Sunday, August 02, 2009

Bearding the lions

I am a big fan of smack talk in sports (in anything really), and we've had some good efforts lately.

The first case is from women's tennis.  Marion Bartoli, when asked who she preferred to play in an upcoming match opted for former #1 in the world Jelena Jankovic because "I always beat her". At that point in timer Bartoli had a 4-3 advantage over JJ head to head. Needless to say, JJ didn't like it:

he talks like she’s just Serena Williams. Everybody had a right to say what she wants. I’m not really focused on Bartoli. She’s not like my biggest rival or someone I look up to or I’m scared of. She’s just one of the players on tour, not a big name, or someone who is making the big results or headlines in the game.

"Bartoli is going to get it tomorrow," Jankovic added with a smile.

Umm, Not so fast there JJ, In point of fact, Bartoli did indeed beat Jankovic the next day to move on.


Example 2 is from swimming and it involves another Serb, Miloford Cavic. This is the guy who lost to Phelps in the disputed 100 butterfly Olympic final. Cavic really let Phelps have it for allegedly complaining that his (Phelp's) Speedo suit was below the technological frontier:

"Speedo allowed its athletes to switch to another suit if they thought it would improve their chances in Rome. But Phelps, who has been sponsored by Speedo since he was a teenager and earns millions from the company, decided to stick with the LZR."

"If Mike wants an Arena, he just has to say it," Cavic said. "If he wants a Jaked and they don't want to give it to him free, I'll buy it for him. He has options. I think in the media it's been portrayed that he has no option, he has to swim for (Speedo). It's a complete lie."

Well, then they hit the pool and Phelps pretty much smoked him, and then:

"Phelps hopped on the rope that had separated him from Cavic - eyes searing, jaw jutting out. He pulled at both sides of his skintight LZR Racer swimsuit, letting his rival know that he heard about his offer to get Phelps one of those faster polyurethane suits so he wouldn't have any excuses if he lost in a Speedo."

I guess its back to smack-talk school for the Serbians.



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