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HEADLINE: Is Sobers cricket's Muhammad Ali?
CaribbeanCricket.com
Jun 9, 2016, 2:36:37 AM
It was 50 years ago next week, and the gods of sport are sharing the same rickety bench in the West Indies dressing room at Lord's: the planet's loudest mouth and cricket's prettiest assassin, Muhammad Ali and Garfield St Aubrun Sobers. Not unusually, the former is doing his damnedest to dominate attention. Undeterred, the latter looks him squarely in the eyes - respectfully, smilingly, unflinchingly; an equal in every meaningful sense.
A few days earlier, the greatest cricketer who ever drew breath had begun his definitive campaign. Sublimely stylish, cooler than a frozen cucumber and more or less a team in his own right, the Great Garfield had struck 161 at Old Trafford to help administer England's first three-day home defeat since the Second World War. In doing so, he also kicked off the purplest patch in Test history.
Next up, in a match intermittently watched by Ali, was a Lord's hundred that did not so much ward off impending defeat as render it laughable. Come campaign's end his swagbag contained 722 runs, 20 wickets and ten catches: still an unchallenged record for a Test series. Maybe Ali's Instagram message was bang-on. Maybe the impossible really is "nothing". In which case, is it too fanciful to propose that he drew some inspiration from the Great Garfield's breath-snatching brilliance beneath Father Time's approving gaze?
The planet's loudest mouth and cricket's prettiest assassin had appreciably more in common, of course, than floating like butterflies and stinging like bees. They were both outsiders who scaled an unprecedented pinnacle of excellence; both dazzling symbols of the triumphant unprivileged. Both, furthermore, exerted an impact that reverberated far beyond the ropes: one knowingly, one warily.
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sudden
Jun 9, 2016, 3:10:09 AM
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
no. Sobers is WI cricket Sobers
mikesiva
Jun 9, 2016, 3:30:42 AM
Hmmm...Ali stood up for black people when they were being oppressed until segregation in the US during the 1960s.
Sobers went to Rhodesia to play for the white apartheid system, while black people were oppressed.
No comparison....
che
Jun 9, 2016, 4:32:08 AM
In reply to mikesiva
Mistake fi Sir G to bat pon Smith rogue pitch..backin Mugabe revo ting to do
Da doan hurt de truth...
In that summer of '66, nonetheless, the boxer who'd had the brass-balled audacity to anoint himself "The Greatest" was trumped by the Fabulous Bajan Boy.
Ali may have been the most important human being of the 20th century, but for this observer, the Great Garfield was its greatest sportsman
Walco
Jun 9, 2016, 5:12:38 AM
In reply to mikesiva
When I read the title of this thread I thought Sobers was a conscientious objector or something. Silly comparison in that article.
I was surprised by this about Ali though
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sudden
Jun 9, 2016, 5:29:58 AM
In reply to Walco
i have lived long enough to know that people are rarely what they seem. that is why i have few heroes if any or anyone's life i try to copy. humans are complex- stupid people do smart things and smart people do stupid things.
natty_forever
Jun 9, 2016, 5:53:02 AM
In reply to sudden
smart people do stupid things.
... you and the courteous one comes to mind.
Khaga
Jun 9, 2016, 6:07:31 AM
In reply to Walco
Ills of two party system..sometimes you have to go for the lesser of the two evils..that's not a blackmark against The Greatest..
Khaga
Jun 9, 2016, 6:08:36 AM
In reply to che
Backing Mugabe would make you racist in white eyes..you can't please all..
sudden
Jun 9, 2016, 6:08:59 AM
In reply to natty_forever
i am almost afraid to ask the question- how so?
tc1
Jun 9, 2016, 6:19:22 AM
In reply to mikesiva
Did Arthur Ashe and Ray Charles visited SA under the apartheid system? I condemned Sir Gary , but the article seems to articulate talent greatness.
che
Jun 9, 2016, 6:23:32 AM
tc1
Jun 9, 2016, 6:27:57 AM
sudden
Jun 9, 2016, 6:34:03 AM
In reply to tc1
please stick to the topic. Is Sobers Cricket's M Ali. see M Siva and Walco's positions for reference.
BTW I have been married 3 times- just 3 times OK
Ewart
Jun 9, 2016, 6:52:35 AM
No. 1
This Englishman is trying to make a case but trying much too hard:
They were both outsiders who scaled an unprecedented pinnacle of excellence;
To describe them both as "outsiders" and leave it there is to simplify the unsimplifyable.
It is like saying both airplanes and skateboards have wheels.
When he adds:
....both dazzling symbols of the triumphant unprivileged.
, it helps but only a tiny bit...
//
Ewart
Jun 9, 2016, 7:02:11 AM
No. 2
Ali's labours comprised 20 one-sided minutes at Highbury against England's Henry Cooper...
This fails on all accounts. It is a
reductio ad absurdum
When a boxer climbs into the ring he has already had months of sweaty roadwork and long hours on both the heavy bag, the speed bag and skipping rope.
Do we need to go further with this simpleton?
//
sudden
Jun 9, 2016, 8:20:43 AM
In reply to Ewart
lol. good place to end it.
WestDem
Jun 9, 2016, 10:18:38 AM
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
HEADLINE: Is Sobers cricket's Muhammad Ali?
De headline is backward...it should read "Is Muhammad Ali boxing's Sobers?"...as a Global Athlete Gary is way ahead of Ali....
Walco
Jun 9, 2016, 10:24:14 AM
In reply to sudden & Khaga
I'm not casting judgment on Ali. I just find it ironic that the young Ali labeled Frazier and Patterson Uncle Toms, and then I see a 1984 billboard with Ali, Frazier and Patterson endorsing Reagan.
Life can be a bunch of contradictions.
Fivestar
Jun 9, 2016, 3:20:12 PM
In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com
About fifty years ago two great athletes, Muhammad Ali and Garry Sobers, just happened to be in England at the same time. It was a coincidence that left an indelible mark on Muhammad Ali. He was able to see a Black team in action who were world champions in their sport of cricket.
Ali had grown up in a society where Black people were treated as second class citizens. They couldn't eat in certain restaurants and had to sit in the back of buses. The world champion West Indies team exposed the heavyweight champion to a whole, new view of life that existed outside of America.
Of course Ali didn't know anything about cricket but he was in awe when he found out the West Indies were champions of the entire world. In fact there is a famous picture of Ali and Sobers where Ali is looking at Sobers as if Sobers was a king.
As the great man is laid to rest tomorrow let us remember the respect and admiration he had for our cricket team. So let us in return give Muhammed Ali the respect and admiration he so richly deserves.
jelfew
Jun 9, 2016, 5:18:07 PM
In reply to mikesiva
I seem to recall that Sobers said that he was invited to Rhodesia to play before school boys. He said that in his defense when he was banned by Burnham from entering Guyana after he returned home.
ponderiver
Jun 9, 2016, 5:25:30 PM
In reply to natty_forever
smart people do stupid things.
.
.. you and the courteous one comes to mind.
Thats a gayle storm IPL six boooom !!!!!!
camos
Jun 9, 2016, 5:59:36 PM
In reply to Fivestar
I think Ali was at Lords to see WI playing MCC on the Saturday, Jim Parks made a 100 that day!
che
Jun 9, 2016, 6:00:54 PM
In reply to ponderiver
smart people do stupid things.
Exhibit Three!
Two hundred academics received the dossier detailing the sexual harassment claim against 79 year old Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott, .
The dossier from a book The Lecherous Professor: Sexual Harassment on Campus, by Billie Wright Dziech and Linda Weiner, which details the allegation made by a Harvard student.
It was alleged that while discussing her work, Walcott asked her to 'imagine me making love to you'. After his alleged approaches were rejected, the student was given a C grade.
che
Jun 9, 2016, 6:09:58 PM
In reply to ponderiver
smart people do stupid things.
Exhibit Four!
On 18 April 2013, The Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) published its Integrity Committee report into Jack Warner concluding that he had committed fraud against CONCACAF and FIFA.
In 2015, Warner was charged in the United States with "wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering." Warner is facing extradition to the United States for criminal prosecution.
On 29 September 2015, the FIFA adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, decided to ban him from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level for life.
Fivestar
Jun 9, 2016, 9:16:21 PM
In reply to camos
I think Ali was at Lords to see WI playing MCC on the Saturday, Jim Parks made a 100 that day!
Over the years Ali mentioned the Black world champion team he saw in England and how they inspired him. On the other hand, he never mentioned Jim Parks. Ali knew little about cricket but it seems he recognised greatness when he saw it.
