Gang:
My bluff was called. A certain Little Lady (i won't name any names--Iva) said if you send in a clip you have to make some explanation. She then asked me to write a couple lines about why the Ali clip was inspirational to me. This, of course, is a little humbling. As a tovar, i am no expert about athletic pursuits. My expertise is mainly centered on pulling ploughs and farm work. Occasionally I'll get asked to speak before a crowd about lovemaking, fly collars, gold chains, random piercings, switchblades, key-bumps, stuffed money clips, zip-up calf-high boots, brass knuckles, flavored condoms, fried chicken necks, women named Yvonne, satin underwear, picked-out Afros, bucketloads of Croatian rum, junk in the trunk, to' up from the flo' up, glocks, high-priced hos, biggie smalls, Fred Sanford, and, of course, stealing silverware anytime i get invited over to somebody's house. as well, i dabble in arms, immigrant smuggling, and cock fights.
But as is painfully obvious from my above fortes, speaking about sports isn't what we tovars do. sure, we like sports. i remember just the other day i put 10Gs on Dinamo. thought for sure i was going to pay for the chilluns' college with that game ... son of a bitch ... now I'm running from "Thumbs" McGee: the bookie over in queens. that MFer said if i don't have the money to him by Wednesday night he's going to take my entire collection of brokeback mountain action figures.
anyway, what i like best about Ali: you always see he's human. you can tell his over-confidence is something of an act. especially in this clip he is getting ready to fight someone much younger and stronger ... but he never backs down. you never really know what he is thinking. none of this would mean anything if he weren't such an outstanding athlete. but for Ali--and especially as he got older--being good meant working hard as hell. none of it would have been funny if he wasn't kickin' ass. my favorite athletes aren't the ones who win all the time. nobody wins all the time. my favorite are the ones you know are working to get better. they know they have a weakness (or 10 of them), worked on it to get better, and then helped their teammates. They went along with the gameplan even if they didn't agree all the time and then celebrated with a bottle of Croatian rum. Jordan had to make his jumpshot better as he got older. Ali famously showed reporters his worst when he was training so everybody was surprised during the fight. he knew he was only as good as his improved weaknesses.
now if you will excuse me, i got a dice game to attend.
oh yeah, if you enjoyed the last clip take a look at this dandy:
in the spirit
el Tovar
Post je objavljen 09.01.2008. u 19:36 sati.