The best Muhammad Ali tribute was by Billy Crystal in 1979

On Friday afternoon, before Ali passed away, actor and comedian Billy Crystal tweeted a video of his 1979 performance at Ali’s retirement ceremony, called “15 Rounds,” with the caption, “For the greatest man I have ever known.” The 11-minute performance is a mix of both reverence and humor which highlighted the legendary moments of the champion’s storied career. Crystal and Ali became friends in 1974 when he made an appearance on a television special honoring Ali in which he imitated both the boxer and well-known sports personality Howard Cosell. Crystal wrote in USA Today Sports in 2010 that Ali loved it and from then on started calling him “little brother.”

Ali’s reaction to Crystal, which is viewable throughout the performance in the top-left corner of the video, shows that an athlete who was known for dishing out verbal jabs could laugh when someone playfully poked fun at him.

Full ESPN Article

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Question leads to awkward interruption during Starr interview

A lot of folks are applauding this local news station for airing this segment and good reporting. If anything, the local news should have uncovered everything that led up to this moment before ESPN.

This was also the guy that released a letter to the Baylor community about the school’s response to sexual violence reports two hours before the Super Bowl – a time when almost no one would see it.

Speaking of timing things to try to limit coverage, Baylor decided to hold a press conference around 4:30 PM on a Friday to introduce their new interim coach, Jim Grobe. The new interim coach stated he was going to retain all of Art Briles’s coaching staff. Briles wasn’t solely at fault:

The findings of fact from the Pepper Hamilton investigation that Baylor’s Board of Regents released May 26 said unnamed Baylor “football coaches and staff” had inappropriate involvement in disciplinary and criminal matters and engaged in improper conduct. The investigation also found “football coaches or staff” met directly with complainants and didn’t report misconduct.

But then again, his powers are limited “Grobe said he does have the power as interim coach to hire and fire assistants if he thinks he needs to make changes.”

Another strange thing worth noting, Briles’ son and son-in-law will still be part of the Baylor coaching staff.

Among the staffers Grobe is keeping are Briles’ son, offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, and son-in-law Jeff Lebby, the team’s passing game coordinator. Grobe acknowledged they’re “very discouraged” by Baylor’s coaching change.

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Rare, Red Sprite Bursts Near Amarillo

Per Digg  – Sprites are large, flickering discharges triggered by the discharges of positive lightening between an underlying thundercloud and the ground. They are also very cool looking.

Scott McPartland – Extreme Weather Photography (YouTube) – I managed to capture on video several vivid “Red Sprite” bursts, from a cluster of supercell thunderstorms putting out near constant lightning near Amarillo, TX. I was positioned about 20 miles to the south of the storms, near the town of Tulia, TX, looking off to the northeast. This definitely ranks up there with one of the best lightning storms I have ever seen. A more extended video can be viewed via the annotation link at the end of this video.

This video has been reviewed by several meteorologists at various NWS offices, as well as the Storm Prediction Center, and deemed to be 100% legitimate Red Sprites.

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