From the opening to my piece....
Ferocious, hilarious and a verbal dynamo, Muhammad Ali is one of the precious few people who can lay claim to being the 20th century's greatest athlete. If his dominance in the ring were all we used to measure his importance, the champ would still be major. But once you factor in his political engagement, his principled refusal to support the Vietnam War and his movie-star charisma, you see why Ali didn't just tower over his sport but also the cultural landscape at large.
For Rolling Stone, I paid tribute to the Greatest of All Time by examining the shadow he cast over pop culture. He made albums, starred in biopics about himself, and hung out with Superman in a comic book. (And that's when he wasn't joking around with the Beatles.) You can read my appreciation here.
