Rope-a-dope

As a child, I remember giving soap on a rope as a father's day present.

There was no limit to the inventiveness of Avon, who also made the world's greatest mosquito repellent, Skin So Soft.  Apparently skitters don't like hikers who smell nice.

In this same era, there was a boxer--and a fighter by his trade (Simon and Garfunkel)--names Cassius Clay or Mohammed Ali, who perfected the rope-a-dope technique.  The idea was to have your opponent punch himself out while you leaned back on the ropes.  Once he was tired out, you finished him off with a few quick jabs and a left hook.  That's the theory anyway.

Whether it was the Rumble in the Jungle or the Thrilla in Manilla that saw rope-a-dope's first introduction, it worked for a while until the oasis trick came along,

In the oasis trick, you would entice the other fighter to the centre of the ring, where he felt he could quench his thirst.  But once he got there, tuckered out from the walk, you could sting him good.

I think that worked on Joe Frazier, about whom Ali reminded us of a story Frazier's mother used to tell: she say he was so ugly that when he cry the tears turn around and run down the back of his face.

And perhaps they did roll down the back of his face after all!

And, of course, there never were any flies on Mohammed Ali, who float like a butter fly and sting like a bee.

I remember watching the fights in the TV department at KMart, where you could run and a get a 25 cent hot dog from the Red Grill, or store made Tiny Tim donuts (flipped on a mechanical paddle wheel) or a pound of sliced ham (or whatever other cold cut was featured that day), or just about anything else you needed to tuck into the fights, when you heard the familiar voice on the PA system: