A columnist’s free guide to trash talking

By ADAM LITTMAN

Hey, I don’t think you’re very good at doing whatever it is you are doing. That wasn’t a… Hey, I don’t think you’re very good at doing whatever it is you are doing. That wasn’t a very nice thing to say. I apologize. But did it make you want to do whatever you’re doing better, just because I was mean to you?

What I did is known in the sports world as “trash talking.” This is a mental tactic people use to throw off their opponents. Trash-talking topics range from one person being considered more inferior at the sport in question than the other, physical deformities or shortcomings