Potluck Quote of the Day (5 of 10): Muhammad Ali

Today's quote of the day comes from the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) who died earlier this year. We found this quote on a tribute by Keith Knight in his political cartoon series "The K-Chronicles." We are also happy to learn that Knight now resides in Chapel Hill,NC, which puts him in the same state as our good friend Chris Knight (no relation, in fact Keith is black, and Chris is white) who is based in Reidsville.

Ali's legacy continues through the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.

Here is today's potluck quote of the day: "If you even dream of beating me, you'd better wake up and apologize."

http://www.alicenter.org

http://www.kchronicles.com

http://www.muhammadali.com

We are featuring Ali today as a tribute to the 2016 Rio Olympics. On our sister blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogpsot.com we have a quote from Romanian gymnastics legend Nadia Comaneci.

Last Ten Songs on Steve FM (106.1-Roanoke, Va): Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Greetings to our blog readers in Afghanistan, Brazil and the Netherlands.........

Today, we look at ten songs that were played between 5:00-6:00 p.m. (17:00-18:00) eastern United States on the variety mix radio station Steve-FM (106.1-Roanoke, Va).

For the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, just underway, the station is playing an all '80s weekend, which actually started on Thursday at noon. http://www.1061stevefm.com

The two earliest songs that were played were "Back in Black" by AC/DC and "Hit Me With Your Best Shot"by Pat Benatar; both songs were released 35 years ago in 1980. Benatar is currently touring on the road, and she will play the Warner Theatre in Washington, DC, on July 8th and the Brown Theatre in Louisville, Ky., on July 16th. http://benatargiraldo.com/ http://www.warnertheatredc.com 

(The image of Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves are in reference to Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Show, Ali is originally from Louisville where Benatar plays later in July).

The most current song was "Need You Tonight" from INXS, released in 1987 http://www.inxsonline.com

The set also featured the mega-hit "West End Girls" (London's West End is the center image) by Pet Shop Boys http://www.petshopboys.co.uk/ as well as "Photograph" from Def Leppard http://www.defleppard.com/ (the image of Marilyn Monroe is because an actress playing her was in the video for "Photograph") and "Some Like It Hot" by the '80s supergroup The Power Station, which featured the late Robert Palmer and members of Duran Duran.

Def Leppard will be performing with Styx and Tesla in Toronto, Canada, on July 14th, and Oshkosh, Wisc., on July 18th.

Here is the list:

1) Come on Eileen. Dexy's Midnight Runners. 1982

2) Let's Hear It for the Boy. Deniece Williams, 1984

3) Photograph. Def Leppard. 1983.

4) West End Girls. Pet Shop Girls. 1984.

5) Hit Me With Your Best Shop. Pat Benatar. 1980.

6) Jam on It. Necleus. 1984.

7) Need You Tonight. INXS. 1987

8) Back in Black.AC/DC. 1980

9) Gloria. Laura Branigan. 1982.

10) Some Like It Hot. The Power Station. 1985.

Olympic Cities Distance Quiz (2 of 6)_ Mexico City to Rome

Well, we couldn't find a mascot for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, but Pique the chilli pepper was the mascot for the 1986 World Cup held in Mexico 18 years later (Argentina won that cup).

Since 1968 was a year of political turmoil in the United States, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, China, Argentina....ok, you get the idea, there were two major political protests at the Olympics in Mexico City. In America, the most-known protest involved two African-American athletes Tommie Smith, now 68, who won gold in the 200 meter relay, and John Carlos, now 67, who gave the black power salute during the playing of the American national anthem at their medal ceremony. Interestingly enough, the silver medal winner in that race the late Australian runner Peter Norman (1942-2006) politically supported the protests.

The Mexico City Olympics, which featured athletes from 112 countries, also featured a protest from Czechoslavakian gymnast Vera Caslavska (who would now compete for the Czech Republic), now age 70, a winner of four gold medals at the games who bowed her head in protest when the Soviet Union's national anthem was played after the balance beam final.

The 1960 Rome Olympics were also quite eventful as two African-American athletes came home with gold medals including the late Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) who won three gold medals in track, and Muhammad Ali who won gold in the light heavyweight boxing class.

So how far in Mexico City from Rome?

Is the answer:

A) 6,273 miles

B) 6,373 miles

C) 6,473 miles

D) 6,573 miles

The answer to yesterday's quiz is that "Hogan's Heroes" ran for 166 episodes.

Quote of the Day/Week- Muhammad Ali

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.