It may seem boorish to some, but athletes have made verbal sparring an accepted way of gaining a competitive advantage

By Michael Smith, Globe Staff, 12/30/2001

o what, you hung with that powderpuff Duffy, reading this series for two days? Different byline, different league, man. You got no business trying to read this mind-blowing collection of ideas. Why don't you run along and check out Shaughnessy? He might take it easier on you. Better yet, read the Herald, because I don't think you're ready for this, bro. I'm bringing the noise. Holla!

Why is Muhammad Ali considered The Greatest of All-Time? Is it because he won 56 of 61 fights? Is it because he was the first three-time heavyweight champion?

Or is it because he told us so?

Why is Joe Namath in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Is it the 27,663 yards, 173 touchdown passes, 50.1 completion percentage, and 65.5 quarterback rating? Is it the 12 seasons as a New York icon who helped put the American Football League on the map?

Or is it because he told us his Jets would win Super Bowl III, then delivered?

Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs in 22 seasons and 15 more in his 10 postseason appearances. Which is his most famous?

The Called Shot in the '32 World Series.

Finally, what do most people remember about the XFL?

He Hate Me.

America loves trash-talking, because it transcends the athletic arenas. (Why did you vote for one candidate over another in the last election, because he/she was ''the best person for the job''?) Outside the sports world, it's known as advertising, self-promotion.

It's trash-talking. It's American. It's believing you're No. 1 and making sure the competition believes it as well. It's gaining any and every competitive edge through verbal motivation and intimidation.

So why do so many consider it a bad thing? Why is it called trash?

''I don't like the term `trash-talking,' because it has a negative connotation to it,'' said Baltimore Ravens coach Brian Billick, an authority on the subject considering he coaches Shannon Sharpe, pro football's crown prince of smack. ''We need to come up with another term for it. `Trash-talking' is disrespectful. [Vikings receiver] Cris Carter doesn't trash-talk. [Ravens linebacker] Ray Lewis doesn't trash-talk. They're just passionate, and verbal about their passion. So we need to come up with another term.''

Don't call it taunting, either. Smack talking and taunting are siblings, both offspring of competition and ego, and they do often resemble each other. But they're quite different.

Trash-talking is picking yourself up and, when necessary, tearing your opponent down. Taunting is degrading, belittling your opponent, and in the process, disrespecting the game.

Trash-talking, whether purists want to acknowledge it or not, has a permanent place in sports, in our culture. It's an expression of confidence, of desire, of excitement. Taunting has no place in sports.

That's trash.

It can be taken out.

''Any time you get involved with taunting, it's an unnecessary act, it's selfishness,'' said Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome, the Ravens' vice president for player personnel and a member of the NFL's Competition Committee, serving as the unofficial spokesman of those who govern team sports.

''Football is the ultimate team sport, and there should be no selfishness in football. Now you're putting yourself above the team, you're putting yourself above everyone else because you're thinking only about yourself. If you look at the guys in the Hall of Fame, not many of them reacted [to success] that way.''

But that doesn't mean they never let the other guys know how good they were.

''Trash-talking is not a lack of sportsmanship to me,'' Newsome said. ''All you're doing is telling the other guy to bring it on. The key thing is, you'd better be ready to bring it on. When I take my 9-year-old son on the basketball court and say, `I'm going to dominate you,' there's nothing wrong with that. It's part of competition.''

Is it ever. What would Red Sox-Yankees be if Boston fans couldn't say ''Yankees suck!'' and get ''1918!'' in return? What would Celtics-Lakers have been without some talk of feet in graves? Imagine this year's Rams-Saints and Ravens-Steelers rematches without a week of smack, or Buccaneers-Packers without Brett Favre going toe-to-toe with Warren Sapp. What's boxing or wrestling without predictions of the other guy going down, or Super Bowl hype week without a little bulletin-board material?

''That's entertainment,'' said Newsome, whose Ravens, thanks to daily doses of smack between them and division rival Pittsburgh, drew the largest cable audience of the year (7.826 million homes) for their prime time clash Dec. 16 on ESPN. ''All that adds spice to the game. It adds hype. And America loves hype.''

Yeah! Yeah! Did you read that?! Did you read that!? Cancel your plans, baby, 'cause I'll be here all day. ALL DAY, BABY!

There are but a few rules to smack-talking that all men and women, boys and girls must follow. No. 1: You must earn the right to talk. No. 2: Bring it like you talk it. No. 3: There is a time to talk, and a time to humble yourself.

Michael Jordan and Larry Bird were two of the greatest their primes, they told opponents exactly how they were going to score against them, then carried out their promises.

As legend has it, Bird arrived at the inaugural 3-point shooting contest in 1986, and asked the other participants who planned to finish second. He won.

Cedric Maxwell was a teammate of Bird's for six seasons, one of the loudest talkers on a team of talkers that, more often than not, backed it up.

''That was a big part of my game,'' said Maxwell, the MVP of the 1981 NBA playoffs and now a color analyst for Celtics radio broadcasts. ''One time, we were playing the Lakers, and their reserves kept yelling for the Lakers to shut me down. The ball goes out of bounds near [then-Lakers coach] Pat [Riley], and I said, `Pat, excuse me, could you put one of these three in the game so I can shut their damn mouths?' And the guy comes into the game, and I let him know, `It's a lot different on the court, huh?'''

There's more. ''One time, I asked a guy, `Why doesn't your coach like you? You wouldn't be guarding me if he liked you,''' Maxwell said.

Then there was Maxwell's run-in with a young stud named Karl Malone. ''Karl was swinging those elbows. This was early in his career,'' Maxwell recalled. ''So I said, `Let me tell you something, man. This is the end of my career. I will hurt myself trying to end your career today.' And he looked at me like, `Whuh?' But I didn't get any more elbows thrown my way, either.''

It pains Maxwell to see, or rather hear, how quiet the game has gotten.

''You don't hear anything now,'' he said. ''It's so quiet. Basketball's become almost like going to church. If players say things, they're going to get fined, or they're going to get a technical.''

Yet that doesn't discourage some of the game's fastest mouths from politely and sometimes not so politely reminding their opponents whom they're guarding.

''The only time I talk to players is when players talk to me,'' said Seattle SuperSonics All-Star guard Gary Payton (a.k.a. The Glove), one of the game's best defenders and best smack-talkers. ''Those people put a challenge on me, I challenge them back. Whatever they want to say, we'll say whatever. We might be talking about anything. We might be talking about we can fight on the court, your mother, your father, or whatever gets into anybody's head.''

There is a line players don't cross. Where it lies is relative.

''Back when I was younger, I would say anything about anybody,'' said Patriots linebacker Bryan Cox, a three-time Pro Bowler who still speaks his mind when he's in the mood. ''Yeah, I'd cross the line. I mean, what line? If I can say something to get you to the point where you're about to fight or where you do fight so be it. I'd say anything and everything. I'd talk about your wife, your momma, and anybody else I can think of to get you upset.''

Yet Phoenix Coyotes right wing Claude Lemieux contends, ''You have to respect players. There's a lot of trash-talking involved that ends with stickwork too often. You have to draw the line. You can get on one another about hockey skills, haircuts, whatever. But you have to respect a player's family and personal lives.

''It has gotten a little better because the [NHL] has come down on it. It's an emotional game, but often lines have been crossed. When I was in minor hockey, guys used to call us `You [expletive] French Canadians!' It never bothered me. But using race is going too far.''

You ain't got nothin', clown! Why don't you do yourself a favor and quit? Put the paper down and go. I'll understand. If everybody could hang with me, we'd all be The Man. And there can only be one Man. Me!

Freedom of speech is not the right of every athlete. If a player and his or her team are losing, he or she has forfeited all smack-talking privileges. All one need do to quiet them should they violate this understanding is point to the scoreboard.

''I've seen teams getting beat, 31-7, and the guy makes a tackle and he gets up and looks at the opposing team's sideline,'' said Sharpe, describing a scenario familiar to Patriots fans who watched a former No. 1 pick, cornerback Chris Canty, dance after virtually every tackle, no matter how far it was beyond the line of scrimmage.

''What have you done?'' Sharpe said. ''Last I checked, if you're on defense, it's your job to tackle the guy. I don't think you did anything spectacular considering you're down, 31-7. Or if the guy jumps up and catches a 10-yard route and he's going crazy. You've done nothing. That's your job. If you're a receiver, you're supposed to catch the ball.''

Sharpe has caught a lot of balls 685 going into last night's Clash of the Talkers with Tampa Bay's Keyshawn Johnson, Sapp et al so he's earned the right to chatter before, during, and after the game.

''I might catch a pass and turn and look at the guy and say, `See, I told you you couldn't cover me. I told you you couldn't stop it,''' said Sharpe, who, you may recall, made a ''call'' for the National Guard from the Broncos sideline during Denver's 34-8 rout of the Patriots in 1996. ''I'm not taunting him. I'm just telling the truth.''

Ohio State senior running back Jonathan Wells, in the midst of a three-touchdown half against Michigan this year, decided to share his feelings with one of his mostly unsuccessful pursuers. ''I told their safety, Cato June, `I've been owning you for three years. You ain't got no better?''' Wells said. ''My whole team was laughing. He couldn't say nothing, 'cause he missed every tackle.''

Deion Sanders missed a lot of tackles, but he didn't miss many chances to turn the game in his team's favor. ''Prime Time,'' now an analyst on CBS's ''The NFL Today,'' certainly fit the profile of a smack talker, but aside from reminding the Falcons that the Georgia Dome was ''his house'' in 1994, one of the best cover corners ever let his play do the talking.

''[At Florida State] I talked,'' Sanders said. ''But once I made my money, my game was so loud, I didn't have to talk to bring attention to myself on the field.''

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady probably would disagree; the first-year starter has been known to throw a few verbal shots toward defenders as he makes his way downfield. Brady sought out Broncos linebacker Al Wilson in the end zone after a touchdown pass against Denver this season to tell him, ''I can't believe you fell for that one! You really can't cover, can you?'' Wilson pushed Brady after the play and later was hit with a $5,000 fine.

''I'm pretty chirpy,'' Brady told ESPN The Magazine. ''I can talk a little too much smack.''

Reader: For illustration purposes, kindly position this page approximately 1 inch from your face, or as close to it as possible without the words becoming a blur.

Ugh! Take that! What?!

When talk like that happens between white lines, flags fly, technical fouls are called, players are ejected, brawls ensue, and fines are issued.

The NFL fined Patriots strong safety Lawyer Milloy $5,000 last month for getting in the face of a Saints player after a tackle in the second quarter. Not long ago, the league accepted Jack Lambert and Dick Butkus pointing fingers at vanquished running backs as part of the game. Not anymore. Responding to players' wishes, the league has come down harder on ''aggressive verbal abuse'' and other forms of taunting because ''whatever you do, someone is watching,'' NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw says in the league's informational video, which is titled, ''This is the NFL: Sportsmanship.''

Milloy, who says he usually ''lets the pads do the talking,'' thinks limiting player aggression softens what's meant to be an aggressive game.

''I think [the rules] take away from the game,'' Milloy said. ''Offensive players get away with murder. I understand this is a league, and it's got to have rules and regulations, and I do my best to abide by them, but some things are just a natural reaction. Things like getting in somebody's face are really part of the game. And whenever offensive players get a chance, believe me, they're going to be telling us they got us.''

And they'll be fined, as well. Vikings receiver Randy Moss has been fined three times this season for taunting. Two weeks ago, yelling at the Lions bench cost him $10,000. On Nov. 19 against the Giants, he strutted backward into the end zone while a defender chased in vain, gained 6 points but lost another $10,000. And he's out another five grand for flexing in the direction of the Packer sideline Oct. 21.

''That was total b.s.,'' said 49ers receiver Terrell Owens, who, along with Moss, is one of the league's best receivers and also a media target for what's wrong with today's pro athlete. ''Deion never got flagged for high-stepping 40 yards with his hand behind his head.

''You practice all week, you get one day and three hours to have fun. The league is ridiculous with some of its rules.''

Owens, who grew up break-dancing in Alabama, busts a move every time he gets in the end zone, which is frequently. The league has no problem with Owens or anyone else celebrating as long as it isn't directed at another player. As long as it isn't a choreographed, group demonstration, and it isn't directed at another player. Or, in Owens's case, at another organization.

''We're always going to have the spike, celebrations, and sack dances as long as they're not directed at the other team,'' said Tampa Bay general manager Rich McKay, cochairman of the Competition Committee. ''We are in the entertainment business.''

In a game last year at Dallas, Owens sprinted to the middle of Texas Stadium, stood on the Cowboy logo, extended his arms, and looked through the hole in the roof after his first touchdown. Then, after Emmitt Smith responded by shouting toward the Niners' bench after scoring, Owens repeated the act and was corraled by Dallas safety George Teague, inciting a shoving match between the teams. Though the Niners disciplined Owens, benching him for a game without pay, the league included the incident as a ''don't'' in its sportsmanship video.

''There were so many players who respected what I did,'' said Owens, who in the days leading up to today's rematch with the Cowboys sported a white T-shirt emblazoned with photos of his infamous celebration on each side. ''So many guys had positive words of encouragement for what I did. But certain guys couldn't handle it. Emmitt Smith took it personal and called me a classless act, but I don't let that bother me.''

Sanders, the Godfather of End Zone Soul, is of the opinion that spiking the ball on the opponent's logo is, in fact, taunting. ''That was definitely taunting. He was sticking it to a whole organization,'' said Sanders, who, by his count, taunted once in his career (in his first game in Atlanta as a 49er, in 1994, he looked at the Falcons sideline as he brought back an interception for a TD).

''I didn't regret it afterward,'' Sanders said. ''But now, as I look back on it, it wasn't right. I was young and immature. But I never spiked the ball at a guy. I never slowed down and waited for guys. There's no place for belittling opponents.''

Even though some call it the ''No Fun League,'' the NFL doesn't expect its players to conduct themselves like gentlemen. That's why, to the purists' dismay, Buffalo's Nate Clements wasn't flagged two weeks ago for shuckin' and jivin' after leveling Brady so hard that the quarterback lost his helment. Clements didn't dance over or near Brady he sprinted to the nearest end zone and did his number for the crowd.

''[Dancing] is just showing joy,'' said Sanders, whose son was flagged for high-stepping into the end zone during a recent Pop Warner game in Plano, Texas, a penalty that Sanders, naturally, protested. ''You work that hard for six days and see it come to pass on the seventh day, you should get excited.''

But excitement can cause athletes to cross the line. Witness the wide-ranging criticism of the victorious US men's 4x100-meter relay team in the Sydney Games. The preening and muscle posing was one thing dismissed as part of their usual routine. Good taste can be debated, but many were offended and whistled in derision after a protracted victory lap that included Brian Lewis knotting an American flag around his head and Bernard Williams mugging on the victory stand with his gold medal.

The quartet, which included Maurice Greene and Jon Drummond, issued an apology two weeks later.

Baseball superstars Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey watch their homers before beginning their trots. Red Sox DH Dante Bichette flips his bat after he homers. Sox ace Pedro Martinez stares at helpless hitters after striking them out. But by and large, there's less smack-talking and taunting in baseball, since one can go from success to failure in an instant.

But it's still an emotional game. ''That would be boring to watch, a game where nobody showed any emotion,'' said former Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley, who ticked off a few hitters by pointing and yelling in their directions after striking them out.

Displays of emotion are fine, even encouraged. The Celtics' Antoine Walker, for instance, was known for his wiggle dance after he scores a basket. The leagues just want their players to show it with class and self-control.

''There's no place for it, one player taunting another with words or gestures after a play,'' said Stu Jackson, the NBA's senior vice president of basketball operations. ''There's going to be talking back and forth during a play. You have to allow for the gamesmanship of the game. We're more concerned with outward displays of taunting or trash-talking after the play, making some sort of outward gesture, yelling after the play and taunting the bench.''

Recall the fourth quarter of the Celtics' home opener against the Nets this season. Boston center Tony Battie blocked Richard Jefferson's dunk, then violated ''the Dikembe Mutombo rule'' by wagging his finger at Jefferson as if to say, ''Don't bring that weak junk in my house!''

Battie's message may have gotten across, but his team barely got downcourt before Battie was hit with a technical, giving the Nets a point on the way to a 95-92 victory.

''Totally stupid and immature,'' said Celtics analyst Tommy Heinsohn, a Basketball Hall of Famer. ''Completely useless and counterproductive. Quote, underline: counterproductive. The ultimate put-down is at the end of the game when you win by 20. Not blocking one shot, not making a 3-point basket, not slamming it through for a layup. You want to taunt them? After the game say, `Come back and visit us again some time.'''

While Battie's ''Mutombo moment'' may have cost his team, Maxwell didn't think it was out of line.

''I think they should let that go,'' he said. ''This is basketball, not golf. This is a game that wasn't invented in the street but is a street game now. It's about talking, it's about psyching out your opponent. I don't think it's going to come to the point where anybody's going to come to blows because of the way the fines are now. But just to talk to the guy `Get it out of here!' or `Don't bring that weak mess in here!' that's just natural. That happens on every ball court. It even happens in the Y[MCA] leagues. So I don't see anything wrong with it.''

But plenty of others do. So for those who find smack-talking not entertaining but rude, crude, and obnoxious; for those who think athletes should take their own advice to home crowds after they score key touchdowns or sink clutch baskets: sit down and be quiet; we offer a solution. Actually, it comes courtesy of Cox.

''The best way to stop taunting is don't let 'em score,'' Cox said. ''If they don't score, they can't taunt you. All these purists want to talk about `act like you've been there before,' because some of them played football in the caveman days. This is a new age and a new generation. You're supposed to have fun. You're supposed to enjoy success.''

Ha-ha! Told you you weren't ready for this! I'm on another level, cuz. Guess they didn't warn you about me. You'd better ask somebody. Now go watch ESPN, Fox Sports Net, CNN-SI, or something. I'm through with you.