Ali’s Celebrity Reborn Through TV
Muhammad Ali, celebrating his 55th birthday Friday, is a born-again celebrity.
It’s not that the world-renowned boxer ever really lost his fame. But for quite a few recent years, his presence was hushed by impaired mobility and speech caused by Parkinson’s syndrome.
His internationally famous visage still was photographed during those years. But the face he turned to the media was an unspeaking one.
But this month, there is a feature on Ali in People magazine. Next month, he will be honored with an ESPY excellence-in-sports award for courage. The ceremony, live from Radio City Music Hall, will be aired at 8 p.m. Feb. 10 on ESPN. These follow on the heels of Ali’s dramatic appearances at the Atlanta Olympics on NBC and a profile on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
It remains to be seen what, if anything, Ali says at the ESPYs. He said little for the NBC or CBS cameras, and was quoted sparingly in People.
But one storyteller has brought Ali back to us: Ali talkative with close friends, playful with children and trusted adults and espousing his faith while autographing Muslim tracts for crowds around the world.
Davis Miller, after describing his disciple-teacher relationship with Ali in magazine pieces, has honed their friendship into what he calls a “non-fiction novel.” It is titled “The Tao of Muhammad Ali.” Tao is a word in a Chinese religion meaning “the way.”
Published by Warner Books, Miller’s story is compelling because his unabashed adulation of Ali, even as a youth, doesn’t compromise his eye for detail about the experience and the man.
Prime-time puck
Fox Sports’ coverage of the 47th NHL All-Star Game beginning at 7 tonight from San Jose Arena will feature the return of the controversial “FoxTrax” puck.
But this year, the spotlight-haloed puck “will be much more stable… . You won’t see that dot jumping around as much as last year, unless the puck is jumping around,” vows executive producer Ed Goren.
Calling FoxTrax “a work in progress,” Goren said the halo-dot will be more stable, smaller and visible on more cameras than last year. And the feature keeping the halo in view even when the puck is hidden behind the boards will definitely remain, he said.
While conceding that the dot’s erratic bouncing last year was a distraction from the game, he cited an NHL survey showing 71 percent of TV viewers found FoxTrax helpful in locating the puck and 61 percent preferred watching games with FoxTrax.
Goren said that NHL ratings, although small, have increased 24 percent, to 2.1, in two years at Fox.
America’s team?
The Green Bay Packers didn’t get to face the Dallas Cowboys head-to-head for the NFC title, and thereby seek to exorcise Dallas’ recent domination. But while Green Bay faced Carolina on the field Sunday, it was pitted against Dallas’ past TV ratings.
The Green Bay-Carolina NFC title game on Fox snared a 30 rating. That was below the 33.3 for last year’s Dallas-Green Bay NFC championship game. But it was better than the 28.5 for Sunday’s later game, the New England-Jacksonville AFC title clash on NBC.