This is the football board.

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It wasn't about "standing up for black people" or saying "no" to the government on principle. It was about ATTEMPTING to protect his boxing gig and the $$$.

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fify. Happy now?

OK, what about Roger Staubach???????

Roger Staubach

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After graduating from the Naval Academy, Staubach could have requested an assignment in the States, but he chose to volunteer for a 1-year tour of duty in Vietnam, where he served as a supply officer for the United States Navy until 1967. He spent the rest of his Naval career in the United States, playing football on various Naval service teams to prepare for his future career in the NFL.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Staubach

AggieLumberjack,
Are you serious, this man battled to end racism in this country, he sat in meetings with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X at the same time. As for his draft dodging situation follow the list:
a) he was fighting a war on the soil of the mainland-racism.
b) Vietnames were not the ones that was calling him a "N 1 G G &" everywhere he went, so why fight them.
c) He also questioned why wasn't the presidents son being drafted as well.
d) And there are many more reasons as well.

[This message has been edited by True Ag (edited 1/2/2007 10:47p).]

Racism in the U.S. didn't deter hundreds of thousands of black Americans from serving in WWII or Korea or Vietnam...despite outright racism within the armed services. He was standing on the backs of brave men like the "Tuskegee Airmen" to tell the world, "I am the greatest" and to refuse to serve.

He was fighting for himself. Most of you know ali through tv shows and a movie and have swallowed the propoganda whole hog. I've got little use for him and you can't be good enough at anything to justify draft dodging. Of course, this is the generation of rationalization and excuses rather than responsibility and honor.

[This message has been edited by navyag86 (edited 1/2/2007 11:21p).]

Ali is extremely over-rated and it's the old sports reporters from the 60's and 70's that keep propping him up like some kind of deity.

Think of all the young men and women who have volunteered to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ali is a speck of dirt compared to them. End of story.

you have a lot of nerve to speak of ali like that. I'm ashamed you have an ag tag. The reality is many people's lives are better because of what ali did and stands for. Many americans (regardless of color) are better for him being alive and his achievements in and out of the ring. Its people that are short sighted that make the loss of democracy possible. Think before you utter something totally ludacris from your mouth or your fingers

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hmm, no.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Marciano

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Saul: what about Rocky Marciano?
Clarence: oh there they go, there they go, everytime I talk about boxing a white man pulls Rocky Marciano outta his a**, thats the one, thats the one, Rocky Marciano, Rocky Marciano, let me tell you something Rocky Marciano was good but compared to Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano ain't sh*t.
Saul: He beat Joe Louis's a**.
Morris: thats right, he did whoop Joe Louis's a**.
Clarence: Joe Louis was 75 years old when they fought.
Morris: I don't know how old he was but he got his a** whooped.

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Think before you utter something totally ludacris from your mouth or your fingers

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another reason that rap music is so damaging.

It's spelled ludicrous

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The beloved, incapacitated and rhetorically harmless Ali we know now hardly is the one who some 30 years ago captivated the public with sheer audacity. The sanitizing of Ali’s past is vexing.

“There has been sort of a selective amnesia,” said Ali biographer Thomas Hauser. “If you look at the Will Smith movie ‘Ali,’ it virtually washed away Ali’s history in the Nation of Islam. People are being told that Ali stood up for his beliefs, but they’re not being told what those beliefs are.”

Indeed, the Ali of the mid-sixties and early ’70s espoused a Nation of Islam doctrine — under then-leader Elijah Muhammad — that said white people were devils created by an evil scientist with a big head named Mr. Yacub. There was no such thing as heaven and hell and the segregation of the races was just and proper.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11166094/

Yeah, you gotta respect a guy that stood up for everybody like Ali did...

what have you done to improve the lot of a group of people or help make their voice heard or draw attetion to a cause like an unjust war. let me think .... probably nothing

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Let's get this straight. Ali did not join the army because of his belief's. The main reason he saw no reason to go fight and free other people when black people at the time had no rights in our own country. ( civil rights and god given rights)Not only was he a great boxer he is a great human being for putting it all on the line....

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Great boxer...yes.

Great American...I don't think so.

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Think before you utter something totally ludacris

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Oh, the irony.

Whoever said Rocky Marciano was the best, look at the people he fought, then look at the people Ali fought. Ali fought Frazier three times (lost once when he was still getting the rust off), Foreman, Lyle, Norton three times (lost once.... likely the only REAL loss), Liston twice (knocking the invincible Bear out in about 30 seconds once.)

All of these guys except Lyle were at one time or another Heavyweight Champ. How many champs did Marciano fight?

I'm "only" 44 so I don't claim to have the full historical perspective of the Vietnam era, but I never liked Ali during his career and I certainly don't agree with the way he's been romanticized since then to the point that most now know the legend, not the reality. NavyAg86 is right on the money about Ali -- he's no American hero, far from it.

My feelings about Ali dating back to the 70's aren't going to change now despite his unfortunate health issues and the full-fledged PR onslaught to re-write his history. Give me Joe Frazier, who was my favorite fighter in those days, or even the surly George Foreman, any day over Ali. I couldn't stand Ali's loudmouthed, obnoxious antics then and I appreciate them even less now when I have to see the TO's, Iversons and countless other athletes from junior high school on up follow the smacktalking, "hey look at me" trend Ali first started 40 years ago.

Ali's the one who can most be blamed for the complete loss of sportsmanship in American sports over the last 30-35 years.

I think it says a lot that Joe Frazier still can't stand him

There certainly is a ton of revisionist history concerning him

Ali did in his boxing career and his stance on the draft what everyone on Texags wishes they could do all of the time. He talked the talk and walked the walk. Whether it be calling out what round he would knock out an opponent or calling out the injustice in the Vietnam Conflict...He didn't do it for himself, he didn't do it for Islam, he didn't do it for the black community, he did it for The United States of America. I wish the folks ripping on Ali on this board would do some research, open their eyes and appreciate someone that took the same risks as the people that founded this great country... he stood up in what he believed, and those beliefs make our country better.

Ali called Frazier an "uncle Tom", the "white folk's champion", and an "ignorant gorilla". I wonder why Smoking Joe just can't see that he was only doing this to make America better for all of us...

Yeah, there are quite a few guys in prison that were just standing up for what they believed in too

the reality is you may not like him... but respect what he did. Instead of going along with something he didn't agree with. He stood up and said this was wrong. Whether you believe it or not he saved hundreds if not thousands of young americans black, white, yellow, red or whatever other color by his deciding not to be inducted. If that makes him un american or a scum bag... i'll tell you what it makes him is a patriot. The same things you utter about ali is what was said about the early americans over 200 hundred years ago.

He saved hundreds if not thousands of Americans? He was a patriot?

Man, Bush needs to hire Ali's publicity team, there are some rich comments on this thread

Oh, and there were plenty of other athletes drafted into service during Vietnam, and they weren't all black guys getting picked on by the man

Ever heard of Rocky Bleier?

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quip about George Foreman: “It's a divine fight. This Foreman – he represents Christianity, America, the flag. I can't let him win."

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http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1206/1206alirap.htm

Ali the "patriot"...

I'm still trying to find 1 of the thousands of lives he saved

I guess every draft dodger in Mexico or Canada was wearing an Ali t-shirt, huh?

Hell, he could have joined the reserves like Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Cazzie Russell, etc, but he was a "patriot"

It's amazing what Will Smith, Parkinson's & 35 years of revisionist history can do for a guy

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I am so sick of them trotting him out every year. What did the guy do that was so respectable? Besides draft dodging.

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He was only one of the greatest boxers in the history of the sport.

He is a patriot you freaks. There isnt' a mandatory draft is there???? Thats not directly his effect but you can't say that his opposition didn't help. It easy to throw stones at his legacies, but guys like Ali make this country great. He rose from nothing in kentucky to a great fighter, an activist, and now a national icon. The reality is if he'd peacefully gone more young kids would've died for "containment" and you still might have a draft. Thats what kind of a patriot he was.

ha ha ha ha

There is no draft because of Ali?

Wow, how old are you? Holy shat

It's easy to throw stones at him because he gave anyone more than enough rocks in hand

A patriot, my God. He was a great boxer, and that's it. If people want to hobble him out like a freak show for sporting events, so be it, but I start laughing when I hear this crap

Ali was a trendsetter. Sports would not be as exciting today if he didn't talk the trash and do the dancing he did. They DO need to stop trotting him out though

syd please enlighten us on your thoughts of what a patriot are then??????

Ali wasn't MLK but he wasn't quite Louis Farrakhan either. The composite of who Ali was reminds me more of Malcolm in his later days. Still for societal change w/o the vehement hate that was racially motivated.

i agree he's not mlk whatsoever. But in a time when it was unpopular to standup against the war.... HE DID THE RIGHT THING. He didn't just go along with it. I mean seriously why should second class citizens fight another man's war.It's very easy to go with the flow... but he didn't and that takes alot of guts.

Question - did Ali ever attend Louisville or were they just making some kind of a misguided PC statement? What ties does he actually have with the university?

Now Dwayne Wade on the other hand... Was it just me or did he look uncomfortable sharing the stage with Ali?

If hate was the fuel for a national championship, we would win one every year. Stay classy guys.