Sports Illustrated Commemorative  The surprising appearance of
Ali brought together the Greatest with the gaudy and the
gargantuan in a mind-boggling opening ceremony.  The opening
ceremonies of the Olympic Games are one of the most mysterious
events in sports, especially since they have so little to do
with the actual Games themselves. Green gnomes cavort across a
field while their frenetic brethren pound huge drums. It's one
big head-scratcher, the Main Street parade on acid. Yet it is
the toughest ticket at every Olympics, their most anticipated,
if mostly irrelevant, attraction. People who wouldn't know a
scull if they were whacked upside the head with an oar wouldn't
miss the opening ceremonies.  Ali, opening ceremony
photographs by, from left, Peter Read Miller, Richard Mackson,
V.J. Lovero  This one was no easier to understand than other
recent opening ceremonies. Being American, they were, of course,
longer, bigger and busier—an English translation of Citius,
altius, fortius. A horrific apparatus wi