muhammad Ali Archives • DAVIDPDX

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GOLDEN SILENCE? WHAT’S THAT ALL ABOUT

January 20, 2026 by David Gillaspie

I’ve experienced golden silence? Nooooo. But I’ve come close. Like the time I woke up in a tent while spending the night on a mountain I’d climbed. So quiet, at first, then the sniffing sound. Since it was Alaska, it may have been a bear. I was silent.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: ashamed, baby boomer, Baby Boomer blogger, Bob Dylan, education, ethnic cleansing, facebook, fighting, friendship, GUITAR, historical reminder, history, JFK, learning, military bases, modern nations, muhammad Ali, music, NW Portland, open mic, President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, profound effect, rolling stone, sing, song, story, twitter, unread blog, writer, writers, writing, WWII

GOOD EXPECTATIONS, VARIED RESULTS

August 20, 2025 by David Gillaspie

Good expectations, not great, are the more reasonable expectations for most people. Even when you harbor feelings of greatness, who would you tell without sounding like a nut-job? Yes, I hear you with your, “But Muhammad Ali . . .” He was ‘The Greatest’ and proved it over an over, until he became what all […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: American civil war, American History, art, autobiography, big jobs, black market, cancer, Civil War, death camps, diverse interests, expectations, family historian, General Eisenhower, general grant, good expectations, good teachers, great expectations, history, history buff, history museum, I like Ike, jobs, literature, loss, memoir, monuments men, muhammad Ali, museum men, museum mistake, plunder, primary sources, racial, racial profiling, reasonable expectations, serious research, teachers, The Greatest, throat cancer, WWII

WINNING STYLE FOR WINNERS

July 30, 2025 by David Gillaspie

This was my first view of winning style. As a very obedient child, (checking references,) I did what I was told. Go to a corner? On my way. Stand over there? Okay. Or bask in the moment like Muhammad Ali? It was an eye opener for little kids learning the sports ropes before rope-a dope.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: BOOMER, Churchill, civilized world., Death, death camps, drama in Bahama, Eisenhower, elder statesmen, family men, free world, gladiators, great evil, growing old, history, holocaust, joined forces, kids, Love, marital advice, mass deportation, mass murder, mass round-ups, muhammad Ali, murder, obedient child, old codgers, peace of mind, rumble in the jungle, The Greatest, thrilla in manila, warriors, winners, winning, winning style, write, wrote

YOUR PURPOSE? WHO’S ASKING

June 27, 2024 by David Gillaspie

You’re supposed to know your purpose in life? That’s the question I got while watching the second part of the two part Muhammad Ali documentary. With my wife. She was asking a serious question and deserved a serious answer. I tried.

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: boxing, clean life, cowboys, goal, helping others, muhammad Ali, my purpose, our purpose, purpose in life, sports, sports fan, the ring, unforgiving sport, your purpose

MILLION VETERANS PROGRAM, MVP

November 17, 2023 by David Gillaspie

The VA sent out a mailer for joining the Million Veterans Program. The MVP is asking veterans to join 940,000 others to help improve health care for veterans. As a veteran of the Gerald Ford Army, the VA sent the request to my address. That alone shows efficient dexterity in such a huge agency. To […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: AGENT ORANGE, all volunteer army, America, Army, blogger, David Gillaspie, draft board, education, efficient dexterity, GI Bill, health care, millennials, million veterans program, muhammad Ali, MVP, student loan, the army, travel, veterans, vietnam draft, vietnam era, vietnam veterans, writer

‘PRETTY BOY.’ WHEN IT’S NOT A COMPLIMENT

August 22, 2023 by David Gillaspie

“Pretty boy” isn’t what you expected to be called? And you didn’t like it. So what do you do? Here’s what I did:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: big talker, blogger, boomerpdx, complain, cute, detail, fighter, foreshadowing, MMA, muhammad Ali, pretty, pretty boy, standards, wife

SIGNATURE MOVE, AND WHY YOU NEED ONE

April 26, 2021 by David Gillaspie

A signature move is something expected, predictable. It’s an identifiable characteristic. You’ve got a signature move whether you know it or not. Ask someone. We used to watch the biggest fight in the world on free TV when Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Once he dropped an opponent, up when his arms. That was his […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: covid, covid19, covid19pandemic, identifiable, muhammad Ali, persistence, readers, signature move, writer, writers

COMPETITION QUESTIONS FOR THE NON-COMPETITIVE

April 8, 2021 by David Gillaspie

Competition questions start before you realize there’s even a competition happening. One of my favorites: “Do you even lift, bro?” It’s usually asked by a mid-forties man in a workout costume. It’s completed by an undershirt that looks like something out of a lady’s drawer. When it’s a question asked by a guy with greased […]

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: compete, competition, competition question, competition questions, covid, covid quarantine, dad strength, gold medal, muhammad Ali, pandemic year, Steve Prefontaine, try hard, vegan, Weight Loss, winners

DANKEST HOUR DURING THE OREGON WINTER

January 18, 2021 by David Gillaspie

If the “Darkest hour is just before dawn,” when is the Dankest hour? I dug into a dictionary to figure it out. “Dank: disagreeably damp, musty, and typically cold.” In other words, most every day of an Oregon winter. Pelican Brewing added to the definition:

Filed Under: What's Up Tagged With: covid, covid pandemic, dankest hour, darkest hour, MLK day, muhammad Ali, Oregon, pandemic

Colin Kaepernick Kneels For Nike Like I Kneel For Nike

September 4, 2018 by David Gillaspie

Do I kneel for Nike? I sure do, but it’s more in awe than anything else. Nike is awesome. So is Colin Kaepernick, but I don’t kneel to him. For some reason the Kaepernick Kneel is an irritant instead of a call to action. It is a call to action, right […]

Filed Under: BOOMER YEARS Tagged With: american sports, beaverton, cancer drugs, cancer killer, cancer medication, cancer treatment, chemo-therapy, colin kaepernick, dr. yee, injustice, intervention, john carlos, Knight Cancer Institute, muhammad Ali, Nike, nike campus, Oregon Health & Science University, Phil Knight, police brutality, Portland, right stuff, social cancer, sports, tommy smith