The 50 Cockiest Taunts in Sports History

Sportsmanship is overrated.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Sportsmanship is an important part of athletic competition, as it represents the mutual respect participants have for one another. Sometimes, though, there is a complete absence of any such respect. There may be bad blood over a contract like Deion Sanders and the Falcons, an age-old rivalry like Florida and Georgia football, or a player like Terrell Owens who simply loves to make a scene. No matter the origin all sports tend to be overrun with people with a complete lack of regard for how their actions look.

Thanks to ESPN and the Internet, these showboats have no shortage of ways in which to get their names discussed ad nauseam. We dissect their every decision, and in doing so validate their outrageous behavior. It also helps, though, that a lot of these taunts are also pretty awesome. They express the kind of confidence that elite athletes simply must have, and show their opponents that they are unafraid. Because of that, we’re here to celebrate the 50 Cockiest Taunts in Sports History.

RELATED: The 50 Most Unsportsmanlike Acts in Sports History

Baron Davis Posterizes Andrei Kirilenko

Not Available Interstitial

Tell Me How My...

Not Available Interstitial

The Dodgers Make an Unauthorized Trip to the Deep End

Not Available Interstitial

Prince Fielder Hits, Demonstrates Bombs

Not Available Interstitial

Because Baseball isn't Strange Enough

Not Available Interstitial

Richard Sherman Has Something to Say to Tom Brady

Not Available Interstitial

Donald Brashear Knows Only One Way to Play Hockey

Not Available Interstitial

Mario Bailey Gets as Close as He Ever Will be to the Heisman

Not Available Interstitial

Gone Fishin'

Not Available Interstitial

Marshall Henderson Makes No New Friends in Auburn

Not Available Interstitial

Shinya Aoki Shows Absolutely No Mercy

Not Available Interstitial

Marco Belinelli Becomes the Latest "Big Balls" Dancer

Not Available Interstitial

Justin Gage Fakes Out Fan

Not Available Interstitial

Stevie Johnson Fake-Shoots, But at Least It Was on Purpose

Not Available Interstitial

Apparently South Korea Takes the Winter Olympics Very Seriously

Not Available Interstitial

Steve Smith Paddles a Much Smaller Love Boat

Not Available Interstitial

Goodbye, Self-Respect

Not Available Interstitial

Doing The No Pants Dance

Not Available Interstitial

Welcome to the Dawg Pound

Not Available Interstitial

Mario Elie Delivers a "Kiss of Death"

Not Available Interstitial

Randall Hill Guns Down the Longhorns

Not Available Interstitial

Float Like a Butterfly…

Not Available Interstitial

Ochocinco Celebrates His Roots

Not Available Interstitial

100 Man Pile Up

Not Available Interstitial

Because Scoring Isn't Hard Enough

Not Available Interstitial

Usain Bolt Tries to Make It Seem Close

Not Available Interstitial

Johnny Football Signs Rice Up for a Beatdown

Not Available Interstitial

The Sharpie Incident

Not Available Interstitial

This Stick is on Fiiiiiiiire

Not Available Interstitial

Point, Follow, Pump: the Tiger Woods Story

Not Available Interstitial

Ochocinco, Lord of the Dance

Not Available Interstitial

Pioneering “The Gravedigger”

Not Available Interstitial

Primetime's Revenge

Not Available Interstitial

Adding Teabag to Injury

Not Available Interstitial

Cocky or Just Plain Stupid?

Not Available Interstitial

Dialing Long Distance

Not Available Interstitial

Emmanuel Adebayor Nearly Starts a Riot

Not Available Interstitial

Doing a Line on the Line

Not Available Interstitial

When Hitting a Homer isn't Revenge Enough

Not Available Interstitial

Getting Primitive With It

Not Available Interstitial

A Taste of His Own Medicine

Not Available Interstitial

Babe Ruth Calls His Shot…Maybe

Not Available Interstitial

Shawn Kemp Completely Humiliates Alton Lister

Not Available Interstitial

“That is a Disgusting Act by Randy Moss!”

Not Available Interstitial

The Original "Heisman" Pose

Not Available Interstitial

Allen Iverson Makes Tyronn Lue Famous

Not Available Interstitial

Terrell Owens Becomes a Star

Not Available Interstitial

The Shrug

Not Available Interstitial

Usain Bolt Puts it on Cruise Control

Not Available Interstitial

Reggie Miller Chokes Out the Garden

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Sports