Thursday, September 23, 2021

HE'S BACK!

 In Confessions of a Story Writer (1946), author Paul Gallico wrote "It's only when you open your veins and bleed a little on the page that you establish contact with your reader."

From 1978-1988 New York Yankees player turned manager Billy Martin was hired and fired five times, including once for a memorable fight with a marshmallow salesman (which if you're thinking of resigning from the bench would be a great second career). 

In 1960 Richard Nixon lost one of the closest presidential races. In 1962 he ran for the Governor of California and lost, prompting him to hold a famous press conference in which his bitterness towards the press overflowed to the point where he said he was retiring from politics and it would hurt the press the most because "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because gentlemen (there were few is any female reporters in 1962) this is my last press conference." Nixon was subsequently elected president in 1968. 

In summary, there are second acts in life, which leads us to everyone's favourite federal blogger- David "Podcast" Markus. He's back baby! In a regular DOM-type post today, listing the finalists for the federal magistrate's job in WPB ("I promise to grant pre-trial detention when asked") he slipped in a brief note that he missed blogging and would be re-taking command of the Famous SDFL blog- the blog that started it all in the South Florida legal community. 

Much like when media people like Larry King retired with the promise that he would be back with specials (and never appeared on CNN again) DOM promised that his coterie of bloggers would remain and fill in often, however it remains to be seen whether that will be so. 

So it's SDFL 2.0- bigger and better than ever!  And we for one are glad. While the fill-in bloggers were good and thought provoking, no one goes to French Laundry to eat food not cooked by Thomas Keller. No one goes to Tampa Bay Bucs games to see the back-up QB play. No one went to see Othello on Broadway to watch anyone other than James Earl Jones play the role. There were the Three Tenors, not the three and the backup three. No one wanted to see anyone other than MJ take the final shot, and Frazier-Oscar Bonavena did not sell like Frazier-Ali. 

As for us? They will have to pry this blog out of our cold-dead hands (or we win Powerball, whichever comes first. and hopefully those two events do not occur at the same time). 

BTW- if you haven't done so, you MUST watch the Ken Burns documentary on Muhammad Ali. Nothing groundbreaking, but the stories you know are told in exquisite detail with amazing pictures and video and thought-provoking commentary. The arc of Ali's life encompasses the second half of the 20th Century US history. It is Ali in the raw, the good and the bad, the elite athlete that made the sweet science beautiful, and the ugly side of boxing as he beat Ernie Terrell bloody, taunting him to call him his name (Terrell had refused to call Ali anything other than Clay). Ali was all too human, and yet worthy of his self-appointed title "The Greatest". He was brave (taking on and beating the US government in his refusal to be drafted), strong, fast, innovative, angry, not a great father, not loyal to his wives, not a great business man, an icon, stubborn, brilliant, flawed, cruel,  inspiring, a civil rights leader who at times used crude race-baiting tactics against his opponents , and yet a man who ended up rising above the civil rights struggle to speak for all oppressed humans throughout the globe. In the  end Ali became perhaps THE iconic figure of the second half of the 20th century as well as the most famous human being in the world. He risked prison for his religion, was suspended and unable to work during the most productive years of his career, and grievously  injured his health by fighting too long.  

 Do not miss this  documentary. 

13 comments:

  1. So first he called a Shumie on blogging and then called a Shumie on his Shumie? Like staring into two mirrors facing each other, it goes on and on and on.

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  2. He was "asked back" by the federal judges and powers that be because they did not like what they were seeing.

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  3. BLOG ------> PODCAST -------> NEW BIG CASES
    He developed a marketing scheme. Clients dried up, so he turned on the tap again.

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  4. His motto is "stay restless" enuf said

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  5. Sorry, but I believe Bob Marley is the most famous person on earth, not Mohammad Ali.

    Marley died at the age of 36 in 1981 [more than 40 years ago!]yet his popularity among young people ALL OVER the world just keeps on growing. Watch a foreign film and chances are you'll see a Bob Marley poster in one scene or another. From Nepal to the shores of Tripoli, you hear his music everywhere. I recently heard it at bunch at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. There was even a line in the old series "Lost" when a character says, "who doesn't like Bob Marley". True dat.

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  6. The Nixon comeback was done twice, the second time as miraculous as the first. After his resignation, he was banished to his compound in California. But he grabbed his quill and applied his prodigious knowledge to writing. He penned a number of best sellers and within 10 years was prounounced, by the very media that despised him, an elder statesman. Regardless of your political views, his autobiography, RN, is must reading for anyone interested in learning about the most controversial American politician of the past 100 years.

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  7. Please forgive 1:29pm. He is young and does not know. He gave away the game when he said "the old series 'Lost.'" Nothing that happened after 2000 is "old" yet.

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  8. Rump is the thirstiest lawyer in Miami. Quite sad.

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  9. @6:16pm--- The man is also handsome. The handsomest.

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  10. To 1.29: Oh yeah? I was in Tanzania in 1991, and we were served a powdered coffee creamer in a can with a photo on it. No name. Guess whose picture it was? Among a people who often do not see a newspaper or magazine, and may have limited other opportunities to access media. Mohammed Ali was The Man.
    I recall the fabulous Cassius Clay, and the guts it took for him to reject the draft. His family paraded him out and used him as a paycheck during his many sad declining years. Even the much-touted interview with Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes only showcased his tragic brain damage.
    The brilliant "One Night in Miami" though it is candidly not fact-accurate, does a great job of bringing back that vision of energy and charm. And chutzpah like we may never see again.

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  11. It was even more depressing when the Marlins brought him out on opening day and carted him around. That was as obnoxious as it gets. No wonder why they keep losing with a brain-trust like that.

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