Today, it's money. There's no question about that. Unless you endorse a grill that cooks hamburgers and steaks, where else can you make the kind of money that you can make in the ring if you're good?
I did not choose necessarily on the basis of significance. If you have a vote for the most significant athlete, then you have Ali, then you have Babe Ruth, then you have Michael Jordan.
I think my mistakes were kind of common - leaning on cliches and adjectives in the place of clear, vivid writing. But at least I knew how to spell, which seems to be a rarity these days.
In fifty years of covering the sport, of course Muhammad Ali is by far the dominant figure.
It's kind of ironic that the two sports with the greatest characters, boxing and horse racing, have both been on the decline. In both cases it's for the lack of a suitable hero.
I think on balance, Don King has been bad for boxing. I think he's done some very good things and I think he did a heck of a job of promoting Ali but I think I could have promoted Ali.
I came up with new leads for game stories by being observant and clever, by using the many gifts of the English language to intrigue and hook a reader.
I just can't believe all the things I did that decade.
I wanted to be a sportswriter because I loved sports and I could not hit the curve ball, the jump shot, or the opposing ball carrier.
Sportswriters have changed more than sportswriting.
All of journalism is a shrinking art. So much of it is hype. The O.J. Simpson story is a landmark in the decline of journalism.
Also, I am driven by a wonderful muse called alimony.
Cliches and adjectives permeated my prose.
I began learning the sportswriting business very early in life.
I got to know Sugar Ray but I certainly would not say we were good friends.
I was also in love with the English language.
I worked with Rocky Graziano and Rocky was certainly a character.
If I got paid, it was no more than five dollars a column, and I still think I was overpaid.
My top three were Jim Brown, Wilt Chamberlain and Bo Jackson.
My writing improved the more I wrote - and the more I read good writing, from Shakespeare on down.
