I drive my sons nuts when I tell them I am rooting for the Cubans,
Russians or whatever against Americans. I admit I say it somewhat in
jest, but I really objected to the almost exclusively American coverage
and the nationalistic excesses. Jim Lane
James B. Lane
Phone: 219-980-6660
E-mail: jlane@iunhaw1.iun.indiana.edu
(2)
Sender: "Richard C. Crepeau" <crepeau@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu>
Subject: Re: The Olympics and Muhammad Ali (fwd)
I too was interested in how we got from Mexico City to Atlanta, from the
rage over the Black Power salute to having Ali light the flame. I find it
very difficult to analyze at this point, and am wondering if this was some
sort of statement about coming to terms with Ali, or if it indicates a
sign that the electric moments of the Sixties and the controversial
personalities of the period, have entered into the popular culture to the
point that they simply are no longer a threat. It may also indicate that
we have arrived at the point when people have finally been able to come to
appreciate just how significant a figure Ali is worldwide, and just how
much injustice was done to him in stripping him of his title. I would like
to think it is more the later than the former.
I also was interested in the fact that there was a wire-story that
circulated a few days later in which Joe Frazier was objecting to the fact
that Ali and not he had been chosen for this honor. Frazier pointed out
that he had always been a great patriot while Ali had "bad-mouthed
America." In addition to this as an indication that Frazier does not
really understand how major a figure Ali is, it also does express an
attitude that I am sure is held by many. But you can be sure that the
choice of Ali was not done on the spur of the moment, that it was not done
without massive market study of potential reaction. The Olympics is not a
place of risk-taking by the organizers, only by the athletes.
As with Juan Jewell I would like to hear some further reaction.
Dick Crepeau
Orlando, Florida