Rapier Wit is kinda awesome

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Maybe I got trolled in the past.

Given that Ali was a divisive, controversial figure well known for his abrasiveness and cockiness, it's not difficult to imagine a sports reporter, historian, or rival who might be interested in spreading or perpetuating rumors depicting him as stupid. History may be written by the winners, but sometimes it's the jealous losers who write the footnotes.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Lord Carnifex

Given that Ali was a divisive, controversial figure well known for his abrasiveness and cockiness, it's not difficult to imagine a sports reporter, historian, or rival who might be interested in spreading or perpetuating rumors depicting him as stupid. History may be written by the winners, but sometimes it's the jealous losers who write the footnotes.

Controversial or not, I would not assume someone that chooses to get hit in the face for a living is capable of pithy quips. Call me prejudiced or full of confirmation bias, but it's not my go to assumption.
(Yes I know that boxing is supposed to be more about hitting the other guy in the face. Just like bull fighting is about not getting tossed in the air. Still it's much safer to just not get in the ring.)

[Lord Carnifex]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Controversial or not, I would not assume someone that chooses to get hit in the face for a living is capable of pithy quips. Call me prejudiced or full of confirmation bias, but it's not my go to assumption.

Fair enough. Though the drain bamage often doesn't really set in until the end of a fighter's career after they've been hit in the face a few hundred times. Though in Ali's case, I don't know that they're 'pithy quips' so much as gems pulled from a few years of nearly continuous trash-talking. A humble, sportsman-like gentleman Ali wasn't.

[Flyndaran]

I wasn't talking about long term brain damage. I meant the simple desire to start boxing in the first place as a career.

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I wasn't talking about long term brain damage. I meant the simple desire to start boxing in the first place as a career.

One could say something similar about the desire to start adventuring as a career, at least in certain genres...

Given the choice between boxing and bumming around dungeons, battling dragons or undead or cyborgs, or even just enlisting in the military (reining it in to realism), a career in boxing seems like a generally safer bet for the money. :-)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

One could say something similar about the desire to start adventuring as a career, at least in certain genres...

Given the choice between boxing and bumming around dungeons, battling dragons or undead or cyborgs, or even just enlisting in the military (reining it in to realism), a career in boxing seems like a generally safer bet for the money. :-)

A career in ballet is also far more dangerous than a boxing career.

Not that a military career is dangerous. It's more dangerous to be a taxi driver or pizza delivery boy, for example.

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by Icelander

A career in ballet is also far more dangerous than a boxing career.

Not that a military career is dangerous. It's more dangerous to be a taxi driver or pizza delivery boy, for example.

Indeed, I've read horror stories about permanent paralysis as a result of any career or even stint of dancing or acrobatics (cheerleaders are grossly under-respected for what they do and what they risk... cheerleading is a sport).

And yeah, true enough, anyone having to drive or be on the road with cars and buses and trucks in play are often at greater risk from those fast-moving death traps than the average soldier (not to mention the violence perpetrated against cabbies and pizza guys).

At least in boxing, the boxers are meant to wear gloves, and are trained specifically to avoid concussion-causing events in the ring.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Weird, I thought it was common knowledge. Maybe I got trolled in the past.
If I didn't suck so bad at research, I might be able to find where I read that.
As it is, I guess I'll have to admit almost certain mistake.
Oops. Glad I'm not getting graded on my posts.

Just judged.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

Just judged.

Ouch. I admitted I'm probably wrong.

[Purple Haze]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Controversial or not, I would not assume someone that chooses to get hit in the face for a living is capable of pithy quips. Call me prejudiced or full of confirmation bias, but it's not my go to assumption.
(Yes I know that boxing is supposed to be more about hitting the other guy in the face. Just like bull fighting is about not getting tossed in the air. Still it's much safer to just not get in the ring.)

In the 90's the number one contender in one of the middle weight classes had a "day job", he was doing a combined MD/PhD in cranial neurosurgery. He was upper-middle class and Caucasian too.