magine what the next chapter of Muhammad Ali?s life would have been like if Parkinson?s didn?t drastically alter it for over three decades?
Visions come rushing in, including one in which he is sitting behind a microphone. There would have been no shortage of suits interested in Ali?s services. He would enter the world of television as not only a singular transcendent figure, but the consummate entertainer.
And the most recognized man in the world.
Simply put, a mega ratings magnet.
Naturally, he would have gravitated to a boxing microphone. In his economy of scale, that?s where he could earn the most moolah.
?But I definitely can see him having other opportunities,? said Marv Albert, TNT?s voice of the NBA who was blow-by-blow man on NBC Sports? boxing package when it was a staple at the network. ?Talking politics or sharing his philosophies, news-oriented commentary, in a studio setting like CNN. In that sense, Ali would have been Charles Barkley long before Charles Barkley.?
Ali would have expanded his sports base and used it to discuss topics other than boxing. He would follow the blueprint he developed as a fighter, when boxing was his vehicle to promote social justice.
Yes, imagine if Ali had his own show on HBO ? right now ? talking about Donald Trump?s proposed ban on Muslims? Ali-Trump going one-on-one?
Imagine?
Yet, even in the confines of working as a straight-up fight analyst, a producer would still have to give Ali room to roam. The audience, tuned in to see a big fight, would likely expect him to deviate from the norm, drop in some outside-of-boxing commentary if he felt the urge.
They would come to watch a fight Ali was announcing expecting the unexpected outside the ring. ?If he had devoted himself to it (working boxing on TV), he would have re-created the role,? said Jim Lampley, HBO Sports? veteran voice of boxing. ?He would have been ? forgive me ? the greatest.?
The statement expresses certainty, and there is the evidence to back it up.
Since Ali died Friday evening, all the tributes and analysis of his life and times include clips of past interviews in which he comes off as part preacher, philosopher, pied piper and comedian. While all this appears to have come naturally to Ali, it was far from being totally spontaneous ? beams of comedy and wisdom propelled off the top of his head.
It never is when it?s all about promotion, which is dedicated to selling stadium tickets, and in his day, tickets to movie theaters that presented the closed-circuit broadcast of the fight.
While others might have had the designation in their title, Ali was his own promoter. The predictions, the turning an opponent into an object of derision, and all the other scenarios, took work and planning to create. Then there was the other side of business ? training for the fight.
If Ali could handle all this, under great pressure no less, there is every reason to believe he would be committed to do what it took, behind the scenes, to succeed on television.
Perhaps his biggest obstacle would be something Ali could not control: His presence in a studio or behind a ringside microphone would make him bigger than the event he was covering or discussing. Would he have been too much of a distraction, whether analyzing a political convention or heavyweight title fight?
Would he take away from the event people tuned in to see?
?Of course he would have been bigger than the events he covered, but the public would revel in that, not rebel against it,? Lampley said. ?(Howard) Cosell WORKED at being that way (making himself bigger than the event he was covering). Ali wouldn?t need to do that, it would be written into the script. Muhammad wins again.?
Coincidentally Cosell, who was the most visible and vocal media cat defending Ali?s stance against the Vietnam war, always wanted to transcend the sports world and have a prominent role in news shows where he could offer political commentary. He never was afforded that opportunity. Ali would have received the chance.
?Let?s face it, some of the stuff Ali did was packaged,? Albert said. ?If he was working in television he would have broadened his approach.?
Which no doubt would be different.
Through the years, much of the political commentary has become homogeneous and predictable. It is no different now. Cable news networks target eyeballs with specific political agendas. All the commentators, whether liberal or conservative, have reserved seats on the same Merry Go Round. None of them ever seem to fall off.
Ali would have smashed that mold long ago. As he grew older, he might have evolved politically, which would have only added to his unpredictability. More importantly, he would have delivered the word with great humor, a gift he would never lose.
Now all that?s left are sounds of his laughter and a constant loop of fading memories. And our thoughts of what might have been.
