Top 25 Craziest Trash Talkers in Sports Today
It is on my bucket list (right in front of total enlightenment) to one day sit court side for a NBA game.
While it will be a thrill to catch the aerobatics of basketball action from up close and personal, what really makes this a must is hearing the on court trash talk.
It is the game within the game, and that is the action that can't be captured by the cameras or from regular people seats.
In no way am I trying to say that the NBA has a monopoly on the banter battle, that is just the sport where it is most accessible.
As you'll see in this list there are plenty of prolific distributors of verbal garbage in all sports.
No. 25: Adam Burish
1 of 25“I think Chris Pronger is the biggest idiot in the league, I can’t stand the guy one bit. I hope I never have to see him again, but if I see him out there I might punch him.”
Yup, that's trash talking. And this is hockey we are talking about. It's not like players make claims of punching people and don't follow through with it.
Maybe Burish was just in a bad mood when he made this comment. After all it's not like he just won the Stanley Cup or anything.
Oh, that's right, they did just win the Cup.
Allegedly this is polite compared to what he says during games.
No. 24: Gennaro Gattuso
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Gattuso is a feisty footballer. On the pitch it seems as if his mouth is only shut when he is fighting someone.
Which happens with alarming frequency. He recently went Latrell Spreewell on a coach.
He is a talented player, and he isn't afraid to let you know about it.
No. 23: Rory McIlroy
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Golf is not know for its trash talk. It has been home to a much more subtle form of gamesmanship.
Players will do things like speed up or slow down their play to disrupt the rhythm of their opponents. While Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have exchanged some jabs through the press, it has been fairly reserved.
Rory McIlroy is beginning to up the ante.
Last August McIlroy had this to say about Tiger, "Unless his game rapidly improves...I think anyone in the European team would fancy their chances against him."
Only in golf can someone say fancy their chances and have it be considered trash talk.
Rory wasn't done there. Recently he was asked about Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods and he added this, "I don’t think Tiger and Phil have got any... Well.... I don’t think Phil has got any worse."
I think it is great. I am all for golfers turning their tongues into their 15th club.
Can you imagine this taking place on the tee box:
"You call that a backswing? I haven't seen anything that pathetic since I saw the look on your mom's face when she spilled her gravy!"
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No. 22: Joakim Noah
4 of 25Joakim Noah is almost too funny to be a good trash talker.
I say almost, because he deploys trash talking genocide by going after whole towns.
"I've never heard anybody say I'm going to Cleveland on vacation," Noah tells reporters in the posted video. This was pre-LeBron's decision when ripping on Cleveland wasn't considered to be beating the step-children.
Noah is also not afraid to take on NBA heavyweights. He's had his moments with LeBron James.
He also said he has scratched off Kevin Garnett from his Christmas list for being a "dirty player."
He then displayed some solid trash talking fundies by proclaiming that Kevin Garnett lives somewhere south of the attractive line.
No. 21: Marc Lièvremont
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Marc Lièvremont is not impressed with Noah for calling out a town. This guy calls out entire countries.
"This insular country (England) who always drape themselves in the national flag, their hymns, their chants, their traditions."
This isn't just some player popping off either. This guy is the coach of the French national team!
There was more, too. "We don't like them, and it's better to say that than be hypocritical."
He continued, but I think you are getting the gist of it.
Hey England! Marc Lièvremont is not a fan.
No. 20: Alex Rodriguez
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Alex Rodriguez doesn't let the unwritten rules of baseball stop him from doing anything—let alone talking trash.
That is why in a game against the Blue Jays he allegedly yelled out "mine!" while running past third on a pop fly.
It is also likely the reason he chose to cut across the mound when Dallas Braden was pitching.
He also doesn't let it keep him from ripping on his onetime friend Derek Jeter before the two became teammates.
Among other things, in a jealousy filled rant about Jeter, Rodriguez said, "You never say, 'Don't let Derek beat you. He's never your concern."
A-Rod is truly one of a kind—thank goodness. Seriously, who lights a cigar like that!
No. 19: Daniel Carcillo
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Daniel Carcillo's trash talking gets him into countless fights...and that's just the way he likes it.
Carcillo is hated by fans and players. Unless, he is on their team. Then he is the greatest thing ever.
Carcillo is an intense player, and he loves to get under other's skin. That is when his antics allow him to be on the ice. He has served numerous suspensions and penalty minutes for his intense style.
No. 18: Jose Mourinho
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You know how Lou Holtz spent his time at Notre Dame building up his team's next opponent like they were the greatest team ever—even if they were only slightly better than a high school?
Well, Jose Mourinho is like that only completely opposite. He hasn't found a team or club he couldn't trash.
He has taken to calling the opposition things like "write-offs." And that pales in comparison to what he saves for opposing coaches.
These are just the things we get on record. He has notoriously saved much more scathing comments off record, and he has even threatened to sue newspapers for attempting to print them.
No. 17: Antonio Cromartie
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Antonio Cromartie is a far more prolific trash talker than an eloquent one.
He spent all season dissing on opponents—and, like any good competitor, he took his game to the next level for the playoffs.
He went as far as to compare Tom Brady to a part of his Gluteus Maximus.
He has recently tweeted that he would enjoy a brisk banter session with Matthew Hasselbeck by "smashing (his) face in."
With a vocabulary like this, I am shocked he was able to think of name's for all of his kids.
No. 16: Mark Cuban
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Bringing someone's mother into the conversation is a trash talking staple. It is taught in trash talking fundamentals 101.
However, these fundamentals do not include actually trash talking to someone's mother, which is exactly what Mark Cuban did to Kenyon Martin's mom.
You know, just typical owner behavior.
Cuban's trash talking does not stop there. He is more than happy to talk smack in any forum presented to him.
I don't know—there's something about billions of dollars that is liberating I guess.
No. 15: Juan Pablo Montoya
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Montoya cuts right to the chase with his trash talk. Back in his F-1 days he was sitting right next to Michael Schumacher and said he was "either blind or stupid."
Montoya has since taken his attitude with him to NASCAR.
There he once asked of a driver, "was that a catchphrase, or epilepsy?" Oh wait, that was Borat from Talladega Nights. I always get these two confused.
Anyway Montoya is kind of like that, only not funny. He gets into with other drivers, his crew, and almost anyone else he deals with.
No. 14: Kenyon Martin
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Kenyon Martin likes to talk trash. While players felt his constant mouth was good enough to vote him in the top-ten for trash talk, it is when he really gets pissed off that he begins dishing the real trash.
I don't think I am going out on a limb when I say Kenyon Martin has had the most memorable trash talking exchange between an owner and a player in the history of sports.
Sure, there haven't been that many of them, but even if there had this one would be tough to beat.
No. 13: Rex Ryan
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Was anyone surprised when they found out Rex Ryan had a foot fetish?
This is after all the man that has spent his two-year coaching career with a foot in his mouth.
Rex Ryan uses trash talk as a coaching tool. It keeps his team loose, full of swagger, and ready to destroy. It also puts him in the limelight and eases the pressure on the players.
He is getting pretty good at it, too. He gets into costume and has managed to work in shots towards Tom Brady when people ask him about Peyton Manning.
Ryan has realized the key to trash talking longevity is diversifying the repertoire.
No. 12: Josh Beckett
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Josh Beckett has never been afraid to let his emotion show on the mound. And through that emotion we have all learned the dude is wildly competitive.
His demonstrative antics have angered more than a few of the batters that he has faced over the years.
They can talk back, but then they realize he is the one holding the ball and throwing it at them 100 MPH. To top it all off, he doesn't have to hit either. This guy will never go back to the National League.
No. 11: Phil Jackson
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Cast others in a disparaging light as often as possible—Buddha
Wait, Buddha didn't say that or anything like that. Some Zen master Phil Jackson is.
This man has made an art out of public trash talking. He is a puppet master. The guy is a trash talking ninja, and he sets mind-mines that go off hours after his disappearance.
You can never take what he says at face value. He almost always has an ulterior motive.
He finds reasons to say things like Erik Spoelstra's job may be in jeopardy or Kevin Durant gets too many calls.
These comments have nothing on what he says to and about his own players.
He tries to find the best way to motivate someone, which often times leads to comments in the media, and then he sits back and hopes his ripples turn into waves.
11 championships later, we should all be taking notes.
No. 10: Ray Lewis
16 of 25Ray Lewis is not afraid of much, and trash talking anyone is certainly not one of those things. As one of the NFL's all-time great linebackers, he has certainly earned the right to distribute some smack.
Ray doesn't settle for one-liners either. When he gets going on a good rant, he holds court.
On the field he never stops talking. He'll tackle a running back lay on them for an extra second or two and then walk with them a bit as they head back to the huddle.
Lewis wants the opposition thinking about him—anything to add even an instant of distraction to get him an edge.
No. 9: Kyle Busch
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Kyle Busch is an intense and aggressive racer. This has led to most of the other drivers hating him—not that he cares.
He seems to relish the negative attention. He mocks other drivers in interviews. He is even more colorful during races.
He once told his crew by radio:
"Somebody better keep me away from Denny Hamlin after this race. I swear to God, I'm going to kill that (not very nice word).
And get this, Denny Hamlin was his teammate!
The guy is a quote machine.
No. 8: Terrell Owens
18 of 25Terrell Owens talks trash to and about anyone. One second he may be talking trash to you about somebody and the next second he may be talking trash to you about you.
No one is safe from the verbal onslaughts of TO.
He loves to talk trash to opposing cornerbacks. This is the guy that pulled a Sharpie out of his sock to sign a TD ball before handing it to his financial advisor who was sitting in the luxury box of the corner, Shawn Springs, he just beat.
Despite his flair for taunting the opposition it is when he is dealing with his own QBs that his trash talking really begins to shine.
Owens still takes shots at Donovan McNabb, and he probably would at Jeff Garcia too if anyone bothered to ask Owens about him.
No. 7: Kobe Bryant
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Kobe Bryant will trash talk anyone. Seriously, this guy has gotten into exchanges with Barack Obama.
Kobe is typically reserved in the press, but that didn't stop him from letting Shaquille O'Neal know via his championship victory press conference that he just got one more ring than Shaq.
For the most part, Kobe saves his best for the court.
He destroys competitors with big shots. The kind that ripple the twine of the nets, and the kind that tingle the nerves in the brain. He is the Black Mamba for many reasons.
No. 6: A.J. Pierzynski
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A.J. Pierzynski is the kind of catcher that people write for fictional teams in books and movies.
He is gruff, wild, hated on the field, but somewhat likeable underneath. And he is always chatting at the batters when they are up to bat.
He is the kind of guy you envision asking a batter, "How's your wife and my kid?"
Pierzynski will only admit to trash talking his friend David Ortiz's, but countless of other players have said he trash talks through the whole at bat.
Of course, they don't go on record with what he says, which is fine, because I doubt it would be fit for print anyway.
No. 5: Marco Materazzi
21 of 25Even if you don't follow soccer chances are you have seen this headbutt before.
If you follow soccer a little, then you probably know Zidane did what many a player has wanted to do.
Materazzi, the headbutt(ee), is a world-class trash talker. He also revealed what he said to Zidane on this fateful day.
Zidane felt Materazzi was grabbing him, and he started off the trash talk by telling Materazzi, "If you want my shirt, you can have it after the match."
Materazzi politely refused the gift and let him know he had his eye on something else, "I prefer the whore that is your sister."
That phrase should be retired to the trash talk hall of fame.
No. 4: Sean Avery
22 of 25Sean Avery has been suspended for his trash talk. Now that's impressive.
The suspension came after the remarks he made in the posted video.
Apparently in the NHL you can publicly threaten violent acts onto other people, for no specific reason, but if you question their love for your previous flames—well, that is just over the line.
Avery's suspension actually may have been a culmination of things. He is widely regarded as the biggest pest in hockey. He'll talk trash to reporters, coaches and players.
Who cares about his comment on girlfriends? Did you hear that assault on America he opened the interview with? Where is the punishment for that?
No. 3: Chad Johnson
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When Chad Johnson got off to a slow start to the 2010 season, he knew exactly what he needed to work on to see improvements in his output: his trash talking.
"I haven't been Chad at all," Ochocinco let us know in his third person flair. "I've been quiet. There's no bulletin board material. There's no excitement leading up to the game. There's no trash talking, there's no fun. Right now I'm not playing with confidence. Zero, zilch."
Over his career, Chad Johnson has made an art out of preparing for a game with trash talk.
He once told the Pittsburgh Steelers he would send them some mustard in the days leading up to their game, because as he said, "they'll never ketchup when we play Sunday."
No. 2: Kevin Garnett
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During the 2009-10 Sports Illustrated polled NBA players to find out who they felt was the biggest trash talker in the NBA. Garnett won with a mind blowing 62 percent.
They should have let him give a player haters acceptance speech.
It was a well earned championship for Garnett. He has spent his entire career trash talking, and it only seems to grow more intense as he ages.
No. 1: Floyd Mayweather Jr.
25 of 25If it wasn't for trash talking, Floyd Mayweather would be as silent as a monk. It is his communication tool of choice.
He has never met an object, let alone a person, that he wouldn't dispense mouth waste upon.
Recently, he has spent all of his time trashing on Manny Pacquiao. A few months ago Mayweather stooped to going off on a tirade filled with racist remarks about Pacquiao.
This fight has to happen at some point, right?
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