Athletes And Knowing When To Say Goodbye    When beloved
pugilist  Muhammad Ali stepped into the ring against George
Foreman in Zaire in 1974, it was intended to be Ali's retirement
bout.  Ali was 32 years old at the time, and it was apparent to
everyone that his best days were behind him. The former
champion, revered for being nearly impossible to lay a glove on
in his prime, was coming off of losses at the hands of Joe
Frazier and Ken Norton, both of whom beat up Ali pretty bad
(Frazier left Ali with a badly swollen jaw; Norton broke it).
And while Ali avenged both losses in the lead up to "The Rumble
in The Jungle", neither were convincing wins. Foreman, on the
other hand, demolished Frazier and Norton inside of 10 minutes
combined. It did not look good for Ali.  So it was publicized
that this would be Ali's swan song. If he won, he reclaimed his
title against a 40-0 wrecking machine that everyone thought was
unbeatable. And if he lost, so what? He lost to a 40-0 wrecking
machine that couldn't be beat.  Th