Having interest or involvement in any sort of athletics guarantees you will experience a variety of emotions. Happiness when you do well, disappointment when you don’t, frustration when it comes so close — but not quite — and pure joy when you win at the last second.
This is a simplification of the range of emotions, but that’s basically what it narrows down to. The result plays a role in how you feel after the event, but sometimes, it’s the people — not the game — that affect your feelings the most.
Losing to a team that played well and presented themselves as decent human beings is manageable, but when you lose to a team that elbowed, scratched and called you names the entire time, it is salt in the wound and gives you a reason to be bitter.
That being said, former or current athletes have most likely experienced some form of smack talk. Whether it be from players or fans, it can amp up your emotions and affect your athletic performance.
When you think about it, smack talk has two forms: on the court/field and off. The backlash Ethan Wragge has received from University of North Carolina fans — in response to Kendall Marshall’s broken wrist — is obviously off the court and is post-game smack talk.
If you get emotional about sports, you’ve probably participated in some post-game smack talk: people reacting negatively when something happens that they didn’t like, so they will make cracks at the other side regardless if they are true.
After reading some of the tweets regarding the Wragge/broken wrist situation, it’s amazing what people will say or do when something unexpected happens. Do people get hurt in athletics? Sure, all the time. Is it anybody’s fault? Well, that is debatable and depends on the situation.
The part that is hard to understand about UNC fans’ anger is this: Marshall willingly walked onto the court. He willingly plays basketball. He probably enjoys it if he plays for a Division I team and is probably pretty good because he plays for UNC. That being said, being injured is part of the deal. Being in a contact sport comes with the risk of walking off the court or field with some form of injury.
Being outraged that he broke his wrist is one thing because yes, he probably can’t play during the rest of the tournament. Pointing fingers at people — or an entire school — is just foolish. To look on the bright side, they did win the game so they should be somewhat happy with that.
The Creighton-UNC game also had on the court smack talk, or in this case in your face confrontation. I hope you all saw that awesome moment when the cameras captured Grant Gibbs’ wink. A couple moments before that subtle wink, a UNC player got in his face after a play. Could Gibbs have taken an eye-for-an-eye approach and given it back? Yes. However, his subtle wink at the Creighton bench — in my opinion — shows that he kept his cool, winked if off and maybe even found the whole situation amusing.
In-your-face confrontation is meant to intimidate and show who has the upper hand, but the way someone responds can show his or her attitude toward talking smack. Fight back? Perhaps they enjoy a nice bout of confrontation. Say nothing? The aggressor isn’t worth the time.
Smack talk is just words, more accurately, fighting words meant to stir the pot. It can start as young as peewee soccer and go all the way up to pro sports with grown adults egging each other on. What’s the deal? Why can’t a game just be a game, pure and simple? Yes, there is such a thing as healthy competition, but does that need to come with all of the messiness of obscenities and insults?
In an ideal world, sports would be what happens on the field or court and that’s it. But we live in a world in which a team winning or losing can completely change a mood of a person, family, city or general group of people based on that final number in the box.
Sports are emotional and smack talk is just a part of it. It’s how you respond that shows who you are. Be the bigger person. Wink it off. Don’t reciprocate with something you’ll regret.