Like so many others around the world, the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens and their fans have a lot of love for Muhammad Ali.

“The Greatest” paid a visit to the Ravens training camp just before the 2012 season began and again on Super Bowl Sunday when he was photographed in full Ravens gear.

“Anytime you get support from someone like that, it definitely means a lot,” said Jack Cornell, an offensive lineman for the Ravens’ practice squad. “For him to stand up and do the things he did, it really took sports and this country to another level,” Cornell said.

Ali, 71, whose skills and personality dominated the boxing ring, entertainment and politics for most of his career will ultimately leave a legacy like nobody else in both American and world history.

A boxing champion at 22, a philanthropist, goodwill ambassador and broker of peace, it has been noted that Ali has had more books written about him than Jesus Christ.

Born Jan. 17, 1942, Ali burst on the boxing scene as a brash, young fighter out of Louisville, Ky.

Long before wearing the championship belt, the ultimate boxer/promoter had already trumpeted himself as, “the greatest,” something that angered ring opponents and drove sports writers and boxing fans to dub him, “The Louisville Lip.”

Eagerly anticipating and openly hoping that heavyweight champion Sonny Liston would soundly defeat Ali, known then as Cassius Clay, the young challenger came into their Feb. 25, 1964 title fight as a heavy underdog.

Battered and bruised by Ali for six rounds, Liston failed to answer the bell for the seventh round, ceding the title to the hated young upstart who famously responded by running around the ring, pointing at the press row and yelling numerous times, “I am the greatest!”

Shortly after the Liston triumph, Clay joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. His ring victories continued, often with Ali calling out the round he’d knock his opponent out.

But, the champ was benevolent to most. On an airplane home from London where he had beaten Britain Henry Cooper, Ali was told that referee Teddy Waltham had lost his $2,400 pay from the fight to a pickpocket. Without hesitation or questions, Ali kindly gave Waltham $2,400.

Despite having failed a qualifying test two years earlier, in 1966 Ali was reclassified as1A and ordered drafted into the armed forces over his objections.

“No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder, kill, and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slave masters over dark people the world over,” Ali said.  “This is the day and age when such evil injustice must come to an end,” he said.

Ali was forced to stand trial on June 20, 1967, and was immediately found guilty of draft dodging. An appeals court upheld the conviction and the case eventually went before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately reversed the decision.

Still, Ali lost three years in the prime of his career as his boxing title and license was stripped from him and he was forced to earn a living doing speaking engagements at colleges around the country.

Ali’s career was punctuated by his three epic battles with rival Joe Frazier. The first, at New York’s Madison Square Garden in 1971, was dubbed “The Fight of the Century.”

It lived up to its hype. Frazier proved to be the greatest challenger to ever face “The Greatest.”

The Philadelphia-born Frazier won a 15-round decision but would go on to lose the final two fights between the two titans, including a 1975 battle in the Philippines dubbed, “The Thrilla in Manilla” in which Ali set the tone by boasting, “It’s gonna be a killa and a thrilla and a chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manilla.”

Perhaps Ali’s most memorable career victory was in 1974 in Zaire, Africa where he defeated a Liston-like favorite in George Foreman.

In 1984 Ali announced that he had Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition that causes, among other things, the limbs to shake. Still, he traveled the world over to help those in need. In 1998, he was chosen as a United Nations Messenger of Peace because of his work in developing countries.

Ali’s legacy is unmatched. “When Muhammad Ali dies, a light will go out in this world and it will be the brightest light that I have known in my lifetime,” said British sports columnist Tony Parsons.

“I am an ordinary man who worked hard to develop the talent I was given,” Ali said recently. “I believed in myself and I believe in the goodness of others.”

(CNN) -- For an institution that moves glacially, instant analysis is as impossible as it is unwise. Yet first impressions are important. Our initial glimpse of the new pope was curiously disconcerting. He stood there impassive and unemotional. He looked stunned, without almost any reaction at all except, perhaps, awe or even fear of the moment.

Suddenly, his eyes seemed to open wide, as if he was really seeing the position for which he had been chosen less than an hour before. And then he spoke, not with the power of physical force or energy but with something stronger: humility.

With the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires as pope, the Roman Catholic Church enters the next chapter of her history. And yet, as often happens in the church, she turns to her past for inspiration and even innovation. So we have the first pope to be elected from the Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, who were founded by Ignatius of Loyola in the 16th century while Catholicism reeled from Protestant challenges.

Yet this Jesuit takes the name Francis from the humble servant of medieval Assisi who began the Franciscan order 300 years before Ignatius.

Francis took to the balcony with the word "bishop" crossing his lips more than "pope" or "pontiff." He referred to himself first as the bishop of Rome and to Benedict XVI not as retired pope but emeritus bishop. There was something genuine about the way he referred to the journey of faith as one that he and the faithful take together in love and trust. He asked for help and the favor of a prayer -- but this wasn't the standard "pray for me." Pope Francis bowed to receive that prayer from the people of God he now serves.

Looking back at the monthlong examination of conscience that Catholics, Vatican-watchers and the cardinals have undergone, what does Francis face? What will he do based on his own experience?

The cardinals' pre-conclave meetings seemed to reveal a particular job description, but the rumors and leaks seemed to have been wrong. This man is 76 and not in his 60s. He has not worked full-time in the Vatican's headquarters, called the curia, raising immediate questions about how he will reform the institution's central administration.

It is hard, at least initially and under deadline, to discover how he acted when faced with clerical sexual abuse, although we have heard less of this awful situation in Latin America than in the United States and Ireland.

Francis does seem to be a moderate who is respected by and can work with people sitting on different benches along the ideological spectrum. He is friendly with the conservative organization Comunione e Liberazione and yet like John Paul II embraces the church's lively sense of fairness and justice when it comes to the poor and middle class left out by rampant capitalism and its twin temptation, the gospel of prosperity. As archbishop, he took a bus to work and lived in a small apartment.

Like Ignatius, he has a reputation for using his mind to solve a problem but his heart to make a decision. Like Francis of Assisi, he operates within the world of an ordained clergy while not being drowned in self-serving clerical rank and privilege.

So what Pope Francis seems to bring, at least at a first glance, is personal authenticity and credibility. Both are critical precursors to change. Many people want change, it is true, but any proposals that might or might not come won't mean a thing unless a new spirit of credibility and trust flows down the Tiber throughout the planet's oceans to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

For too long, it seems that the curia has been about power, which is not the same thing as authentic authority. People respond with lasting love to authority but with only temporary fear to power. For too long, the people in the pews have felt distanced from their priests, bishops and the Vatican. That is not the gospel of love and service that Jesus preached. Yet it is precisely the gospel that Francis of Assisi and Ignatius Loyola learned from Jesus and shared with the world in word and deed.

Editor's note: Christopher M. Bellitto, chairman and associate professor of history at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, is the author of "101 Questions and Answers on Popes and the Papacy."

On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American male was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, a Hispanic male. At the time of the shooting, Martin, age 17, was unarmed.  However, Zimmerman, age 27, claimed he shot Martin in self-defense. Zimmerman was eventually re-arrested and charged, but not before the case sparked national outrage.

The case would also turn out to be the inspiration behind a powerful photography exhibit by Tina Waddell entitled, "PROFILING." The collection consists of six photos, which are entitled: “Suspicious,” “Running,” “Armed,” "Dangerous," "Surrounded," and "Captured." The photographs feature 10-year-old Rian Finney, who was nine when he posed for the photos.

“The Trayvon Martin situation is what impacted the naming of these images,” said Waddell. “The images focus on Rian. The words I use to describe these images may be associated with negative situations; yet, the images are not. The images reflect Rian and parts of his life— a life of strength, beauty, curiosity, talent and parental love and protection."

According to Zimmerman, who was the area's neighborhood watch coordinator, he noticed Martin walking in the Sanford, Florida gated community. Zimmerman called the Sanford Police Department to report Martin's behavior as suspicious. After the phone call concluded, there was an encounter that ended with Zimmerman fatally shooting Martin once in the chest at close range.

Waddell discussed the names of the images and how they correlated to the Martin case.

“The hoodie Trayvon Martin was wearing made him 'suspicious,' and then he started ‘running,’ which made him 'dangerous,'” Waddell said. “Then he was accused of being 'armed,' then he was 'captured' and then 'surrounded' by Mr. Zimmerman. That sequence plays out to some extent when the police are pursuing a young black male.”

She went on to say, "Some people look at our sons and daughters differently, while we may look at them lovingly. Sometimes, other people do not view our children or another race as an individual.  Rather, they assign characteristics to them. Such assignments may shift into profiling, which is what happened in the Trayvon Martin case."

Waddell says the images reflected through the lens of her camera are influenced by the likes of groundbreaking photographer and writer Gordon Parks.

“I was taking a class at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), and we had to work on a project focused around the Trayvon Martin case,” recalled Waddell. “I wanted my project to counter the negative images of our African American children.”

She added, “The photo I get the most questions about is the one that is titled ‘Dangerous.’ In the photo, Rian is holding a book. The image represents that knowledge is power. He is dangerous because of what he can do with that knowledge, because there are some who do not want you to have that knowledge. In the photo ‘Armed,’ he is holding a violin. That photo represents that he is armed with his talent. The words ‘dangerous’ and ‘armed’ can be used in a positive way.”

Waddell is an attorney and a native of Tennessee. She is a graduate of Duke University and the University of Maryland Law School. 

“I decided to enroll in MICA’s Continuing Studies Program because I wanted to study visual arts more closely,” she said. “I also enjoy drawing and oil painting. My images are often positive depictions of the African American male in various life activities. I see my role as an artist as one who documents and speaks from an uncommon perspective— even when depicting that which may be otherwise viewed as ordinary. My works are displayed in private and business collections throughout the nation.”

According to Waddell, “PROFILING” was on exhibit at MICA for one week, and was later displayed at a reception hosted by LaRian and Kia Finney. The Finneys are Rian’s parents.  

“I have an affinity for young, black males in our city,” said LaRian Finney, managing partner of The Finn Group. “It was a proud moment for my wife Kia and I. Tears came to my eyes when I saw the exhibit. Rian found posing for the photos fun and exciting.”

He added, “The path Tina took was to take words that are often viewed as disparaging, and use them in a way that was unique. The photographs are very innovative and powerful.” 

With the death of Hugo Chavez, one of the world’s more colorful, charismatic and divisive political leaders passes into history. But while few doubt the force of his personality, the future of the Venezuela that he leaves behind him is altogether less certain. The mixed response on the streets of Caracas to Mr. Chavez’s death is evidence of his troubled legacy. While crowds of supporters chanted “We are all Chavez!” outside the military hospital where he died, elsewhere there were celebrations.

Love him or loathe him, Chavez certainly changed the lives of his fellow citizens. Swept into office on a wave of popular support, his “Bolivarian Revolution” was billed in the grandest terms. Fourteen years later, the dream is still just that – a dream. He has been called a Robin Hood, some pointing to the social programs, the health clinics, and his “community councils” – all funded by the country’s vast oil wealth.

However there was a terrible dark side to the leader referred to by most Western democracies as a dictator who maintained power through intimidation and controlling almost every aspect of everyday life of the people of Venezuela.

Despite the profits from the countries appearing endless supply of oil, Chavez leaves his country at a time of absolute ruin: corruption is endemic, investment is non-existent, and the currency has been devalued by markets over five times in 10 years.  The infrastructure is falling to pieces, its public hospitals are death-traps, and the once beautiful capital city Caracas has become overrun with slums and one of the highest crime rates in the world.

But Mr. Chavez’s legacy is complicated and must be judged by history and time and not by the easy rhetoric that is left in the wake of his many missteps.Some of his ideas were good ones.  It’s hard to find fault with medical clinics in poor areas, for example. Sadly, however, for all of his talk of a “righteous revolution,” Chavez has left a hollowed-out country crippled by poverty, violence and crime behind.