Ali, the most important athlete of our time.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ "Ali" opens in two days, and I need to see it. But I'll tiptoe into the theater with my fingers crossed. His is a complex story to tell, and I desperately want the movie to tell it right.

I actually feel as if I know Muhammad Ali. I met him a few times, but I would feel as if I knew him if I hadn't. I latched onto him when I was in elementary school, and never let go.

To me, he was a hero. To many of you, he was an anti-hero if not the anti-Christ. No matter what you thought about the man, however, you thought about him. Before Ali, sports did not seem part of the real world. Sports were the playground we ran to when we wanted to escape. …