Trash talking is one of the greatest traditions in sports. A few headlines on ESPN are about trash talking between NBA players. The first headline is Embiid: Drummond’s trash talk was silenced. The second headline is Green denies Smith Jr. dunk: ‘Ain’t happening’. In the first article, Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers was interviewed after the game against the Detroit Pistons. During the interview, Joel Embiid said he was well prepared for Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond, trash talk and all. Joel Embiid was upset that Andre Drummond, of the Detroit Pistons, started the game aggressively and was talking trash. In response to Drummond’s behavior, Joel Embiid took it upon himself to shut Drummond up, so Embiid scored 30 points in their win against the Pistons. The second article was about the confrontation on the court during the Golden State Warriors vs. Dallas Mavericks game between Draymond Green and Dennis Smith Jr. During the game, Smith drove baseline and tried to dunk over Green, but Green fouled Smith and yelled, “you will never dunk on me,” to Smith. Smith replied by saying, “[Draymond Green] can’t jump with me.”
There are two types of people in this world. There are people who like trash talking and people who do not like trash talking. People who do not like trash talking say that trash talking is harmful and makes the game look bad. These same people, like Roger Goodell and the National Football League, try to limit trash talking by placing rules against trash talking in the game. But is trash talking really that bad of a thing? Personally, I like the fact that trash talking is a part of sports. I like the fact that NFL players trash talk the NFL by calling it the No Fun League because of the penalties that are called for celebrating and taunting. I cannot imagine a sport that does not involve trash talking at all. Well, maybe tennis, because it is so classy. Trash talking is present all through life. I trash talk all the time when I’m playing video games. Trash talking brings out the competitive juices in every one. It is what rivalries are made of. Trash talking is harmless just as long as it doesn’t start any fights. It’s fun to see players go at it and back up their trash talking with their play on the court or field. Trash talking and sports go together like peanut butter and jelly.
