Muhammad Ali, the man/butterfly/bee hybrid, stopped by the Raven's training facility Sunday to give the Ravens some inspiration before heading into tomorrow's game against the Bengals. "The Greatest" was already in Baltimore as part of Generation Ali's fundraising efforts, so Jack Harbaugh took this opportunity as a chance to introduce his son's football team to the greatest boxer of all time.
From BaltimoreRavens.com: The team watched a video clip of Ali during this morning's meeting and after practice Jack was speaking with them to tell Ali's famous "What's My Name?" story from his fight against Ernie Terrel. During the fight, Terrel repeatedly called Ali "Cassius Clay," which was his name before he converted to Islam. Ali won the fight convincingly and after he would land punches on Terrel, he would shout, "What's my name?" That story was the basis for the Ravens using "What's My Name" as their slogan during the 2008 season.
As Jack was telling the story, Ali came out to the practice field on a golf cart and the players formed a huddle around him. They broke the huddle by chanting "champ."
This was definitely a moment a lot of Baltimore Ravens will remember for a long time,as visible from some of their tweets.
Torrey Smith: "I can't believe I had the honor of meeting this man...thank you @Ravens for this memory."
Kelechi Osemele: "Just met a legend. My hands touched the greatest of all time. Muhammad Ali. #Legendary"
Tandon Doss: "Jus met the greatest athlete of all time... #Muhammadali."
Bobby Rainey (my personal favorite response): "Starstruck!!!!!! Shook the hand that knocked out pol & also helped ppl!!!! What a honor!!!"