Russell Wilson is known to adore Muhamad Ali. The Denver Broncos’ signal-caller has time and again shown his affection for the greatest boxer ever through his posts on social media. Ali’s prowess lay not just in his boxing, though. His activism and his wise words often brought him more followers than success in the ring. It seems Wilson might just be a fan of the latter, with his recent activity on his social media.
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Ali’s life has been an inspiration for many athletes who came after him. Not just in boxing, though. His influence was felt even in other sports. Probably even Wilson, who seems enamored with the legendary boxer. Wilson even attended Ali’s celebrity fight night in 2015, one year before Ali passed away. An event that is sure to have taken a toll on his fans, especially Wilson.
Russell Wilson shares Muhammad Ali’s wise words with his followers
While Ali is gone, his wise words continue to inspire many people even today. Wilson is one of those who are seemingly still a fan of his teachings. His latest activity on his Instagram gives some proof to that effect. Wilson recently took to Instagram to share one of Ali’s greatest pieces of advice, a video clipping in which Ali talks about the unintended consequences of mistreating people.
“When we mistreat others,” Ali says in the video, “we are certainly mistreating the artist who created them. If we realize this it would not be difficult to feel God’s presence everywhere”. While Wilson is certainly a fan of Ali’s teaching and wants to spread the love to his fans, he most certainly would want this message to reach his critics too. After all, he did have a lot of criticism for his dismal performance last season.
Wilson has more in common with Ali than Kaepernick: Jason Whitlock
Perhaps one reward for Wilson’s continued devotion to Ali came in 2019 when NFL analyst Jason Whitlock compared Wilson to Ali. During his monologue, Whitlock talks about how Wilson’s success on the field will make him more relatable to Muhammad Ali, than Colin Kaepernick. According to Whitlock, Kaepernick’s journey as a QB-turned-activist is not worthy of a comparison with the boxing legend.
However, fans now would think Jason Whitlock was far from right back then. Though one can discount Wilson’s season as a one-off thing, Kaepernick has surely grown in popularity. Though he may not come back to the NFL, his legacy is already set in stone: the man who was allegedly barred from the NFL for standing up for racial discrimination.
Wilson has to improve his performance on the field by next season. Else, his name may just fade away in the dark corridors of the NFL history books. History is written by winners. If Wilson wants a favorable line on two in it, he needs to step up and get back in the game. Question is, will he do it before it’s too late?
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