Muhammad Ali rewrote the way the world sees sports. Boxing has never recovered from exposure to his genius, and generations of charmless braggarts have followed in his wake, all of them missing the point. If the fights didn't move you, if his beauty didn't stir you, surely his words marked you. "Ain't no Vietcong ever called me nigger" . . . "I have chained lightning" . . . "the thrilla in Manilla" . . . "the Rumble in the Jungle" . . . "rope a dope" . . . For being able to walk the walk and talk the talk with an elegance not seen before or since, for having made a difference in the world beyond sport, for being himself, Ali is the sportsperson of the century.