They read their sports pages, know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans, pro or con, over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there.

Houston, Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed.

Houston, we've had a problem.

In New York, I have a photo of my parents on their wedding day in 1947. They're beaming at home plate in Houston's Buffalo Stadium. I love the photo because my dad is smiling. He didn't smile much in his later years.

When Whitney Houston died, I felt great sadness. My sadness, of course, was about our collective loss - when you listened to this nightingale sing, your body would drop into a chair, your head would tilt up, a small smile would creep across your face, and inside you knew that there was a higher power somewhere: gifted, beautiful, spiritual.

There's sadness to anyone that dies before their time, and specifically ones that seem to affect people in a positive way. It doesn't matter if it's Whitney Houston or a nameless, faceless person on the street. That's just as big of a tragedy for me.

I wanted to be the best street fighter in Houston, Texas. And I thought if I got a trophy or two, I'd go back home, and everyone would be afraid of me. I had one fight in '67, the first one. In '68 of October, I was an Olympic gold-medalist, a dream come true, with a total of 25 boxing matches.

Havin' fun while freedom fightin' must be one of those lunatic Texas traits we get from the water - which is known to have lithium in it - because it goes all the way back to Sam Houston, surely the most lovable, the most human, and the funniest of all the great men this country has ever produced.

What Whitney Houston has accomplished will never be accomplished. She's the most famous person on the planet as far as vocaling and her songs. So I'm very happy that I can sit here and say I had a chance to know her. And I'm still dazed that she's gone. But she lives because her music is so powerful.

I don't think I'm the face of the city or the Houston Astros. I'm just another guy who is playing hard to make dreams come true.

When you look at the fittest, leanest populations like Japan and Scandinavia, they don't even go to the gym. The average person in Sydney takes 11,000 steps a day, and the average person in Houston does 4000. Guess who is going to be leaner, regardless of their diet?

These other cities, soon as I walk out, they going crazy like I'm a boy band. But Houston people are chill. We can see Beyonce and be like, Aight cool.

I like cars and houses. I have three houses - in Atlanta, in Kansas City and Houston.

I started a youth center in Houston. The kids would come in and want to learn to box; they wanted to tear up the world, beat up the world. And I'd try to show them they didn't need anger. They didn't need all that killing instinct they'd read about. You can be a human being and pursue boxing as a sport.

Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" was constantly on my FM Walkman radio around that time. I think that made me cry because I associated it with absolutely no one.

They read their sports pages know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans pro or con over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there.

When Whitney Houston died I felt great sadness. My sadness of course was about our collective loss - when you listened to this nightingale sing your body would drop into a chair your head would tilt up a small smile would creep across your face and inside you knew that there was a higher power somewhere: gifted beautiful spiritual.

Havin' fun while freedom fightin' must be one of those lunatic Texas traits we get from the water - which is known to have lithium in it - because it goes all the way back to Sam Houston surely the most lovable the most human and the funniest of all the great men this country has ever produced.

What Whitney Houston has accomplished will never be accomplished. She's the most famous person on the planet as far as vocaling and her songs. So I'm very happy that I can sit here and say I had a chance to know her. And I'm still dazed that she's gone. But she lives because her music is so powerful.

Most everything I do revolves around tae kwon do. That said I like to be a typical girl and go shopping. I have three nieces and nephews that I like to hang out with. I'm also finishing my last semester at the University of Houston where I'm majoring in childhood education.

I'm very proud of my love for Whitney Houston. She really changed my life. She made my life a better life. She was so beautiful in her love for God her love for her family and her love for music. She truly loved her music. She could do everything! She had flawless rhythm flawless pitch flawless feeling and flawless beauty.