Normally, I’d jump right into Friday Night Notes mode here and talk about last week’s football game. I’m taking a break from that this week for a couple of reasons, one being that last Friday’s game at Strawberry Crest was, well… Probably one that the home fans would like to forget.
The other reason I’m changing course today is because of the Armwood Hawks, who were ridiculous. I get that they had a nice record to preserve. (I was told on the sideline that a shutout win would set a school record for the most in a season.) And they played accordingly — by which I mean, aggressively.
You’re Armwood, go ahead and do your thing, there.
What I didn’t get, and still can’t wrap my head around, were the actions of one particular Hawk. This kid just wouldn’t shut up when he needed to shut up, and he needed to shut up sometime before he turned to the Chargers’ sideline and cussed out the Crest players and coaches.
We run a family paper here in Plant City, so I definitely can’t print what he said here. Let’s just say that his word choice rivaled that of Jeff Garlin’s wife in “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
OK dude, that’s really cool that you play for Armwood. You’re going to the playoffs, and your team will probably go pretty far.
However, unless you have Superman powers and can fly through the air to pick off any passes thrown, you are in high school and have no right to cuss at players and coaches like that. Curse all you want if you ever make it to the professional leagues, where employers don’t seem to mind all that much, but that’s not a good look at all in high school or college.
Armwood didn’t have many penalties go against them that night, but this player was taken out of the game after his little outburst. I would hope that Sean Callahan, who is a fantastic coach, put the kid in his place afterward.
Before last week’s game, I got on the Gridiron Report podcast and said that this was the kind of game that the younger Chargers could learn a lot from. I hope that, if nothing else, they learned to never do THAT on the field. I know John Kelly has no tolerance for that sort of thing, anyway.
I’ve written in the past that trash talk is perfectly OK when it’s done correctly, and I still stand by that. I didn’t really get into the topic of what is considered good trash talk, though, so I’d like to clear that up here.
I’d like to stress that you do not need to curse to talk good smack to someone. I wrote about Richard Sherman’s outburst after last season’s NFC Championship game and, let’s face it — the dude basically cut a wrestling promo with Erin Andrews. It was clean enough for the kids to hear, yet harsh enough to irk Michael Crabtree, whom Sherman called a “sorry” wide receiver. No one can argue that Sherman had earned the right to talk that talk, given that he had just gotten his team to the Super Bowl and had a stellar season.
Our local athletes may not always get the chance to do something like that when I’m interviewing them, or when someone else is, but it’s just something to keep in mind.
On any playing field, athletes are going to jaw at each other. There’s nothing anyone can do to stop that. The mark of a truly good trash talker, though, is that he or she puts their own play first. If things are going well, then it’s OK to get into an opponent’s head.
Cussing them out is never going to work as well as reminding them what they’re up against will, because those words just don’t have the same staying power.
That’s not to say that everyone should try to wage psychological warfare on every member of an opposing team, like former Pittsburgh Steeler Joey Porter used to do.
Trash talk isn’t everyone’s thing. After all, some athletes prefer to let their play speak for them, which is never a bad idea. Some people are just naturally good at talking and, if they know how to talk smack, then it can be as effective a tool as a juke or a jump shot.
