Quote of the Day/Week- Bart Starr

Today, we go 'old school' as we conclude our month-long quotes from Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks with a quip from Green Bay Packers great Bart Starr, 78, who guided his team to victories in Super Bowl I in 1967 (35-10 over Kansas City Chiefs) and Super Bowl II in 1968 (33-14 over Oakland Raiders).

Starr was also a star quarterback at the University of Alabama, and we are quoting his fellow Crimson Tide great Joe Namath on our other blog, "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" today.

Here is Starr's quote:

"Athletic competition clearly defines the unique power of our attitude."

SIDEBAR: Yesterday, we mentioned how several Big South Conference schools fared in the annual college basketball bracket busters.

And, jut last night, High Point University Panthers guard Nick Barbour (senior, Danville, Va.) set the school's men's basketball scoring record by recording 44 points against the visitors from Campbell University, in eastern North Carolina.

The school which is conversely located in High Point, NC, won the game by a 98-60 margin. The Panthers finish the regular season (12-14, 8-10 Big South) and await their first-round opponent in the Big South Tournament.

Special Quote for the Birthday of Charles Dickens

It is actually Mon. Feb. 7, which is the birthday of Charles Dickens who is of course known for "Oliver Twist," "A Tale of Two Cities," "David Copperfield," "Great Expectations" and "A Christmas Carol" among many others.

The Bundange Park Palyhouse in Randolph, NJ, is currently performed the stage rendition of "Oliver Twist" that is "Oliver!" this month. A film version of the musical play won the Oscar for the Best Film of 1968.

Of course, since he is no longer around, Dickens is about the only person who has not said who he is rooting for in the Super Bowl. We know that the very liberal filmmaker Michael Moore is professing allegiance to the Green Bay Packers, so perhaps right-wing nut Glenn Beck is rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And, one can only imagine who terrorist leader Osama bin Laden might be rooting for from his apartment in Karachi, Pakistan, or his cave in Kandahar, Afghanistan, but assuredly if he put out a videotape saying who he was rooting for it would cause tremendous upheveal, which they have seen enough of lately in Cairo, Egypt. (forgive our cheeky sense of humor, yes we know bin Laden is a dangerous man, and the riots in Egypt are a delicate matter).

Here is our quip from Dickens:

"An idea, like a ghost, must be spoken to little before it will explain itself."

Special Quote of the Week- Muhammad Ali

For Black History Month, we are going to be quipping famous African-American athletes, both past and present, on Tuesdays.

We will start off with a quote from the great boxing legend Muhammad Ali. I recall as a child in 1978, during the years we were living in Turkey, that I got up at 5:30 a.m. to see Ali fight Leon Spinks on the TRT (Turkish Radio and Television).

Initially, we had contemplated a quote from another boxer Mike Tyson, who made a hilarious cameo in the film "The Hangover." But, Tyson's somewhat infamous image made us go with Ali instead.

Interestingly enough, I came across a 1981 Topps baseball card I have from a Mike Tyson, who was a white guy originally from Rocky Mount, NC, who played second base for the Chicago Cubs back in the day. That Tyson turns 61 on Jan. 13.

I must profess that there is a politically perverse side of me which would love to see the Chicago Cubs, the favorite team of conservative pundit George F. Will (my favorite team too though I am to the left of the columnist), play the Detroit Tigers in a World Series on the off-chance that it might lead to Will running into the very liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, who is from Flint, Mich.

On his web site, Moore is wearing a cheesehead so we can confirm that he is rooting for the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl (for those in Uzbekistan, they are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers) as am I, even though I am not quite as to the left as Moore is. He is also promoting the fact that a Wikileaked document revealed George W. Bush's feelings about his films (apparently, there was no White House screening of "Bowling for Columbine").

We have no idea who Will is rooting for in the Super Bowl, but it would be ironic if it were the Packers.

Oh, before we forget (and we did this on a Salvador Dali quote), here is the quip from Ali:

"I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and I was in bed before the room was dark."