Commentary

From Rope-A-Dope To Cellar Dweller: Biden His Time

From Rope-A-Dope To Cellar Dweller: Biden His Time

Joseph Tortelli

In 1974, Muhammed Ali rose to the level of a transcendent sports figure when he defeated heavyweight champion George Foreman and reclaimed the premier world boxing title. Realizing he couldn't trade punches with the fearsome and heavily favored Foreman, he developed an innovative ring strategy called the "rope-a-dope." Ali covered up his upper torso with his arms and leaned back into the slack ring ropes, taking temporary punishment as the powerful Frazier punched himself out until Ali flattened him in the eighth round. 

It was a shocking tactic that led to a stunning result. Without that unexpected victory in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Zaire, Africa, Ali would have been an important boxer, but not an internationally acclaimed sports luminary.

Ranked Choice Voting Supporters Trot Out Massachusetts Political Celebrities
Around New England

Ranked Choice Voting Supporters Trot Out Massachusetts Political Celebrities

Matthew McDonald

Supporters of Ranked Choice Voting in Massachusetts have announced honorary campaign co-chairmen that include two former governors, a former lieutenant governor, a former U.S. Treasury secretary, a sports team owner, the current president of the Boston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and a Harvard professor.

The ballot question, if approved by voters in November 2020, would change the way votes are counted in Massachusetts. Voters would be allowed not only a vote for one candidate, as now, but also lower selections that may come into play if no candidate gets a majority of votes.

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