Muhammed Ali was larger than life. I can think of no other athlete, no other celebrity, no other entertainer in my lifetime whose stature transcended sports, fame, or pop culture with the precise impact of Ali's rope-a-dope style and sheer, self-assured accomplishment. Only Elvis could compare--but even the King couldn't quite match the Champ. Ali was just a boxer like Steinbeck was just a writer, like The Beatles were just a rock group, like Martin Luther King, Jr. was just a reverend. Muhammed Ali was still flesh and blood, flawed like each of us, but also so much more; his bluster and bravado were given weight by the strength of his convictions, the solidity of his soul, the bedrock of his character, and--above all else--his courage and activism on behalf of a broader understanding of the cause he and his friend Superman always fought for: truth, justice, and the American way. Ali's notoriety, his fame, was substantive in ways a Kardashian will never comprehend, and which our current celebrity obsessions will never, ever equal. Muhammed Ali was simply what he said he was: Muhammed Ali was The Greatest. He still is.
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