Sting Of The Butterfly

If there is one saying that sums up the career of the "dancing master" of boxing Muhammad Ali it is "float like a butterfly sting like a bee," as performed in the above video by Ali and his assistant trainer Drew "Bundini" Brown.

Yesterday as I was reading about plans for Ali's upcoming funeral I came across this story of the strangest coincidence.

In the late champ's hometown at the Ali Center where mourners were gathering, a swarm of bees had settled in a tree beside a sign carrying the famous float slogan. For pictures click this link.

Beekeeper Kevin McKinney, who had been called in to help, called the event an "exceptional coincidence."

But it was the CEO and president of the Ali Center Donald Lassere who perhaps put it in a better perspective:

"The Muhammad Ali Center has always experienced what we have come to know as, 'Muhammad Magic,' but I cannot even conceive as to the genesis of those bees. However, it's possible his spirit is watching over the center, and he is wanting his fans to know that he is still 'floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.'"

Was that swarm off bees attracted by that "Muhammad Magic" in order to make a statement?

Muhammad Ali: Boxing Oracle

It was with sadness I received news of the death of Muhammad Ali. I had followed his professional career since I was a young boy. Brokenheartedly I watched as he overstayed on the boxing stage.

In keeping with the spirit of my blog, I wanted to post something about Ali's uncanny ability predict his victories: "They all must fall in the round I call."

This little shtick of his began very early in his career, while he was still know by his birth name, Cassius Clay. He had gone to a professional wrestling card in a packed-to-overflowing arena that was barely half-filled for his fight the next day.

The difference was in that master of self-promotion, Gorgeous George. Ali took notes and soon began employing the arrogant and obnoxious persona that earned him the nickname, the Louisville Lip.

His first prediction was in his sixth fight against LaMar Clark on 19 April, 1961. Ali predicted Clark would fall in two, and he did.

Several fights later he took on the ill-fated Sonny Banks (who later died of brain damage after another boxing match) and predicted a fourth round stoppage. Although he had to pick himself up off the canvas after his first professional knockdown, Ali did fulfill his prediction.

His very next fight was against Don Warner. Of that fight Ali (Clay) afterwards said:  "I would have let it go five as I predicted, but he wouldn't shake my hand and that made me mad."

George Logan was next in April 1962. Of him the prediction was for an end in four rounds. Logan did fall in four.

However, a month later his prediction failed for the first time when he faced a game Bill Daniels. In Associated Press coverage of the fight it was noted that Daniels was cut on the eye and bleeding from the third round on. The prediction was for a round five stoppage, but the fight went on until round seven. Correct outcome, wrong round.

In his very next fight Ali took on Alejandro Lavorante, another fighter who was later killed in the ring. The prediction was for a fifth round stoppage and that is exactly what went down. Next up. was to be former light heavyweight champion Archie Moore.

Here is where it get interesting, and the above well photograph which has appeared in books, newspapers and magazines everywhere attest to the fact that Ali had the future mapped out. It was to be Moore in four and the then heavweight Champ Sonny Liston in eight.

That latter prediction seemed particularly ludicrous, as Liston seemed near invincible. He had only lost once, a decision he dropped while fight with a broken jaw.  But Moore did indeed go in four. But a Liston fight was still in the future.

Next Ali took on a former pro footballer named Charley Powell. The newspaper coverage of this fight proclaimed Ali the "Champ of Prophecy" for calling for and delivering a third round KO of Powell.

On 13 March 1964 Ali faced the very tough Doug Jones in the famous Madison Square Garden. A tough crowd. Ali had predicted a sixth round KO. But it went the distance. It was a close and controversial decision that went to Ali. He was loudly booed another prediction failed.

Now Ali went to England to battle the rugged slugger Henry Cooper. He was predicting a fifth round knockout (It's no jive, Henry Cooper will go in five"). Yet it was Cooper who floored Ali in the third round. He was in bad shape upon rising to his feet, but a delay caused by the need replace his torn glove gave Ali time to recover. He fought on busting up Cooper's eye and forcing a stoppage in the predicted round.

Finally it was time for his title shot against Liston. He had been predicting he would beat "the Big Ugly Bear" in eight. I have found newspaper reports that he also predicted "Sonny will be all mine in nine."

Few gave the Louisville Lip a chance. Liston had a prediction of his own: Clay (Ali) would fall in two.

In fact Liston lost his title in a colossal upset, retiring at the end of round 6.

Ali would say Liston quit early to just to foil his prediction. There is little doubt had Liston not quit when he did, he could not have gone on much longer as he was out of gas and banged up pretty severely.

After this and especially during the time when he was facing prosecution as a draft dodger the predictions faded from his act. Later he offered predictions again after his three and a half year forced exile from boxing, but the magic was gone. His predictions failed time and again.

At the very least I have to think Muhammad Ali enjoyed a finely tuned intuition. It must be remembered that Ali was the light-heavy weight, not heavy weight champion in the 1960 Olympics. He was light for heavyweight (often under 200 pounds) in his first pro fights. He was never known as a devastating puncher. He didn't usually set for a punch, choosing instead to dance on his toes and throw punches in bunches. He could wear an opponent down through sheer accumulation of punches, or maybe cut him up, but was not know as man who would you out with one punch. Which makes his correct knockout predictions all the more remarkable.

I'm not arguing for anything paranormal about Ali's penchant for calling his early fights. I don't think intuition is anything other than natural. But I feel he did once possess a unique psychic gift. Perhaps one might think of the Law of Attraction, the philosophy of willing things into existence. It's fair to point out that there are records of his forecasts of fight outcomes he was not involved in and he was clearly poor at that.

I just can't convince myself that sheer luck can account for Ali's ability to accurately predict his fight outcomes in his early career. I think he once was a true oracle.

"This Is My Last Game And I'm Going To Strike Out This Time"

Those were the words Bill Klem, the man most responsible for making Major League Baseball umpiring the profession it is today, when foretelling his death.

For thirty-six years he served the National League as ump. For Klem baseball was more than a game, "it was like a religion."

But after two years of declining health from heart problems and a month of hospitalization, Klem was ready to put his house in order. His baseball metaphors referring to his premonition of death were relayed to his lawyer a week before the end came.

I'm fascinated by the occurrence of death premonitions. It isn't an usual thing at all, but rather common.  In fact, I've collected a sizable amount of these stories.  

It has become my personal conviction that we all have spirit guides and angels that can aid and direct us in our lives. Perhaps the majority of people are unaware of this, yet still are often directed by "voices" and strong "gut feelings."

Wild as that idea might seem at first blush, I find it more satisfying than the idea of all these thing being lucky guesses. Also, there is a vast amount of NDE data which suggest that often one is sent back to this life by dead loved ones or divine entities because it isn't time for one's death. That seems to me to be a corollary.

However one understands this death premonition phenomenon, undeniably it is a strange and interesting aspect of human existence.

When The Reverend Billy Graham Faced Angry Witch Doctors

Talk about a clash of cultures!

Back when your Strange World blogger was a newly minted infant just home from the hospital, American evangelist and ambassador of fundamentalist Christianity Billy Graham flew to Africa for a campaign.

In late February 1960  the Associated Press reported that "native medicine men have been parading around outside the meeting in their weird costumes, muttering incantations."

Then, several days later, it happened. According to a United Press International story, three "witch doctors" who were, it was assumed, attempting to "fix a curse" on Graham walked up to the speaker's platform.

This occurred after the meeting as the crowd was exiting. The committee of  "Jaluo witch doctors" was led by 90-year-old Okelo Onoko, who smoked the traditional conjure pipe.

But the Reverend Graham approached the committee, looking them squarely in the eye, and declared: "God loves you and Christ died on the cross for you." This was accomplished by a translator.

Of course we know that Graham continued a thriving worldwide evangelistic ministry for decades and is alive today at the ripe old age of 97.

So much for Jaluo folk magic, I suppose.

Then too, it doesn't escape me that this incident was perhaps a media creation (or least embellishment), which thought occurred to me after reading Life magazine's coverage of Graham's African tour in its March 21, 1960 issue.

Therein we are treated to large a photo of Graham and a "witch doctor," with a caption that reads:
"In Kenya, Graham touched the Calabash pipe of a "witch doctor" who turned out to be a phony, part of gag done by local journalists."

Okay, so it seems safe to assume that journalists covered this story with, to say the least, a lighthearted attitude. Such culture clashes can have humorous aspects.

In my mature years now I tend to think the idea that the Great Spirit sends missionaries to other cultures in order to set them straight spiritually is wrongheaded.

 My thought is that nature itself presents a divine message that interacts with the seed of divine awareness planted in each of us at birth. This work has brought about uncountable expressions of spiritual belief, but none without its charm and interest.

All part of this strange world I find so fascinating.

Sorry, Right Number!

Didja ever see the old suspense movie Sorry, Wrong Number? The incomparable Barbara Stanwyck plays a bedridden woman who serendipitously overhears on her telephone two men plotting a woman's murder. The movie revolves around Stanwyck's character trying to prevent the murder but there are, of course, plot twists and surprises which I won't give away here. Watch the movie or do a Google search if you want the details (best to see the movie, however).

But how about a real wrong number cases that turns into something of miracle in its own right. The story was reported in the Christmas 1966 edition of  the St. Joseph News-Press. It is available to read online via the Google news archive. Let me relate the details now.

It seems that Elizabeth Drake was at home on a Friday evening craving ice cream. So much so in fact that she was moved to call the information operator in order to obtain the phone number of a local ice cream parlor.

With said number in hand Drake made the call. The phone rang and rang and she was just about to hang up when a woman in weakened voiced answered the phone pleading for help.

Quick-thinking Drake immediately laid down the phone and went next door to a neighbor to call the police. The police were able to trace the phone call to an elderly lady, a Ms. Friedman, who was found unconscious after having suffered a stroke. At the time story was printed Ms. Friedman was in the hospital, still alive, and in fair condition.

Some people feel there are no accidents in life. How amazing is it that an ice cream craving directly leads to a life-saving rescue?

Perhaps you're thinking it was luck. The newspaper went on to report how a police Sgt. Kishman pointed out a "strange thing" about this case in that the numbers of the ice cream parlor and woman's apartment were not similar in any way, not even having the same prefix.

My personal worldview makes room for these amazing "accidents." In fact, my worldview is that life itself is not an accident or happy coincidence. I believe in purpose and direction.