Whether you call it unwelcome noise, friendly chitchat or a deliberate ploy to mess with the opponent’s minds, banter is an undeniable part of sports.
More now than ever in this media-intensive era, it often brings an interesting dimension to sports, serving to keep the viewers and followers riveted. Some sports even have a special name for the practice; for instance, sledging in cricket.
Here we take a look at ten instances from sports history that made for quite a few chuckles and have continued to entertain us over the years.
#10 Daryll Cullinan knew what Warne did last summer (and the summer before)
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Shane Warne is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest leg-spinners ever and has dominated most batsmen he's bowled to.
Even so, South African batsman Daryll Cullinan was exceptionally flummoxed on a particular home tour by the wily Australian leggie. So much so that opponents from other teams never let him forget how he had been Warne's bunny.
On the Australian team's next tour of South Africa, however, Cullinan had the last word. When he walked on to the pitch to bat, a visibly portlier Warne quipped, "Daryll, I've waited two years for the chance to embarrass you again.” Cullinan nodded and replied, “Looks like you spent most of it eating.”
#9 Charles Barkley turns dietitian
Charles Barkley is counted among the loudest of loudmouths in the history of NBA. There are examples aplenty of occasions when he did shoot his mouth off and then had to put his foot in it (okay, enough mouth puns for now).
However, he was spot on just this once, while advising his Houston Rockets teammate, the 300-pound Stanley Roberts, “Hey Stanley, you could be a great player if you only learned two words: "I’m full”.
Barkley's acid wit didn't even spare himself. In 1994, controversial figure skating legend Tonya Harding quipped that she was 'the Charles Barkley of figure skating'.
The basketball legend nicknamed 'Sir Charles' is known to have said, "My initial response was to sue her for defamation of character, but then I realized I had no character."
#8 Viv Richards knows the score
The 1983-84 West Indies tour of India saw Sunil Gavaskar suffer a relative dip in form. For the sixth and last Test in Madras (now Chennai), Gavaskar decided not to open the innings and come in lower down the order at number four, hoping to bat freely under somewhat lesser pressure.
However, that was not to be: Malcolm Marshall quickly got rid of Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar, without troubling the scorekeeper.
With India at nil for the loss of two wickets, Gavaskar walked on to the ground, and right into this jocular jibe by Sir Viv Richards, "Sunny, it doesn't matter whether you bat number one or four, man. The score's still zero!"
#7 Willie Pep's horizontal vision problem
Featherweight legend Willie Pep was known to be a very skilled boxer in his heyday. Post-retirement, he was once in New York when a former opponent greeted him. The short-lived conversation went something like this:
"Hi, Willie, remember me? I fought you in Hartford in 1940."
Pep gave the man an amused once-over and suggested: "Lie down. It'll make it easier."
On another occasion, Pep reportedly quipped, “They call Ray Robinson the best fighter, pound for pound. I’m the best fighter, ounce for ounce.”
#6 Michael Jordan's legit question
Some of Michael Jordan’s on-court spats with other players were not pretty. However, this one time Jordan uttered a gem of a one-liner after he’d clearly done enough with the ball alone to give a shut-up call to all critics.
It started when Jordan, in the process of scoring in a 1988 game against Utah Jazz, dunked over the 6’1” John Stockton. Amid the cheers and applause, Jordan heard a fan dare him to 'pick on someone his own size': Jordan was 6’6”.
The Bulls’ next possession saw Jordan score by soaring over Jazz’s Melvin Turpin instead, who was 6’10”.
Jordan yelled back at the fan, “Was he big enough?”
#5 When Michael Atherton was right at home in Rome
The winter of 1990-91 was England cricketer Michael Atherton’s first Ashes tour to Australia. On one particular occasion, the umpire refused a close caught-behind appeal even though Australian wicket-keeper Ian Healy clearly thought Atherton had edged the ball.
Later, criticising Atherton for not walking, Healy called him a ‘cheat’.
Atherton, who throughout his career has been regarded as the last of cricket’s gentlemen, simply nodded, smiled and pat came the reply, “When in Rome, old boy.”
#4 When Muhammad Ali was disappointed in Big George
The ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, held in Zaire in 1974, was perhaps the most anticipated heavyweight bouts in years.
Stripped of his titles due to his refusal to be drafted into the Vietnam War, Ali was finally challenging for the title that he'd never lost in the ring.
Nobody thought Ali could win as he older, slower and clearly past his prime. Foreman, in stark contrast, was at the peak of his career with a 40-0 (37 KOs) record.
Of course, Ali had other ideas as he thoroughly out-boxed Foreman. More importantly, Ali's typical mind-games played their part.
At the end of one particular round, Ali leaned close to Foreman and said, “They told me you could punch, George. They told me you could punch as hard as Joe Louis!”
The rest is the stuff boxing folklore is made of: Foreman was knocked out in round eight as Ali regained the Heavyweight Championship of the World.
#3 Scotty Pippen knew the score and he knew the schedule
“Just remember, the mailman doesn't deliver on Sundays, Karl."
So said Scottie Pippen of the Chicago Bulls to Karl ‘The Mailman' Malone, a verbal jibe delivered to Malone in the dying moments of Game 1 of the ’97 NBA finals.
This cheeky quip actually managed to grab more headlines than the fact that Pippen scored 27 points in that game.
The jibe actually took its toll on Malone, who missed two free throws towards the end of the game.
After that, Jordan managed to get hold of the rebound, called a timeout with 7.5 seconds to go and ultimately scored the winning points with a 20-footer in the dying moments of the game.
#2 You Don’t Mess With Sir Viv
Rich as cricket’s history is in terms of entertaining banter, there were few who dared to sledge Sir Viv Richards.
He was known to severely punish any bowler who’d mouth off at him. So much so, that opposing captains would often forbid their players from any verbal shenanigans when Richards was at the crease.
Apparently, nobody told that to Glamorgan bowler Greg Thomas, who managed to make Richards swing and miss, and then taunted him, “It’s red, round and weighs about five and a half ounce. Try hitting it next time.”
Richards slammed the next delivery out of the ground and into the river Taff. He told Thomas, “Greg, you know what it looks like, now go and find it.”
#1 Young Cassius Clay was pretty and full of poetry
When Muhammad Ali was still known as Cassius Clay Jr, he challenged Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title of the world.
The two opponents couldn't be more contrasting: while Clay was known for his wit and showmanship, Liston was a media-shy recluse.
Witty as he was, Clay outdid even himself with this poem that he wrote about the outcome of the fight. Here's an excerpt:
Now Liston disappears from view, the crowd is getting frantic
But our radar stations have picked him up somewhere over the Atlantic.
Who on Earth thought, when they came to the fight,
That they would witness the launching of a human satellite.
Hence the crowd did not dream, when they laid down their money,
That they would see a total eclipse of Sonny.
Of course, while nobody witnessed Liston being launched into space, it was clear that the defending champion was outmatched by young Clay.
Punished for several rounds by the taller and faster Clay, Liston refused to leave his stool at the start of the seventh round. Cassius Clay (soon to be Muhammad Ali) was crowned the new "Heavyweight Champion of the World".
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