble in the Jungle at Madison Square Garden, to watch the closed circuit telecast from Kinshasa, Zaire on the Jumbotron. We had seats in the last row of the upper deck, normally not the best of seats, and it was still the most incredible sports experience of all times. The Garden was packed, almost all with Ali fans. The collective trepidation at the beginning of the fight was palpable, as Foreman was viewed as indestructible based on his prior record and in particular his previous dismantling of Joe Frazier.
As the fight began and Ali began his now-famous Rope-A-Dope tactic, the cries of disbelief from the fans rose in unison: No, No, Ali, get out of there. Don't let him hit you like that! What are you doing?. Then as each round passed, and Ali was surviving the Foreman onslaught to his body, the crowd became less agonized and more hopeful. When Ali came out of his passive (but brilliant) cover-up and began to counter-attack, the crowd was on its feet and roars were deafening, and when Foreman hit the canvas, the delirium was overwhelming. As we left the Garden going down the stairwells with the mobs of Ali fans, the chants of "Ali, Ali, Ali" reverberated from the joyous crowd down the halls and out into the Manhattan streets, and up to the heavens. I hope Ali can still hear the chants, as one of my life heroes ascends to the heavens to his well-deserved eternal rest.
AMDGTM
© 2012-17 R.E. Kelly
