Smokin' Joe Frazier, RIP

Because of other projects and responsibilities tomorrow, I'm not going to have the time to write up everything I wanted to say about Joe Frazier, who died tonight of liver cancer. However, I wanted to implore the people who may otherwise not pay attention to the coverage about his life to pay attention to his relationship with Muhammad Ali.

I'm not sure I've ever written here about my deep affinity for The Greatest, but suffice it to say that there was not an athlete I admired more than Muhammad Ali--even though all of his meaningful fights happened before I was born. But Joe Frazier's legacy will always be told in tandem with his professional and, more to the point here, personal fights with Ali. And despite my profound admiration for Ali as a fighter and as a man, Ali's treatment of Frazier was utterly disgraceful.

Ali was a young, brash, anti-authoritarian man of great pride and braggadocio. Ultimately, I think his overabundance of confidence was one of his greatest strengths--of which there were many. But he went too far with Frazier--humiliating him and calling him a Tom and Gorilla, among many other awful things. I understand that Ali was trying to get into Frazier's head, but whatever line there is between trash talk and humiliation, Ali crossed it repeatedly with the exuberance and glee of a bully.

Frazier took it--and took it to Ali.

Their relationship was important to note because, much more than it was with Sonny Liston, the Ali-Frazier feud was used as a metaphor to describe the social turmoil among blacks emerging from the Civil Rights Era: was our identity to be one of patriotism and patience (Frazier)? Or was it to be of proud, unyielding defiance of authority (Ali)?  Of course, we all forge our own identities as individuals, and fittingly, these two men surpassed the narrative arcs assigned to them to become the more complicated sports icons and historical figures we acknowledge today.

In time, Ali apologized for what he said and did over the course of their intertwined careers. I read recently that Joe had publicly forgiven him--which is a testament to the kind of man Joe Frazier was. No man should take the verbal abuse and humiliation he took from Ali--and Joe Frazier was so much the better man for that forgiveness.

Smokin' Joe Frazier, RIP.

UPDATE: A few people flagged an article on Twitter. Following the Thrilla in Manila, this was filed on deadline at Sports Illustrated. This is what sports journalism should look like.

bellum medicamenti delenda est

Mood Music Monday

My brother Philip called me this morning to tell me my father passed away. He was 83.

Among many other things, I developed my appreciation for gospel music from my dad. He was a huge fan of Mahalia Jackson, so I can't really think of a better song for today than "Soon I Will be Done."




Paul A. Blanks, Sr. (1928-2011) Rest in peace, Dad.

David Nolan, RIP

I never met David Nolan, founder of the Libertarian Party, who died this weekend at the age of 66. I've never been an adherent of "the LP," as we call it, though I have voted for their candidates on several occasions.

In addition to founding the LP, Nolan was famous for creating the Nolan Chart, a two-dimensional map upon which the views of economic and political freedom are measured after the answering 10 relatively simple questions. There have been many maps, surveys and quizzes based upon Nolan's chart--some more objective than others. (I did some digging and thought this one seemed to be the most even-handed online.)

I bring this up, and felt I should note Nolan's passing, because that chart helped start me down the path to my current life. I took a survey based on this chart for the first time in 1992. I was an ardent Republican then, but had already become disaffected by Rush Limbaugh and the Religious Right and knew which side I would take if the latent schism between the fiscal and social conservatives ever materialized. (Of course, it did in the late 90s and early 00s.) The quiz we took, oddly enough in my sophomore year English class, separated me from my classmates even more than I had been already. I was, apparently, a "libertarian" and I'm pretty sure it was the first time I'd ever read the term "classical liberal."

It may not seem like much to you, but it helped me by chipping away at the stigma associated with the term "libertarian"--those 'crazy people' who protest the post office on tax day and implore you to vote for someone you've never heard of who has no chance of winning. The result would lead me to find that I was, in fact, different--but that there were others, however few, that believed the things that I believe: that fiscal prudence and social tolerance are not mutually exclusive; that government welfare programs promote sloth and dependence, despite the good intentions of their designers; and that the government should be drastically smaller than it is now and the country would be better for it if it were.

Thus, for this seemingly innocuous survey--or, at least, the chart upon which the survey was based--I am indebted to David Nolan. My former colleague Dave Weigel has a nice write-up at Slate that's worth a read. Bob Poole, Nolan's personal friend and classmate, in reason here.

David Nolan, RIP

bellum medicamenti delenda est.

Colin McLain, RIP

With a certain amount of regularity, I write about the deaths of celebrities and other people who have influenced me over the course of my life. While their lives were meaningful to me superficially, their deaths are but margin notes in my life. Today is different.

With a heavy heart, I write to honor a friend and former colleague: Colin McLain.

Undoubtedly, Colin and I were not as close as some as our other friends and colleagues. As I have written before, I detest people who try to bring undue attention to themselves in times of tragedy so I refuse to embellish my relationship with him for sympathy. His parents, close friends, and extended family are infinitely more deserving of whatever sympathy or prayers you may deem appropriate, so please do not mistake this post as a plea for pity or condolences.

Nevertheless, hearing about Colin's passing today was a wounding shock to me, and to anyone who knew him. Our mutual friend Caleb put it well: "Colin McLain was smart, witty, curious, relaxed, fun and skeptical. I will miss him." I would add that he was exuberant, charismatic, and generous, and I will always remember his wonderfully wry sense of humor. 

I am normally loath to use the term "tragedy," as I tend to think of events as generally unfortunate, or otherwise just sad. But Colin's death, at age 25, was indeed a tragic loss for everyone fortunate enough to have known him. I remain convinced that he was going to do great and amazing things in his life, no matter what he ended up doing professionally. He was a magnetic and dynamic young man. I'm going to miss him and forever wonder what could have been for him.

My heart goes out to his family for their loss. I can only imagine their terrible grief.


Colin McLain, R.I.P.


Photo courtesy of Colin's family, by way of KFVS12 Heartland News.

Major Andy Olmsted, RIP

I've linked to this before, but I read it again recently and have no doubt it is worth sharing again as we head into this Memorial Day weekend.

All the background is in the post, but this is a moving farewell from a soldier and blogger killed in Iraq in January 2008. If you haven't read it yet, you should. If you have, read it again.

Andy Olmsted, RIP

Lena Horne, RIP

A beautiful voice and a voice for civil rights is now silent. As such, it's only fitting that this Mood Music Monday is dedicated to Ms. Lena Horne.






Lena Horne, RIP.

Malcolm's Assassin Paroled

I was out sick yesterday, so I missed the news that the one man who admitted to killing Malcolm X, Thomas Hagan (aka Talmadge X Hayer) has been freed on parole.

All the non-violent drug offenders locked up in New York prisons and they let a guy go who assassinated a good man in front of an audience that included his wife and kids?

As has been well documented, Hagan admitted to the slaying but denied that the other two men convicted in the murder were involved. In the WaPo write-up:

Hagan acknowledged that he was one of three men who shot Malcolm X in front of a crowd of hundreds - including several of his young children - as the civil rights leader began a speech at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom on Feb. 21, 1965. Two other accomplices created a distraction in the audience, Hagan has said.

But he said the two men convicted with him were not involved. They, too, maintained their innocence and were paroled in the 1980s. No one else has ever been charged, a fact that has perpetuated debate and theories surrounding the slaying.

Hmm. Now, who would be the best person to put to bed any debates and theories about the assassination? How about that sonofabitch they just let walk out the front door?!?!?!

The man obviously knows who else was involved, and I have my own suspicions, but for having "repeatedly expressed sorrow for being one of the gunmen" that killed Malcolm, one would think that a condition of his parole would be forthrightness in pointing out who else was involved in the criminal conspiracy to murder that man.

But no.

Hagan and the rest of Malcolm's murderers are free. 45 years later, and the injustice continues.

El Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, RIP.

Ossie Davis's moving eulogy at Malcolm's funeral, retold for the film in this clip. (To pass the reenactment of the murder, skip to 3:30 mark):

Evans Pierre, RIP

Tragic deaths often lead to people exaggerating their relationship with the recently deceased, thus unduly and distastefully drawing attention to themselves. With that in mind, it would stretch credulity to say that Evans and I were friends. We were briefly co-workers and socially acquainted. I was very fond of him, and he was nothing but kind and generous to me, so I can only hope the feeling was mutual.  

His life ended tragically for reasons I will not speculate upon, and in such an awful way that I will not recount here. Suffice it to say that I was very saddened to hear of his death, and my heart goes out to our many mutual friends who are struggling with his passing.

Evans Pierre, RIP.

Freedom and Shit [dot] Org, RIP

I never bothered to take FreedomandShit.org's RSS feed out of my google reader. I assumed it would never come back, but my reader archived a lot of the snarky libertarian posts over there so I kept it.

Today, however, I received the following post in my reader:

Composting Food Waste

Via the relaunched and apparently all-too-literal Freedomandshit.org.  

F&S, RIP

Myles Brand (1942-2009)

My mother always said if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all....














R.I.P.

John Hughes, RIP

Today hurt.

For many of us, even at the tail-end of Gen X, John Hughes basically directed our childhoods or--more accurately--he directed the idealized reminisces of our childhoods that never really existed. Midwestern adolescence--and, admittedly, Wonder Bread white--with all the angst and drama that was growing up in the 80s. It was sometimes campy, always idealized, yet often brutally honest fiction. So many of us loved what he did--and despite the crap he put out after 1991, he will be sorely missed by my generation.

Breakfast Club. Ferris Bueller. 16 Candles. Weird Science. Pretty in Pink. Uncle Buck. The list goes on...

If you talk to someone from my generation and they don't get the references, they aren't really one of us. It's like the kid who never saw Star Wars--yeah, I'm sure he's cool, but how did he get through without it???

Anyway, I saw the following on Daily Dish tonight and absolutely love it.




John Hughes, RIP.

Mood Music Monday

The one major Michael hit not getting a whole lot of airplay:



Thus ends my MJ blogging.