Some athletes are media loudmouths, while others are intimidating trash talkers. Unlike loud mouths who fire up the media with priceless quotes -- Terrell Owens comes to mind -- the sickest trash talkers are athletes who save their antics for opponents and talk smack in order to distract their nemesis and get him off his game.
One of the greatest trash-talking moments occurred in the 1997 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Utah Jazz. With Game 1 tied at 82, Scottie Pippen came through in the clutch: The game was played on a Sunday, and as Karl Malone stepped to the free-throw line, Pippen walked behind The Mailman, Karl Malone, and muttered, "The Mailman doesn't deliver on Sunday." And he was right; The Mailman choked by throwing up two bricks. On the ensuing play, one of basketball's greatest trash talkers,
Michael Jordan, won the game with a buzzer-beater.
Number 10
Mike Tyson
As a character foil for
Muhammad Ali,
Mike Tyson is the man. Where Ali was boxing's greatest ambassador and trash talker, Tyson personified the many problems with the sport. But there is little question that, like Ali, Tyson's brain has been altered by the beatings he received. As a trash talker, Tyson was at his best when his boxing skills were on the decline. In one of his more memorable moments, Tyson had these words for
Lennox Lewis after a tune-up fight that lasted 38 seconds: "My style is impetuous. My defense is impregnable. And I'm just ferocious. I want your heart. I wanna eat his children. Praise be to Allah." As trash talking goes, his words make no sense, which is precisely why they are so frightening. When it came time to fight, Tyson was knocked out in the eighth round of what was, at the time, the highest-grossing pay-per-view event in history.
Number 9
Deion Sanders
Widely recognized as the greatest NFL cornerback of all time, Prime Time was a hot-dogging showboat with some of the slickest skills in the business. In his spare time, Neon Deion was an exceptional baseball player. As a shut-down cornerback, Deion Sanders was one of football's most gifted physical specimens and one of the biggest trash talkers in the sport. He was so gifted, as a player and trash talker, that he kept himself involved in the game by barking at his opponents the entire time. Then, after distracting the attacking wide receiver, Sanders would intercept the quarterback and gracefully high-step his way down the sideline for a defensive touchdown. And that's when the trash talking would really kick into high gear.
Number 8
Juan Pablo Montoya
Like all trash talkers,
Juan Pablo Montoya has an ego the size of Everest. Loose-lipped and confident in his driving ability, this Colombian trash talker rarely speaks in banal sports cliches. And in the racing world, where interviews are the only venue for trash talking, few drivers are willing to lambaste their opponents. Montoya, however, is the exception. Back in his Formula 1 days, with
Michael Schumacher sitting right next to him, Montoya half-jokingly referred to the legendary German as "either blind or stupid." Since then, Montoya has brought his bombastic personality to NASCAR, where his attitude and opinions are helping him win both races and fans. Too bad Montoya doesn't realize that stepping from F1 to NASCAR is a demotion.
Number 7
Charles Barkley
Known variably as Sir Charles and The Round Mound of Rebound, Barkley was a menace on the basketball court, yapping at opponents with legendary eloquence. Like a few other athletes on this list, Barkley's trash-talking bravado has landed him a job as a TV analyst, which provides him the opportunity to continue voicing his insightful opinions. Not only is Barkley among the greatest trash talkers, he is also a great joker: At the 2007 NBA All-Star Game, Barkley raced against 67-year old referee Dick Bavetta, claiming in the pre-race build-up that Bavetta is old enough to have "parted the Red Sea with Moses." For his part, when asked if Barkley might be twice his size, Bavetta fired back with, "Try three times. I'm only 160 pounds." Booya
Number 6
Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
Floyd Mayweather, aka Pretty Boy Floyd, is widely considered the best pound-for-pound boxer around. After a banner 2007, in which he beat
Oscar de la Hoya and mopped the floor with
Ricky Hatton, Mayweather is now being mentioned in the same breath as
Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard. Long before the Hatton fight, Mayweather had these savage words for the British champion: "When I retire, I'll get Ricky Hatton to wash my clothes and cut my lawn and buckle my shoes. Ricky Hatton ain't nothing but a fat man. I'm going to punch him in his beer belly. He ain't good enough to be my sparring partner."
Number 5
Gary Payton
During his years with the Seattle Sonics, The Glove was a suffocating defender who would get in the face of his opponent and relentlessly spit verbal abuses at them. As he yammered, he would grin and gesture wildly, secure in the knowledge that no matter what comeback he heard, he would always have an answer. Unfortunately for Payton, he never led his team to the Promised Land, even if he won a title as a role player in Miami. Like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Patrick Ewing, and Reggie Miller, Payton and his foul mouth could never muster enough venom to slide past
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
Number 4
Shannon Sharpe
Retiring with three Super Bowl rings and the NFL record for most receptions by a tight end, Shannon Sharpe has earned his right to brag and boast. As a dominant receiver with the Denver Broncos in the mid-'90s, Sharpe was known to get pretty creative with his on-field banter -- in part because of his unique and clever sense of humor. On Ray Buchanan, "I'm not gonna get into a peeing contest with a skunk -- you'll lose every time." On the Colts' run defense, "Home Depot doesn't sell enough nails and plywood to fix what's wrong with that defense."
Number 3
Larry Bird
Larry Bird may have been as great as
Michael Jordan. Equipped with the same undaunted pride and confidence in his own ability, Bird was a great showman. Like an assassin, Larry Legend took an almost sadistic pleasure in massacring opponents. After demonstrating his basketball greatness on the floor, Bird would often finish the job by recapping his exploits, bragging in order to rub salt in the wounds he had exposed and exploited over and over again.
Number 2
Michael Jordan
In the '80s and '90s, trash talking was high art, and Michael Jordan was the king of the castle. In a game against the Denver Nuggets, Jordan stepped to the foul line and told rookie Dikembe Mutombo that he would shoot the free throw with his eyes closed. Before he did, he looked at Mutombo and said, "This one's for you." Then he closed his eyes, hit the shot and told Mutombo, "Welcome to the NBA."
Throughout his career, Jordan craved a psychological edge, and trash talking helped him see opponents as potential victims that he could demoralize by winning both the game and the war of words. Most importantly, there was always a purpose to Jordan's trash talking, as if predicting something was the catalyst he needed to just do it. The most humbling part for opponents must have been the trash-talking aftermath, when Jordan would get in his defender's face with a big grin and recap the great move he had just made at their expense
Number 1
Muhammad Ali
As Shannon Sharpe once put it, Ali is the trash talking "gold standard." But unlike many boxers today, including
Floyd Mayweather,
Ali insulted his opponents with a wink that acknowledged his insults as part of the show. During the glorious Ali-Frazier era of the early '70s, Ali regularly mocked Frazier's intelligence and looks, noting that "Joe Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bureau of Wildlife." In addition to everything else, Ali was a comedian. Then, in the build-up to the notorious Thrilla in Manila, Ali prophesied that, "It will be a killer, and a chiller, and a thriller, when I get the gorilla in Manila."
