Yes, as we all know—and as we all will be reminded 500 times this week, then another 200-300 times during the game next Sunday—this year’s Super Bowl is a rematch of Super Bowl XLII back in 2008. So to celebrate Brady vs. Manning Part II, I thought it might be nice to do a list of classic championship rematches.

Here are 15 of them. Are they the 15 “greatest” championship rematches? Yes, absolutely. No question about it. So you should probably check it out.

Exactly seven months earlier, on February 15th, Spinks defeated Ali in Las Vegas, Nevada in a split decision to capture both the WBA and WBC heavyweight titles.  However, this time around Ali dominated Spinks and took back the WBA title for a record third time in his career.  The fight would go the full 15 rounds and Ali was named the winner via unanimous decision.  Less than a year after this victory, Ali announced his retirement, but returned in 1980 to face current champion Larry Holmes in an attempt to win back his title.

Ali failed in his attempt to recapture his belt, as he lost to Holmes via TKO.  He would go on to fight once more, losing to Trevor Berbick to end his professional career with a very impressive 56 wins and 5 losses.

Here is an interview with Ali before the fight.

Notable Birthdays

Dan Marino, NFL – Born September 15th 1961 (age 50) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Jason Terry, NBA – Born September 15th 1977 (age 34) in Seattle, Washington

Patrick Marleau, NHL – Born September 15th 1979 (age 32) in Swift Current, Saskatchewan

What made Muhammad Ali “the greatest”?  Was it his quick powerful punches?  Or maybe it was his ability to trash talk his opponents like no other boxer could during his time.  Those were just two of the things that made Ali one of the greatest boxers of all time, but perhaps his greatest attribute was his ability to dodge a punch.  This gif says it all.

Professional athletes worked hard to get where they are, and they continue to work hard day in and day out to stay on top of their game. However, the guy who picks up my garbage works pretty damn hard, too. Same goes for the dude who drives the bus down my street and the lady who brings my mail. But they don’t get paid millions of dollars a year. Now, I’m not saying professional athletes shouldn’t get paid a lot. I’m just saying that, even with all their hard work, they are still pretty lucky they were born with natural ability and provided the opportunity to develop it. And while today’s TMZ culture prefers to focus on the less virtuous activities of our sports celebrities, there are also a great many who know how lucky they are and give back to society. Instead of spending all their free time relaxing on tropical islands sipping Mai Tais, they go around visiting sick children and donating money to inner city schools. So let’s take a moment to shine the spotlight on good guys for once, instead of the dopes getting arrested for shooting people in night clubs (usually members of the Cincinnati Bengals). To that end, here’s 9 of the most charitable professional athletes of all time.

9. David Robinson (Basketball)

He was known simply as “The Admiral” during his days in the NBA winning championships for the San Antonia Spurs. But in addition to being one of the greatest centers in basketball history, David Robinson is also a seriously generous dude. In 1997, Robinson donated an unprecedented $5 million to found a college prep academy in an economically challenged San Antonia neighborhood. But he didn’t stop at $5 million. In fact, to date, David Robinson and his wife have donated over $11 million to Carver Academy. And it’s not even named after him. However, the NBA’s community service award is.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Robinson_(basketball)

8. Eric Lindros (Hockey)

In November 2007, on the day he announced his official retirement, former NHL all-star and MVP Eric Lindros also announced that he would be making a $5 million dollar donation to the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario. Lindros was born at the hospital, and over the course of his career had numerous procedures performed there. Now, it may seem strange that Lindros’s $5 million gift ranks higher than David Robinson’s $11 million gift. But what you have to understand is this: over the course of his career, David Robinson earned twice as much as Eric Lindros. In other words, for a hockey player, $5 million is pretty freakin charitable.

Source http://sports.ca.msn.com/other/photos/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=26281909&page=3

7. Warrick Dunn (Football)

It’s not clear exactly how much money Warrick Dunn has donated over the years, but that (undoubtedly huge) number isn’t important. The number that is important is 100. That’s the number of single parent families the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer has helped out by making a down payment on a home. His aim, with his Homes for the Holidays program, is to help other single parents provide what his mother—a police officer killed while working as a security guard to make extra money—was never able to provide: their very own home. Talk about a direct impact in your community.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warrick_Dunn#Charity

6. Andre Agassi (Tennis)

Tennis great Andre Agassi didn’t have a classy country club upbringing. His Armenian-Assyrian father was a bit of a taskmaster who once forced the 9-year-old tennis prodigy to play a match against football legend Jim Brown for $10,000 (later reduced to $500 after Agassi won the first two sets 6-3). This probably explains why he went on to be quite a rebellious young man whose tennis career almost ended before it began. Today, he wants to make sure other kids get the same second chances he got. So in 2001, in his home town of Las Vegas, Agassi founded a tuition-free charter school for at-risk youth called the Andre Agassi Preparatory Academy. Since 2007 alone Agassi has donated over $3,000,000.

Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_Agassi#1970.E2.80.931985:_Early_life

5. Tiger Woods (Golf)

The last couple of years have been pretty rough (insert golf joke here) for Tiger Woods. His public image has become a little tarnished, to say the least. So you might assume that Tiger is on this list simply because he donated a truckload of cash as a pathetic public relations ploy. But I’m here to tell you, no matter what you think of his sexual misdeeds, the guys is legit when it comes to charity. He donated $9.5 million in 2007 and another $1.35 million in 2008 to the Earl D. Woods Sr. Scholarship Fund and the Tiger Woods Learning Center, both of which help underserved kids get to college.

Source http://www.givingback.org/Programs_Services/GivingBack30.html

4. Lance Armstrong (Cycling)

Lance Armstrong has done so many amazing things. He beat testicular cancer. He won the Tour de France seven times in a row. He made Americans pay attention to the Tour de France. He got everyone and their uncle to wear goofy yellow bracelets. And, last but not least, amidst all these other things, he started one of the most successful charitable foundations in recent memory. In addition to giving speeches and needling other rich people to donate money for cancer research, Armstrong himself pledged to donate $5,000,000 over ten years back in 2008, putting his money where his mouth is.

Source http://www.givingback.org/Programs_Services/GivingBack30_2008.html

3. Dikembe Mutombo (Basketball)

He used to be known mostly for his trademark “no, no, no” finger wag after blocking shots, but now former NBA Defensive Player of the Year Dikembe Mutombo is better known for his amazing dedication to charity. In 1997 he founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to improve the lives of people in his native Democratic Republic of Congo. SInce 2001 he has donated at least $15 million dollars to build a hospital in his hometown of Kinshasa. That’s putting your enormous salary to good use.

Source http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Mutombo_Named_Most_Generous_At-160367-822.html

2. Roberto Clemente (Baseball)

The top two names on this list hail from an age when professional athletes were not bazillionaires. So being “charitable” back then meant more than just giving money. It meant giving of yourself, and using your celebrity status to draw attention to the plight of others. Coming in at #2, therefore, is one of the greatest baseball players and one of the most important philanthropists of all time: the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Roberto Clemente. Clemente made $125,000 in 1970. Today, with inflation, that would be a little let than a million bucks. He wasn’t a brand in and of himself like the Lebrons and TOs we have today. But, in addition to being a kind of Latino Jackie Robinson, making Latin American players mainstream in Major League Baseball, Clemente worked tirelessly to bring money, food, and other desperately needed goods to poor people in his native Puerto Rico, as well as elsewhere in Latin America. And if he wasn’t delivering goods, he was holding baseball clinics for children. Roberto Clemente died at the age of 37. He was bringing food and supplies to help victims of a terrible earthquake in Nicaragua when his plane crashed. Though shocking and tragic, his death was fitting. Today, Major League Baseball’s humanitarian award is named the Roberto Clemente award.

Source http://www.robertoclemente.si.edu/english/virtual_legacy.htm

1. Muhammad Ali (Boxing)

Muhammad Ali’s charitable legacy is not measured in dollar signs and decimals, but by the countless stories of his willingness to bring joy to others. As President Barack Obama put it, “We admire the man who has never stopped using his celebrity for good — the man who helped secure the release of 14 American hostages from Iraq in 1990; who journeyed to South Africa upon Nelson Mandela’s release from prison; who has traveled to Afghanistan to help struggling schools as a United Nations Messenger of Peace; and who routinely visits sick children and children with disabilities around the world, giving them the pleasure of his presence and the inspiration of his example.” Muhammad Ali is the first, the original charitable athlete. And he’s been at it for 50 years now.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/ali.htm

Additional Source: www.givingback.org

Ali would dominate much of the fight and he would end up earning the judge’s decision after fifteen rounds of fighting.  This would be the first of two bouts between Ali and Chuvalo, as they would meet again six years later, this time at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, British Columbia.  Although George fought a good fight, he was once again outclassed by the great Ali, losing to him by a judge’s decision yet again.

The UFC has taken over in recent years and the interest in boxing is nowhere near where it once was.  Much of that can be attributed to the lack of world class heavyweights like Ali, Frazier and Chuvalo these days.

Here are highlights of Ali vs. Chuvalo, Part 1.

Notable Birthdays

Cy Young, MLB – Born March 29th 1867 in Gilmore, Ohio

Earl Campbell, NFL – Born March 29th 1955 (age 56) in Tyler, Texas

Maxim Lapierre, NHL – Born March 29th 1985 (age 26) in Saint Leonard, Quebec

“The Fight Of The Century” is what the media had dubbed this battle in during the pre-fight hype and it did not disappoint.  Ali had the upper hand at the midway point of the bout, but Frazier came on strong late and knocked his opponent down in the 15th round.  Frazier ended up winning on the judges’ scorecards by unanimous decision.

This fight was the first in heavyweight boxing  history to have both fighters enter the ring undefeated and as champions.  Ali did not lose his belt in the ring, but rather was stripped of his title for his refusal to fight for his country in the armed forces.  This was the first of three epic battles between Frazier and Ali, with Ali coming out victorious in the final two.

Here is a clip of Round 15.

Notable Birthdays

Jim Rice, MLB – Born March 8th 1953 (age 58) in Anderson, South Carolina

Jason Elam, NFL – Born March 8th 1970 (age 41) in Fort Walton Beach, Florida

Hines Ward, NFL – Born March 8th 1976 (age 35) in Seoul, South Korea

When you walk around this giant piece of art work created by Michael Kalish, all you will see are 1,300 punching bags suspended from 2,500 pounds of aluminum piping using 6.5 miles of stainless steel cable.  It may not seem like art at all, until you reach the front of the monument.  That is when you will realize that all those punching bags, aluminum bars and lines of stainless steel cable are aligned perfectly to form a portrait of three-time heavyweight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali.

The giant sculpture, which took Kalish three years to complete, is scheduled to be put on display at LA’s Nokia Plaza in March, and Ali himself is expected to be present at its unveiling to hang the final punching bag.

Unable to put it all together on his own, Kalish acquired the services of architectural firm Oyler Wu to design the aluminum structure.  The rest was up to him and it looks like he delivered a knockout.

Hat Tip – [Wired]

Thanks to the phenomenon that is Ted Williams (the homeless internet voice sensation, not the half-frozen headless Red Sox hall of famer), people have been discussing what makes a voice great. Does it have to sound good, or is originality the most prized attribute? Well, this list has voices that sound great, voices that sound like a Bob Dylan chipmunk and some in between. An iconic sports voice, for whatever reason, moves your mind to another place. Here are the good, the bad, and the fugly: 9 Iconic Voices That Shaped Pro Sports.

9. Harry Caray

It’s not the most harmonious voice on this list, but the title says iconic, not “pretty.” So Caray makes the cut for his close affiliation with all things Cubs, as well as his ability to reach out to people from beyond the grave through Will Ferrell’s inaccurate, but hilarious impression. He sounded like he had a mouth full of nickels, but he sounded that way for so long, it became the voice of the Cubs.

8. Vin Scully

If you know the voice of the announcer of any baseball game in The Simpsons, then you know Vin Scully. The longtime voice of the Dodgers is considered one of the greatest, most iconic baseball voices of all time. Scully had a voice that seemed to fit hand in hand with baseball during an era when people would regularly listen to games, not just watch them. I hear Scully’s voice, and I think of the Wonder Years house, someone fixing a car in the garage, listening to the game with a glass of lemonade. And that was 15 years before I was born.

7. Mike Tyson

Never has a man’s body and voice been so incongruous. The hulking man-child was killing opponents at the age of 19, but his voice was more appropriate to a dwarf in a helium factory. Combine the goofy voice with his affinity for using SAT prep-level vocab and you’ve got a walking punchline. Of course, no one would ever say it to his face.

6. Howard Cosell

His stint at ABC allowed or forced him to cover every sport under the sun. If there was a big moment in sports, you could bet dollars to donuts that Cosell would be in the booth. Of course, my describing the voice is a little silly considering you can click above and hear for yourself, but he became the voice of all sports for a couple generations and is probably the most parodied voice on this list.

5. Pat Sumerall

While Madden got most of the glory, Summerall was the glue that held every game together with his methodical, almost robotic voice. He became the voice of the NFL for a generation of “Madden” fans, who where haunted by utterances like “flag on the play…” or “Bo-niol, lining up to kick.” Listening to him was like enjoying the control to Madden’s chaos.

4. Michael Buffer

If there’s something big to be said, send out a search party, kidnap Michael Buffer and get him to say it. The voice of every important boxing introduction of the past 25 years has lent his stylings to other sports, but “Let’s get reaaaaady to ruuuuuuuuummmmmmmmble” comes at a price. Rumor is he charged Jerry Jones a cool million to perform before a Cowboy game.

3. Muhammad Ali

I don’t know how to begin describing not only Ali’s voice, but his cadence. I don’t think I would be going out on a limb by deeming him one of the first rappers to appear on the cultural radar. His rants sounded like soft-spoken songs that managed to sting despite being easy on the ears. The quintessential iron fist in a steel glove. Whatever. Just watch the video.

2. Keith Jackson

The voice of college football differs greatly from the voice of the pros. NFL teams are mostly cosmopolitan affairs, while college games take place in Ann Arbor, Austin, and Baton Rouge. Keith Jackson was able to turn every play into a home-spun yarn filled with southern idioms that felt like we weren’t watching a nationally televised game, but rather a TV in a rec room with a gregarious southerner.

1. Dick Vitale

Vitale has always been a divisive character in college basketball. Many loved him years back, but it seems recently that his exclamations (which sound like someone is squeezing the air out of him) seem a little desperate and played out. He constantly sounds like an air horn running out of gas, but the problem is – he never does. He keeps going on like that. Year in and year out. Great. Now I’ve depressed myself.

It only took the younger George 1:16 to send the large out-of-shape man to the ground for the second time, ending the fight.  He may have broken more of a sweat walking from the dressing room to the ring.

As soon as George III came out, he began his barrage of punches.  All Weaver seemed to have in his arsenal was the cover-up, and he couldn’t even do that properly.  He quickly realized that while receiving many punches he would not be delivering one anytime soon, eliminating the possibility of even considering the “puncher’s chance”, and took a knee in defeat.

It was no Foreman vs. Ali, but maybe this fight marks the beginning of something great.  As for the “Human Punching-Bag” comment, I’m pretty sure a punching-bag would put up more of a challenge.  Take a look for yourself.

It was like a title fight between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, both landing blows and the other responding to the challenge. Sidney Crosby landed the first jab with a power play goal in the first only to be followed by Alexander Ovechkin’s blast to open the 2^nd. However, Sid “the kid” answered back with another goal in the 2^nd which was very similar to his first, going to the net and taking no prisoners, which is something that I would like to see him do more of in the future.

The game was tied 2-2 going into the third where Alex “the great” took over the game. A patented one time blast on the power play that if stopped by G Marc Andre Fleury would have probably left him out of game 4 (just kidding people). Ovie was not finished; he followed that beauty goal with another; taking on fellow countrymen Sergei Gonchar one-on-one and rifling a wrist shot past him and over the glove of Mr. Fleury who had no idea where the shot went, and who could blame him. Down 4-2 with under a minute to play Mr. Crosby did everything he could to carry his team on his back. He answered with his own hat trick by relentlessly whacking away at a puck to the left of G Simeon Varlamov and eventually batting it out of mid air. Unfortunately for Sid and the Pens the Caps held on for a 4-3 thriller and are now going to Pittsburgh with a 2-0 series lead.

Full marks to these two men who have brought back a fierce rivalry to the NHL. Sidney Crosby impressed me last night with his ability to score and answer the call. I am not surprised with Ovechkin’s performance because he is the best player in the world and he has a knack for scoring timely goals. The ‘Crosby vs Ovechkin’ rivalry has written a new chapter with many more to come, hopefully they will churn out another super human performance down the road; we might not be waiting too long because game 3 is on Wednesday at 7 p.m at the Mellon Arena. In the words of Terrell Owens, “Get your Popcorn Ready”!