Ali! Ali! Ali!
Any piece of mail that goes out of our office has a real stamp on it. A cool one. And every year that our traffic manager Jenn has been with us, about 12 years now, I’ve asked her the same question: “Have they put out a Muhammad Ali stamp yet?” And every year Jenn gives me the same answer: “Nope.” Damn it.
Then out of nowhere the U.S. Post Office announced that on January 15, a stamp honoring the three-time heavyweight champ would be released. The New York Daily News ran a headline that said, “The Champ finally gets a stamp.” Exactly how I felt. Ali once bragged, “The U.S. government should put my picture on a stamp. That’s the only way I’ll ever get licked.”
So we ordered about five sheets of Ali stamps and they arrived the very day of my brother Moon’s funeral. In last Friday’s Dukes Up ditty I mentioned that Moon was a huge Ali fan and a master of the Ali Shuffle. So that timing hit home. Now, every time I slap an Ali stamp on outgoing mail, I think of Moon laughing, shuffling, and being Moon. Little things mean a lot.
If you know someone who’d like these ditties in their inbox every week, have ‘em shoot us an email at darbyo@darbyobrien.com and we’ll add ‘em to the list.