Boxing: Ali still "The Greatest!"

Muhammad Ali has always told his adoring fans that he was simply "The Greatest!"

Yesterday, Sunday, October 20, 2002, live and in person, he proved it to me.

I have to admit when I first learned of the Toronto Argonauts plans to honor Ali and raise money for the fight against Parkinson's disease I was extremely skeptical.

I couldn't help but ask if the Argos were simply trying to improve their ticket sales on the back of the former champ? Nothing I had ever learned of Ali suggested he had any real connection to football. His presence at a Canadian football game was even more puzzling.

With my curiosity piqued, I decided that if nothing else, the extra $10 charge per seat would go to a good cause and picked up a couple of tickets for Sunday's game between the Toronto Argonauts and the first year expansion Ottawa Renegades.

When I got to Toronto's Skydome approximately one-half hour before kick-off, my worst fears were being realized.

The dome was more than half empty without a single body in the upper decks. Announced attendance was 24,932 but, to be honest, was probably generous at best.

The first presentation on the JumboTron was from WWE monarch Vince McMahon who thanked Ali for his presence at an event in Philadelphia where Ali got into a supposedly unscripted skirmish with Gorilla Monsoon. Thankfully, the presentations improved from there.

Long time trainer and friend of Ali, Angelo Dundee, also made some brief remarks. He was quickly followed by a presentation from the National Film Board of Canada who were plugging their upcoming release of "The Last Road." The movie centers on the 1966 fight between Ali and former Canadian champion George Chuvalo. I did find it curious that they referred to it as the "greatest fight in Canadian history," but I guess they are trying to sell tickets!

The first real cheer of the day came as Toronto Raptor's superstar Vince Carter recognized Ali for becoming "more than what he's done athletically."

However, hockey is still king in Canada and one of the loudest cheers of the day was for the video message from Wayne Gretzky.

In what was supposed to be a touching moment, Canadian recording artist Tom Cochrane debuted his new single "Just Like Ali." Cochrane's father also suffers from Parkinson's and the song touches on how the two men have fought the good fight against the illness.

Unfortunately, the disturbingly bad acoustics in the Skydome squashed any hope of the words being intelligible to any of the fans gathered there.

The classiest move of the day has to go to the visiting Ottawa Renegades. Prior to the game, the franchise made a $10,000 contribution to help fight the disease. Their better decision came after the half time presentations. CFL rules state that any half time show should not exceed 22 minutes to help the players avoid injury, but Sunday's show lasted almost 50 minutes. The Argo's should have been assessed a 10-yard penalty on the ensuing kick-off, but Renegades head coach Joe Paupau opted to decline the penalty in honor of the day.

The game itself was an extreme bore and it was readily apparent why the Argo's are struggling to attract fans.

The Skydome is a horrible place to watch a football game. Fans are too far back from the field, it's $6.25 for a beer, the sound system is a disgrace and the house announcer made at least three errors in reporting the score. Added to that was their decision to use Chuvalo as the answer to a game-time trivia contest and proceeded to spell his name C-H-I-R-A-L-O on the big screen.

My other gripe has to be with the Argonauts' cheerleaders. How stupid is this? They go down to the most expensive seats in the house and stand in the way! And not only are they not exactly the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders they have their backs to the crowd for the vast majority of the game!

But, the real reason for my attendance was to see the Man himself.

The half time show started with a beautiful video tribute showing highlights from Ali's career. Brian Williams, a CBC sports anchor whose mother recently passed away from complications due to Parkinson's, introduced the special guests.

They included Cochrane, Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin, Canadian Olympic Gold Medallist in wrestling Daniel Igali, former CFL and NFL quarterback Warren Moon, former heavyweight champs Larry Holmes and Evander Holyfield, Chuvalo and current world heavyweight champion and former Canadian Olympic Gold Medallist Lennox Lewis.

All received good cheers, especially Igali, Chuvalo, Sundin and Lewis from the clearly partisan Canadian crowd.

Finally it was time for Ali.

He entered the stadium on the back of a Mercedes convertible to a thunderous ovation. Chants of "Ali, Ali, Ali" rang through the stadium with a couple of "Bom ay ye's" thrown in for good measure. He circled the field pointing and smiling at the crowd.

At the end of his entrance lap he exited the car and, unescorted, made his way up a ramp to the center stage. He showed remarkable dexterity and didn't appear to be struggling with the walk in any way.

After a brief taped introduction from former U.S. President Bill Clinton (which suffered in the dome from an ill timed technical glitch) Ali was presented with the "official uniform" of the Toronto by Sundin. The Maple Leafs jersey had Ali and the No. 1 sewn on the back.

Igali commented that growing up in Nigeria he had assumed that Ali was from Africa because of how popular he was. He commented that to him Ali was a "beacon of hope and destiny."

Holyfield joked that he had been told by one of his early trainers that he could be "just like you" in reference to Ali. Ali leaned forward with a sly grin on his face, pretending to be angry at the apparent arrogance that anyone could ever be as great. Apparently, the legendary Ali wit is still going strong!

After pretending to throw some left jabs at Lewis, Ali is reported to have turned to his handlers and joked, "Don't worry. I wasn't really going to hurt him!"

Finally it was time for Ali to speak. He strode up to the microphone and masterfully played the crowd. He waited for the cheers to die down and then waited some more for the cheers to start up again. He was remarkably lucid for most of his talk and I only had trouble understanding a few sentences.

He joked that he was "lost for words," which the crowd was definitely not buying. He claimed he was only invited because "I was the greatest," which received another deafening cheer. He motioned towards Lewis and joked that "now he's the greatest," but with a sarcastic smile commented that he "might come out of retirement," which clearly made Lewis look uncomfortable. Vintage Ali.

Ali then quipped, "I'm enjoying retirement. I was going to be different. I was going to write poems."

The next few sentences were tough to discern, but the champ got up off the mat one last time before he finished for the day.

"God bless you," he told the crowd. Remembering his chief sponsor he dropped a trademark rhyme on the fans.

"My sickness is no joke. And remember to drink Coke!"

He finished off his talk by yelling, "I love you Canada!"

And, just like that, he was gone. He made a quick lap of the field pausing momentarily to shake hands with the players and special guests, all of whom looked like little kids on Christmas morning right before they unwrap their presents.

It was nice to be reminded that sometimes professional athletes remember they're just big kids playing a serious version of a kid's game.

The game, almost as an afterthought, finished 29-12 for the Argos, keeping their slim playoff hopes alive.

My memories of Ali should last a little longer.