When Do NFL Rivalries Become Unsportsmanlike?

With the Super Bowl only days away, we can’t help but wonder how players are getting themselves mentally prepared.

After a couple of intense Conference Championship games, the winners have been decided. This Sunday, two teams with no rivalry history will battle it out on the field.

While trash talk seemed a bit excessive at times this season--even the coaches got in on trading public insults--the Steelers and Packers have managed to stay relatively quiet the past couple weeks.

Each team has discussed their competition in public, but without the nasty barbs we’d heard during the playoffs.

A few weeks ago, after some pretty extreme trash talking between the New York Jets and the New England Patriots, Roger Goodell finally stepped in and said that above all, players must have “respect for the game.”

He continued, “There is also a line you don’t want to cross. I think we have to define that and don’t cross it. And that’s what we want to work on in the off season.”

The commissioner received quite a bit of flack from players, fans and sports writers for being concerned with trash talk when a potential players strike was looming—but he argued this behavior didn't belong in professional sports.

But many disagree.

Trash talking is certainly part of sports and a big part of the football culture. And that has been the case for as long as anyone can remember. We see it from players, fans, and yes, even the coaches. 

For many players, in football and other sports, this is just another part of the mental stance they use to get themselves prepared for “battle.” It is used as a way to outwit your opponent, take them off guard and get them distracted from the end goal you both share—winning.

Some players are able to garner an edge over their competition by looking for their mental weakness and exposing it. Trash talk also serves as motivation for many players to bring their best to the field, while at the same time fueling their competitive desires.

But the bottom line is, many athletes consider it fun and part of a good healthy rivalry to use trash talking as a way to amp up for a game or intensify competition. And many fans agree that this is a fun and healthy part of competition.

And the majority of the time, it is just that. But as with everything, trash talking can easily cross the line and quickly become unsportsmanlike.

Which is what the commissioner was trying to avoid - those circumstances when the attacks weren't just ‘all in good fun.’

When the trash talk crosses a line and escalates into threats of verbal or physical violence—it cannot be tolerated at any level of the game. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to find any coach or psychologist who would argue that this type of behavior fuels healthy competition.

Character assaults on individual players are also inappropriate, ineffective, and don’t represent good sportsmanship.

In other words, they have no place in sports.

Making derogatory remarks about another player’s body or family life is off limits and off the table as far as good conduct is concerned.

While trash talk has been part of the game for as long as anyone can remember, the new capabilities of social networking has taken it off the field, out of the locker room, and into the public arena.

Public Twitter wars between teams and players have been seen all season, and while some fans find it entertaining to be part of the verbal sparring between their favorite players, there is cause for concern that players will go to further lengths to defend their name in a public feud. 

An off-the-cuff comment on the sidelines can be hard enough to brush off, but having a player call you out directly to thousands of followers is embarrassing and in these cases, pride can easily trump good judgment or sportsmanlike behavior.

The commissioner might be trying too hard to stop trash talking and only time will tell if he imposes stricter rules regarding personal conduct for next season, but I do believe that he has the right intentions.

He wants players to respect the game and respect each other—which they should.

But he is mistaking some actions as disrespectful. It is wrong to expect players to head into a playoff game without some level of animosity for their opponents, and as long as that animosity isn't turned into threatening behavior or violence, on or off the field,

I think it falls within the boundaries of football.

About the Author

Sharon Chirban, Ph.D. is a psychology instructor at Harvard Medical School, staff psychologist at The Division of Sports Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, and registered sports psychologist with the U.S. Olympic Committee.