In the first of a four-part series done with the good people at the Florida Swim Network, three pro swimmers, Roy Burch, Eric McGinnis, and Elvis Burrows, talk about “trash talking in swimming” and why they think the sport needs more of it.
This video was taken at the 2015 Arena Pro Swim Series meet in Orlando.
Would clucking like a chicken at a rival team at ncaa’s count as trash talk?
Can you trash talk with a clip board over my mouth?
Which reminds me…how many UVA students does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Answer: One, he just holds the bulb and let’s the world revolve around him. 🙂
One issue here is that the biggest meets in swimming are international competitions. In sports like football and baseball, your teammates are going to be your teammates all throughout the season and into the biggest game or games you’ll play. So, if the Washington Redskins want to trash talk the Dallas Cowboys, that’s fine because you’re not going to be playing alongside each other, barring free agency or trades. This applies to coaches, too. Nick Saban and Urban Meyer are going to be coaching against each other, not alongside each other, on college football’s biggest stage. And while NCAA championships for swimming, I think we would all admit that they’re not nearly as big of a deal as the Olympics.… Read more »
Thanks, they make some good points. I think that one reason swimming is more PC and that that’s not always a totally bad thing is because you’ve got kids literally swimming against adult pros,and you don’t see that as often in other professional sports. And after what I read about Yik-Yak this week, it seems like at the college age young adults, at least, are already well-versed in the bad variety of trash talk and could easily make the 3 guys above cry, so the younger kids need all the good role modeling they can get. But I especially thought the last point about the sponsors demanding unicorns and rainbows instead of some good-natured trash talk makes the sponsors sound… Read more »
I disagree with trash talk during competition. Don’t turn the sport o swimming into a WWE match. Nor does it need to turn into a battle of NBA egos or the verbal version of ice hockey fist fights.
Every four years, all of the top pro and non-pro swimmers end up battling it out at the Olympics. So before you go and trash talk your colleagues and competition, be prepared to eat a little humble pie when the person you’ve been battling it out with all season ends up on your country’s Olympic team. Or when the person you’ve been trash talking all year basically blows you out of the water.
So be prepared to put your money where… Read more »
Some of my best and most exciting races have come from talking trash to teammates. And they always end in smiles from me and my teammates. I think it could definitely be a positive if with the right people
I’d love to see more trash talk. I’m not saying it has to be malicious, but come on, put your pride on the line!
Come on, your name can’t really be Sven.