Ben Myers Group B Blog Post 2: Pindar, Ali, Kentucky Derby

There are very few articles documenting interviews with great boxers like George Foreman and Joe Frazier. They were outshined by the most victorious man of their decades: Muhammad Ali, the longtime heavyweight champion. No matter how much of a fight “Smokin’ Joe” can give Ali, years from then, the victory is all we see. Foreman was at one point a formidable opponent, but losing “demoralised” him to the point where he doesn’t accept fights, probably in fear of taking another beating to his body and ego (From the Vault: Hugh McIlvany Meets Muhammad Ali, Hours After The Rumble In The Jungle by Hugh McIlvaney).
Pindar started the trend of writing about great athletic victors, so that their names will be remembered for years to come. We do not know who Hieron defeated in his chariot race, or who came second to Telesikrates in his victorious armored run. But these two victors, and many more whom Pindar compared to demigods and heroes, will live on forever in history (And The Winner Is… Pindar! by Stephanie Burt).
Writing is different now, Foreman and Frazier’s names are still mentioned, but Ali is who we care about. More specifically, Ali in his prime. When Ali was “forced out of boxing,” and when he was injured, he was still criticized. “Doctors” told him to “quit,” and the former champion became an underdog to Forman (From the Vault: Hugh McIlvany Meets Muhammad Ali, Hours After The Rumble In The Jungle by Hugh McIlvaney). If he had quit, he wouldn’t have been remembered in the same way. We remember athletes for the peak of their careers: the upsets and comebacks. The olympic victories that have odes written about them, and the life-defining races.
The Kentucky Derby is a 2 minute race, but it is the climax of 10 horses lives, and “generations of selection and breeding and training and care.” In the end, “nine will be supreme failures,” but one name will live on, like “Whirlaway” or “Citation” (Kentucky: May: Saturday by William Faulkner).
Many athletes, no matter how great they are, will live to see their accomplishments surpassed anyway, making even the climax of their life seem irrelevant. In A.E. Housman’s ode To An Athlete Dying Young, he proclaims that the dying athlete is better off passing before he sees his “name die.”

To Pindar, many writers, and many athletes, the contest, and the competitor’s whole life is all about making one’s name live on in history.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 1, 2018 at 12:52 PM

    It's such a good point that no one remembers second place, and the reason we play sports is to win. However, I feel as though now we sympathize with the loser if we know the story, but Pindar would never tell a story of second place. In the case of Ali and his competitors, we only still remember them because Ali was considered the underdog. In the far future, as far away as we are from Pindar now, the society will remember Ali but I'm sure they won't remember Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

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  2. Dean NollOctober 10, 2018 at 8:40 AM

    I found your blog post this week very interesting. I agree that Pindar would never write an ode about the person who game in second place because all that matters to him is the winner. I believe that we tell the story of Ali because he was the person that most people were cheering for and he had a great story to tell.

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