50 Best Trash Talk Moments in Sports

By (Featured Columnist) on May 5, 2011

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MINNEAPOLIS - MAY 23:  Kobe Bryant #8 and Shaquille O'Neal #34 of the Los Angeles Lakers look on in the second half of Game two of the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2004 NBA Playoffs on May 23, 2004 at Target Cent
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Trash talking and sports go together like apples and pie. They are synonymous like chicken and dumplings. They mix beautifully like peanut butter and jelly!

I think you get my point.

As long as there has been sports there has also been trash talking. In the heat of competition people will say things to get under their opponents' skin. Other times, it is used strategically as a mental weapon against an opponent.

Now, I think it’s important to realize that trash talking comes in many forms and it is not always mean.

It can be comedic, it can be spur-of-the-moment or planned out, and sometimes it doesn’t even have to be audible. You can talk trash using body language, facial expressions and even the way that you play the game.

Here is a list of the 50 best trash talk moments in sports:

50. Kung Fu Shaq

You will notice that Shaquille O’Neal finds himself on this list a lot. You will also notice the trend of specific personalities and players showing up multiple times.

Trash talking runs in the blood.

It’s part of who you are.

Once again, it doesn't always have to be malicious.

49. Matt Millen?

Sometimes talking trash can come in the form of an argument.

I can’t understand how Matt Millen could ever criticize Steve Young though.

Just saying…Millen sucked.

48. Still at It...

These two are still at each other’s throats!

Later on we will see why…

47. Owens vs. Simpson

T.O. could never find a quarterback he didn’t want to rag on.

For some reason he felt it necessary to comment on Tony Romo’s relationship with Jessica Simpson, though, and as you know it all went downhill from there.

46. Brett Favre Mic'd Up

Before he became busy taking pictures of his privates and sending them to Jets employees, he was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

He was also great at running his mouth.

This is one of my favorite mic’d up clips ever!

45. Momma Jokes

This reporter should know better than to get in a joke contest with Shaq.

44. WACK

Rasheed Wallace was one of the best trash talkers in all of sports.

He also got more technical fouls than anybody I have ever seen.

Listen to how the ref ejects him! So Funny!

Wack, get out!

43. Wrong Neighborhood

It’s one of the best rivalries in sports for a reason!

Gotta know where ya are at all times.

42. I Ain't Scared of Ya'll!

Gosh I love those microphones under the basket so much!

41. Who's Your Daddy?

Some of the most underrated trash talk in sports is the stuff that goes on between the stadium and a single player.

Pedro Martinez is getting an earful from Yankee fans.

40. Audible

I wonder if MasterCard had seen this clip before they asked Manning to do their commercials…

Sometimes trash talking can just be straight-up anger.

39. No King in Cleveland

Here’s one guy who didn’t buy into the hype.

38. Dwight Van Gundy

If you have ever heard Stan Van Gundy speak than this will make you laugh out loud.

Once again, here is a form of trash talking that involves comedy and isn’t necessarily out of anger.

37. Terrrrible

Frank Caliendo is one of the best impressionists I have ever seen. As far as sports are concerned I think he does a great job taking jabs at people or players, all the while being funny and witty.

Sarcasm and wit are incredible methods of trash talk.

36. Boom!

Notice how many digs he throws in this sketch.

So good!

35. In Cred Eh Bel

As a fan of Jim Rome this was one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life.

Spot-on impersonation.

34. Meet the Press

I’m a man, I’m 40!

Priceless!

33. Too Much?

I know that this is a commercial but it very accurately depicts the reality of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry.

This was tame trash talk…

32. Miller Time

Reggie Miller was one of the best trash talkers in the NBA, and you could make the case that he is the very best at it.

His favorite target was the New York Knicks.

31. Women's Basketball?

Yeah…this is real.

30. Not a Game

Only Allen Iverson could find a way to talk smack about practice as a professional athlete.

29. T.Ocho Show

These are two of the best smack talkers the NFL has ever seen, and you give them their own show together!

Look out!

28. Moon Man

This is a classic case of a picture being worth a thousand words.

Well, in this case pretending to pull down your pants and moon Lambeau Field being worth a thousand words, and a thousand boos.

27. Get Yo Popcorn Ready

This was one of the more interesting debacles I have ever seen.

Do you got your popcorn ready?

26. Star Power

This was kind of a win-win situation.

Fans of T.O. got to watch him make one of the brashest moves in NFL history, and Dallas fans got to watch him get trucked!

Classic case of trash talking without saying a single word.

25. Dance Dance Revolution

Honestly, T.O. might not have realized what he was doing here.

He could have ended up dead…

24. Round Mound of Rebound

Barkley was one of the more entertaining players to ever hit the hardwood. This slide starts a nice little collection of Charles Barkley moments, on and off the court.

23. I Got You, You Got Me

“In the park on Sunday afternoon saying I got you, you got me.”

Who in the heck was doing this play-by-play!?

22. Best Ever

Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever for many reasons, and, yes, one of them was trash talking.

He knew how to get in the head of an opponent better than anybody else.

It made the greatest player in the world even better.

21. Sir Charles

The best part about Sir. Charles is that he doesn’t hold back. The personality that was on display on the court is the same one we see in studio.

It makes for some incredible entertainment.

20. Here Kitty Kitty...

The art of trash talking under your breath…

19. Jackwagon

The art of trash talking out loud…

18. Thriller

The best part about this dig is the graphic editing they did at the end! Gotta wait for it, it’s worth the time!

17. Mayweather vs. De La Hoya

Boxing has blessed us with some of the best trash talking known to the sports world.

Sometimes, as we will see here and in later clips, it can be more intense outside of the ring before and after the matches than it is during the actual fight!

16. Little Brother

If you know anything about football in the state of Michigan than you will understand how big of a deal this comment by Mike Hart was.

If you’ve ever had a brother then you will really understand.

15. Touche'

Sometimes the best part about talking trash through the media is the response that you’ll get.

14. FEELS GREAT!

After Scott literally flew over to the interview I didn’t think it could get better, but then he called out anybody and anything that came to his mind.

FEELS GREAT!

13. State of the Face

This is kind of like the State of the Union, except Lennox Lewis is briefing us on the state of his opponent's face.

12. The Choke

We’ve come back to Reggie a few times in this, but this is the real reason he is on the list.

He apparently thought the Knicks were choking the game away and he definitely let Spike Lee know how he felt about it.

11. Malice at the Palace

I’m just going to go ahead and speculate that there was a lot of trash talking going on at this point of the game…

10. LeBron Rise

This may just seem like a commercial to you, but to me LeBron James was making all kinds of statements in it.

He also took his fair share of shots at people, including the city of Cleveland.

9. LeBron Fall

Mmm fans in Cleveland have to feel incredible when they see this.

You know what they say about payback...

8. Can't Last Two Minutes in My World

I don’t know how the fight got turned onto the reporters, but somehow in Mike Tyson's head it was time to bite some ears.

Can you imagine being the poor reporter girl?

I mean, she sounded like she was yelling back and good for her, but really, that’s a fight you’re going to lose, homegirl.

7. Every Rose Has Its Thorns

What makes the Fab Five documentaries so shocking and I dare say ruthless is the fact that they actually had a chance to sit down and think, and then they could edit.

They still talked some real cold trash to the Dukies after all that.

6. One Step Ahead

Welker is making fun of Rex Ryan’s apparent foot fetish here.

What makes it so great, though, is how cunning and sly he was about it.

Easily one of the best trash talking moments of all time.

5. Horse of a Different Color

You know you are talking some mad trash when you tell Shannon Sharpe that he looks like a horse.

He started it!

I'm not going to get into a peeing contest with a skunk...

4. Take That to the Bank

Ah, it's finally time for the Kobe Bryant verses Shaquille O’Neal feud, folks.

I’m not really sure what brought it up in the first place, but what ensued was pure trash talking brilliance.

One more than Shaq…

3. Check It...

Okay I need to talk some trash for a minute.

Shaq is literally one of the worst rappers I have ever heard in my life.

Okay, now that I got that out of the way, this is great!

2. Hide Yo Kids

Tyson may have taken it a bit further than trash talking, but hey this is an all-time great.

I believe that when you tell a guy you will eat his children and then immediately walk away you have beaten him in a trash talking contest.

1. The Greatest

What separates Muhammad Ali from all the other trash talkers in sports is that his trash talk was almost magical.

When you can spit fire but do it in a way that sounds like Shakespeare…

The greatest in my book.

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AKonSports

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