Ali Goes Home, Gawker Goes Bankrupt
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Vol. 5, No. 163
The Greatest: Mourners in Louisville yesterday threw flowers on the hearse that carried the body of Muhammad Ali through the city where he grew up. Ali was buried in the town where he fought his first fights both as a boxer and a man who stood up for rights. People wept as the hearse passed and reached out to touch it. They chanted Ali, Ali, Ali, as if he were still in the ring throwing punches.
Ali’s wife Lonnie said in front of 15,000 people, “For his religion, he was prepared to sacrifice all that he had and all that he was to protect his soul and follow the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. So even in death, Muhammad has something to say. He is saying that his faith required that he take the more difficult road. It is far more difficult to sacrifice oneself in the name of peace than to take up arms in pursuit of violence.”
The comedian Billy Crystal, a lifelong friend, couldn’t resists an affectionate jab saying, “He was funny, he was beautiful, the most perfect athlete you ever saw…and those were his own words.”
But Crystal was serious about being a Jewish man who was friends with the world’s most famous Muslim. He met Ali after imitating him and sports announcer Howard Cosell at a dinner in Ali’s honor in 1974. After the routine Ali said, “You’re my little brother.” Crystal told yesterday’s gathering, “My friends, only once in a thousand years or so do we get to hear a Mozart, or see a Picasso, read a Shakespeare. Ali was one of them, and yet at his heart, he was still a kid from Louisville who ran with the gods and walked with the crippled and smiled at the foolishness of it all. He is gone but he will never die.
He was my big brother.”
Clickbait: The tabloid website Gawker.com, which lost a $140 million breach of privacy lawsuit to the wrestler Hulk Hogan for posting a sex tape of Hogan with his friend’s wife, has filed for bankruptcy. Gawker can dodge paying the award to Hogan while it puts itself up for sale.
It’s a kill for internet billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, who financed the Hogan lawsuit and others. Thiel went to war with Gawker after the website reported that he’s gay. He told the NY Times, “I saw Gawker pioneer a unique and incredibly damaging way of getting attention by bullying people even when there was no connection with the public interest.”
She’s Got Mail: This past week was the best of times and worst of times for Hillary Clinton. While Clinton nailed the numbers for the Democratic presidential nomination, White House spokesman Josh Earnest describe the inquiry into Clinton’s use of private email while Secretary of State as a “criminal investigation.” Some of the emails in question dealt with a US drone strike in Pakistan, which obviously would have been classified.
The emails also reveal how a million-dollar donor to the Clinton Foundation was appointed to a government intelligence advisory board even though he knew nothing about the subject. The man resigned two days after reporters started asking questions.
Hoop Dreams: The Golden State warriors are now just one game from the NBA championship. They lead the series 3-1 after beating Cleveland 108-97 last night.
The Obit Page: Gordie Howe, who played professional hockey for 32 years and was considered by many to have been the greatest player the game ever had, has died at age 88. The Canadian Howe powered the Detroit Red Wings to four Stanley Cup championships and played long enough to have been teammates with two of his sons.
Howe played his first NHL game in 1946, and his last at age 52 in 1980. He dominated in the age of finesse before the curved stick and the rifle-like slapshot. At 6 feet, 205 pounds, he was a big player for his time, but he was also frighteningly strong. He had a body of steel.
Playing his entire career without a helmet, he was cut so many times he had 500 stitches and almost died of a fractured skull. He was so good, even Wayne Gretzky, “The Great One,” idolized the man known as “Mr. Hockey.” Howe attributed his longevity on the ice to love of the game. “I tell kids, if you don’t love it, get out of the way for someone who does.”
Breaking Bad: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump called each other unqualified to be president.
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