"I read the news today, oh boy." If you are of an age to know those words from John Lennon's "A Day in the Life", you are of an age to have had Muhammad Ali as an iconic part of your life. Most of us "read the news" this morning after hoping he would last one more round through the night. Larger than Life. Mourned in death. Farewell and Rest In Peace
Highly Recommended:
WHEN WE WERE KINGS, Academy Award winning documentary on "The Rumble in the Jungle" George Foreman fight. Appearances by Norman Mailer and George Plimpton. On DVD
THE FIGHT, Norman Mailer, (1975) the author's book on the Ali upset of Foreman. Hard to find a better match than Mailer's words with Ali's skills in the ring and larger than life image.
KING OF THE HILL, Norman Mailer,1971, but printed again as the first essay in Mailer's EXISTENTIAL ERRANDS, 1972. The author, this time, on the titanic first Ali-Frazier fight at Madison Square Garden:
KING OF THE WORLD, (1998) David Remnick, easily the best book I've read on the Champ by the New Yorker editor/writer.
"..the punch he (Ali) let go in the fifteenth came in like a wrecking ball from outer space." (Mailer on Ali's miraculous, fight-winning round 15 Knock Out against Oscar Bonavena to set up the Ali-Frazier Fight)
Note to Readers: Returning to regular blog posts next week. Thank you.