Who would guess that "The Greatest" was Irish?  Not me, and I certainly never thought of the three-time heavyweight champion who adopted Islam as a namesake.  The opportunities for the Irish to latch on to Ali as a point of pride are numerous: the Irish are known for fighting, poetry, and being the underdog.  Let's hear it for the Black Irish! (*-That is a real term for fair Irish with dark features, like myself, ironically applied to a black man with Irish roots.  That means it is not racist/offensive, and OK, people!)