sport historian
Master
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- Dec 18, 2004
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Sometimes I wonder if all MSM types really believe everything they say and write. In 2001, the now deceased Mark Kram published a book titled "Ghosts of Manila" about the Ali-Frazier rivalry. Kram was the boxing writer for Sports Illustrated for about a dozen years until being fired by SI in 1977 for "gross misjudgments," according to Kram. I think he was fired for being too supportive of Don King's tournament.
In the "Ghosts of Manila" Kram describes Ali as a dimwitted hypocrite who cruelly betrayed Joe Frazier, who had given Ali money when he was out of boxing, and lobbied for Ali's right to fight. Ali repayed Frazier by calling him "white man's champion, gorilla, uncle tom, etc."
Kram wrote that Ali was a useful idiot for the Muslims and didn't know what his white liberal supporters were talking about. Ali, according to Kram was much less than he is supposed to be. "Instead of being mindlessly reviled, as he was in the 60's, he is now mindlessly revered," Kram said. Kram even compared Ali to Chauncey Gardner in the novel and film "Being There."
Kram wrote NONE of this when he covered Ali for Sports Illustrated and said in 2001 because Ali "was too important to SI's bottom line to be critical." He still said that he "liked" Ali.
A point I would make is that when Ali declared himself to be a black muslim, it was not popular among liberals in 1964. That was the year of the Civil Rights Act. White liberals were then for what was called integration and insisted that once the civil rights bills became law, blacks would eventually become the same as middle class white people.
Ali's embrace of black separatism went against this. A few years later, liberals would praise black militancy and begin the road to embracing "diversity" and all things nonwhite.
The "bottom line" at SI required Kram to not write certain things. Does every writer and announcer today believe everything they write or say?
In the "Ghosts of Manila" Kram describes Ali as a dimwitted hypocrite who cruelly betrayed Joe Frazier, who had given Ali money when he was out of boxing, and lobbied for Ali's right to fight. Ali repayed Frazier by calling him "white man's champion, gorilla, uncle tom, etc."
Kram wrote that Ali was a useful idiot for the Muslims and didn't know what his white liberal supporters were talking about. Ali, according to Kram was much less than he is supposed to be. "Instead of being mindlessly reviled, as he was in the 60's, he is now mindlessly revered," Kram said. Kram even compared Ali to Chauncey Gardner in the novel and film "Being There."
Kram wrote NONE of this when he covered Ali for Sports Illustrated and said in 2001 because Ali "was too important to SI's bottom line to be critical." He still said that he "liked" Ali.
A point I would make is that when Ali declared himself to be a black muslim, it was not popular among liberals in 1964. That was the year of the Civil Rights Act. White liberals were then for what was called integration and insisted that once the civil rights bills became law, blacks would eventually become the same as middle class white people.
Ali's embrace of black separatism went against this. A few years later, liberals would praise black militancy and begin the road to embracing "diversity" and all things nonwhite.
The "bottom line" at SI required Kram to not write certain things. Does every writer and announcer today believe everything they write or say?