There are very few people who have ever existed on this planet who have been as good at anything as Muhammad Ali was at boxing. However, Ali himself happened to be one of those people as he was able to surpass his own skill of concussing opponents with his before-its-time-ability to verbally dazzle crowds. Today, which just so happens to be Ali's 73rd birthday, it seemed appropriate to celebrate that expertise by highlighting the legend along with a cast of others who've made it their business to entertain us both on the field and through the press. Some call it "bulletin board material." Some call it "classless." But who cares? It's entertaining. Here's the Greatest Shit-Talking Quotes in Sports History.
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The Start of the Modern Era of Trash-Talk
Iron Mike Fails to Match Ali's Eloquence
Mamba Versus the POTUS
Mike Hart Gets the Last Last Laugh for Michigan
Martina Navratilova Gives Sarcastic Answer to Bogus Question
Steve Spurrier Digs Kentucky's Special Teams
Steve Spurrier Can't Help Himself
LeBron Disses DeShawn Stevenson and Soulja Boy
Spoken by: LeBron James
Spoken to: DeShawn Stevenson
Line: "It would be like Jay-Z responding to Soulja Boy."
DeShawn Stevenson called LeBron "overrated," so LeBron called DeShawn Stevenson "Soulja Boy," (kind of, see above). Later on down the road, in need of a job, Stevenson asked LeBron to join the Heat.
Whether or not he was serious is kind of hard to tell.
James Harrison Sounds Off
The Mailman Chokes
Bill Belichick Makes a Rare Break From Character
Michael Jordan's Closed-Eye Free Throw
Richard Sherman Celebrates the 2014 NFC Championship
Babe Ruth Tells it Like it Is
The Origins of Shannon Sharpe's Mouth
Spoken by: Shannon Sharpe
Spoken about: The New England Patriots
Line: "I'll call the President. President, we need the National Guard! We need as many men as you can spare! Because we are killing the Patriots! So call the dogs off! Send the National Guard, please!"
Here's Shannon Sharpe explaining to USA TODAY where he first learned to trash-talk and, surprisingly, it had nothing to do with growing up as a boy named 'Shannon':
"I was in the third grade and I had to go to speech class because I talked with a really heavy lisp. The teacher would have us read and when we got to a word we couldn't pronounce, she'd want us to sound the word out.
"I won't say the guy's last name, but the kid's first name was Johnny. And he's reading, gets to a word and she said, 'Johnny, it sounds like?' And I said, 'It sounds like Johnny can't read.'
"She threw me out of the class. So I had to stand outside for 30 of the 40 minutes. That was the first time I trash talked. And she threw me out because the other students started laughing. Then, I realized, 'OK, instead of them talking about the way I talk, I can get on them so they forget that I have a deficiency."
Lesson learned. If you're different and you're getting picked on, just find somebody else who's even more different and pile on.