As our beloved baseball, sans the steroids, is back, it’s interesting to see after watching Roger Clemens flail in front of a congressional committee on alleged steroid use, if he is as clever as he thinks he is. There have been some “cocky” moves in sports over the years, some going back one hundred years. Was there cheating?
Well sure. Clemens is not the first nor will he be the last athlete to cheat time, and talent, in trying to get the golden ring.
Muhammad Ali was a master at mind games and was one of the first sports icons to utilize television to create a brand for himself. He came into the public eye with a battle with Sonny Liston and battled him twice, once as Cassius Clay and then after he changed his name to Ali.
The little-known rumor about the fight is that both guys were playing hardball. Ali allegedly tormented Liston, showing up at his training sessions with tons of women, messing with the powerful one-punch Liston at the airport while taunting him with his well-known rhymes and further antics. During the fight, old-timers say that Liston had enough and told his trainers to “burn” Ali. What this means is that they were to put the cream they used on cuts on the end of his boxing gloves, ultimately getting into Ali’s eyes. It didn’t work, some of the mind games that Ali played had messed with Liston and Ali brought him down in the seventh round. These things are talked about although they were never confirmed officially, but the rumors swelled and have lived in infamy for 43 years.
There have been some cocky things happen in sports. The difference is that in this day and age, everyone has a cell phone camera, media is all over it and eventually you are probably going to get caught because the world is watching. As baseball is the sport that America is looking at for possible foul play, this story seems pretty timely.
To read some of the ballsiest moves in sports history, head here.
Tags: Sports, Roger Clemens, Muhammad Ali, Sonny Liston, Boxing, Sports Rumors
