Even though it has been a good 30 years since Muhammad Ali was a pro boxer, he still remains an iconic figure today. Ali turned 70 in January; today we quote him in honor of Black History Month.
Ali originally became famous in 1964 when he upset Sonny Liston. Ali was a 7-1 underdog for that fight; Liston, whom Ali later defeated a second time, died at age 38 in 1970.
Recently, Ali was in the news for his eulogy of his rival Joe Frazier, who died at age 67 in November of last year. Though there was bitter animosity between the two when they fought 'the fight of the century' in 1971, the two not only reconciled but became very good friends. Ali ended up winning two rematches against Frazier.
While researching this piece, we learned that the original "Rocky" film was in part inspired by boxer Chuck Wepner's, now 32, huge upset over Ali in 1975.
Here is the quote from 'the champ,' made shortly before his first bout with Liston:
"I'm a Baaad Man."
SIDEBAR ONE: We noticed that someone from Mount Jackson, Va., a nice, quaint town that has Meems Bottom Covered Bridge, in the Shenandoah Valley of northern Virginia, was visiting us today.
Today, it is 37 degrees with a light drizzle in Mount Jackson.
SIDEBAR TWO: Wow! We somehow missed the whole Jeremy Lin media sweep, which has been dubbed 'linsanity.' We are particularly miffed with ourselves because we have been covering the great season that Harvard, Lin's alma mater, is having in college basketball. The son of Taiwanese immigrants who plays guard for the New York Knicks made a name for himself by scoring 38 points in a 92-85 home win over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers last week.
On Tuesday night, Lin delivered a valentine for Knicks' fans by scoring a game-winning shot in a 90-87 road win against the Toronto Raptors.
Last night, Lin scored 10 points and had a career-high 13 assists in the team's 100-85 home win over the Sacramento Kings.
Like most Ivy Leaguers who come into the NBA, with the exception of Bill Bradley (later a Democratic U.S. Senator) from Princeton who was also a Knicks player (Bradley played in 1970s), Lin was considered a low prospect.
SIDEBAR THREE: Since we made an effort to cover Ivy League sports, we thought we'd do the same for the Patriot League, which includes the likes of Army and Navy as well as distinguished academic institutions such as Colgate and Lehigh.
Last night, two Patriot League schools American University and Navy faced each other on AU's home court in Washigton, DC. And, the AU Eagles (17-9) came away with a 69-47 over a struggling Navy team.
Charles Hinkle lead the Eagles with 18 points. American University is second in league play behind Bucknell (20-6).
The Eagles are coached by former University of Virginia star Jeff Jones, who later coached the Cavaliers from 1990-98. He has coached the Eagles since 2000.
