Self delete

Ali had returned to his hometown to see old friends and family. He recalled he was in a diner, looking for something to eat when he was told:

"We don't serve Negroes here."

"Well good thing," Ali replied, "'cause I don't eat 'em! Just looking for a burger."


* * *


When Frank Sinatra passed in 1998, I was in a waiting room watching TV with a handful of other guys when the announcer, in praise of Sinatra, said (with great solemnity) that there was no other person like Ol' Blue Eyes.

"Why, who else in the world," the talking head declared, "who else can you but say his name and the whole world knows exactly who you're talking about and everything he ever did."

In the silence that followed, I said softly "Muhammad Ali." Every man in that room smiled and sagely nodded.