Ryan Theriot Does Baseball's Version of Trash Talking

I think it’s pretty clear trash talking is in the air these days. I mean, the New York Jets and New England Patriots gave the media enough material for a year in one week last week.

And let me comment on that game, if I may. As a Jets fan, that was the biggest win of my generation (25 years). That game could have been 42-14 if the Jets capitalized on some opportunities.

Now on to Pittsburgh and I feel pretty good about the game. My only fear is that the Jets put all of their eggs in the beating-the-Patriots basket. They even had Dennis Byrd talk to the team the night before.

Sometimes when a team puts all of their eggs into one game, it’s hard to match that emotion the next week. I mean, how does Rex Ryan top Dennis Byrd as a motivational speaker? It’s gonna be tough, but I hope the Jets use the Patriots game as a springboard into the Super Bowl.

Now on to another rivalry. In the midwest, there is no bigger rivalry in baseball than the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs. That rivalry goes back to the days when both teams were in the National League East (seems like that was 40 years ago), and I don’t think there has been any intensity lost over the years.

This rivalry got a new wrinkle last week when Ryan Theriot of all people had some unkind words to say about his days in a Cubs uniform.

Theriot, who spent his first five years in the Major Leagues as a Cub, said to a St. Louis radio station that he was “finally on the right side” of the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry and that the Cubs never stressed winning a World Series when he came up in the organization.

“It was almost an afterthought,” he said. “It really wasn’t talked about too much. It was like an unattainable goal. And now, being here with an organization like this, it’s right there for the taking.”

Well, this apparently didn’t sit too well some current members of the Cubs organization, mainly Koyie Hill.

“There’s probably a decent chance he’s going to feel how hard the dirt is around the home-plate batters’ box,” Hill said. “At least once, maybe once an at-bat. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I want to get an apology out of him, and until the whole team, the whole organization kind of feels satisfied …”

It should definitely be interesting to see what happens when these two teams first meet on May 10th, but here is my take on this type of trash talking between Theriot and Hill. Trash talking or “bulletin board” material only has meaning when someone significant does it.

When Rex Ryan, Bart Scott or Wes Welker said whatever they said last week, people listened because they were going to have a major impact on the outcome of the contest. Theriot and Hill are two jabroni’s. They are like the 20th guy on each team’s roster, so who the heck cares what they have to say.

This is like the equivalent of Jed Lowrie and Francisco Cervelli getting into it in the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox rivalry. Now if Albert Pujols, Matt Holliday or Aramis Ramirez said something? Then game on.

Regardless, it’s good to see this rivalry is still well and good, and I, for one, can’t wait to see if anything happens on May 10th.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg