Those of you with ESPN Classic, right now: Sportscentury: Muhammad Ali.

[Faygo Kid]

This nearly 60 year old has two sports heroes (and others are deserving, but these are my top two): Al Kaline and Muhammad Ali.

What a story. What a story, indeed.

[yourout]

1. Remember this one.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIZSxU3BPp0>

[H2O Man]

2. The Champ

is a supernatural man.

Recommended.

[Jamastiene]

3. ...floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee.

Damn GREAT boxer. :thumbsup:

[yourout]

4. Probably the original trash talker. Now even Pro Bowlers talk shit.

[elocs]

5. I am a distributor for USA Today, and we have had out a special collector's edition about Ali

for a month now and it will be on sale for another couple of weeks.



It is a collector's edition and is in a plastic bag selling for $4.95 and I've got to say it is a dog as far as sales go. Unless you are in your 50s or older (I'm 57) you probably know who Ali is and that he was a champion, but not much else. When I was a kid I used to listen to the heavyweight championship boxing matches on the radio and nearly everyone knew who the champ was. To tell the truth, I have no idea who the heavyweight champ is now.

Today with all the interest in football with the end of the NFL season, the bowl games, and now the playoffs and the championships there are really not many sports fans who are interested in buying something for nearly $5 about Ali because most are not that familiar with his career and I don't think that most sports fans are boxing fans anymore. One thing I am sure about is that your average younger sports fan has no idea that Ali was an Olympic champion.

My boss has told me that he thinks someone at USA Today may lose their job over this special edition collector's edition about Ali. To be honest, I wouldn't pay that much for it, but then again I'll be able to read the returns.

[Faygo Kid]

6. Call it a sale for me.

Tell your boss he loses.

Like I did in 7th grade, when I bet 10 cents that Liston would beat Clay.

I paid up. Tell him I bet 10 cents that I expect that the supplement will make money.

And I expect to be paid.

Send me a link. I want to buy it for family and friends.

[elocs]

7. You can probably buy them anywhere that sell USA Today, stores, 7-11s and the like.

I know in my area they are not selling at all and I think my boss knows this is the case nationwide as well. I checked mine just last Monday and out of the 132 copies I put out the first week in December only 18 have sold and I don't anticipate much more than that in the next 2 weeks. (I send back the tops of the issues for credit and I am sure that USA Today will have to eat the cost of more than 100 of the 132 that I got.)

Here is the link where you can order one from USA Today:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/ali.htm but I bet there will be plenty available on news stands.

[Faygo Kid]

8. It's called Marketing. Tell your boss to post a link here at DU.

People need to be aware of it. I wasn't until you told me of it, and I guarantee you I won't miss it now. Geez, get the word out. I fear we won't have Ali around at this time next year. C'mon!

[elocs]

9. Mine are prominently right out there for anyone to see who buys the papers.

They are clearly visible and the USA Today has information about them on their sports pages in many editions, but the truth is that no matter how much you may admire Ali, your average person today does not really care that much about him to fork out $5 for a glorified newspaper (heavy stock) special collector's edition. No marketing is going to change that.

Now where I live (until last week) if this had been about the Green Bay Packers they would have flown off the shelves. Sports fans here care about football in December and January.