Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me.
There is always at least one player on every team that thinks that if he can find the one thing to say that might throw you off your game, but I have always found “trash talking” to be at best comical at times, but usually just very unintelligent.
Players have talked about my size, my mom, they have told me how bad of a football player I am, that I hold too much, and have even made fun of my hair (or lack thereof). But I have always just laughed it off. I really didn’t think that it affected anyone, but I guess I was wrong.
I can definitely say that I have never been pushed to a level of wanting to retaliate or head butt someone after a play like French soccer player Zinédine Zidane did in the World Cup. Football is a game of strategies and mind games and as soon as one team or player gets that edge, they will exploit it to the very end. Only the weak-minded will let someone’s words affect their game.
I would love to give some quotes of some of the things that have been said on the field to try and strike fear into an opponent, but there are just too many words that can’t be printed on this website, so instead I will give you examples of some of the league’s better trash talkers…
From my experience one of the guys who always has something to say on the field is Adriano Belli of the Tiger-Cats, but he always makes me laugh. Then there are the players who just talk to make noise, like Otis Floyd from the BC Lions. Both of these types of trash talkers usually only talk when they are winning or playing well. There are also the players who are just angry all the time, no matter if they are winning or losing. These guys talk junk and they really think it makes a difference. The main example of this is Rahim Abdullah out of Calgary.
I honestly think that trash talkers use this more to motivate themselves than try and beat the opponent. But there are the few who take matters into their own hand and don’t think about the team they let their emotions get the best of them, even on the largest stage in the most important
games.
Luke Fritz
Offensive Tackle
#61
