“What a loss to suffer, even if for years you knew it was coming. Muhammad Ali, who died Friday, in Phoenix, at the age of seventy-four, was the most fantastical American figure of his era, a self-invented character of such physical wit, political defiance, global fame, and sheer originality that no novelist you might name would dare conceive him.” New Yorker editor and Ali biographer David Remnick reflects on the outsized life of Muhammad Ali. Somewhere right now, Howard Cosell and Ali are sitting down for an interview they’ve both been looking forward to for decades.

+ The reaction to Ali’s death is a reminder of the impact sports has on society. Ali also had a major impact on sports writing by inspiring some of its best examples. Deadspin has collected some of the Greatest Writing About The Greatest. Trust me, the Internet generation didn’t invent the personal brand.

+ Muhammad Ali in photos.