Big-game players spreading the word

There’s little in sport as distasteful, as sly and scurrilous sledging, yet little as smile-inducing as a bit of witty in-game trash-talking either.

The past few weeks there’s been a lot of talk about some talk in the sporting arena, from Tyrone and Tipperary over here to Toronto and Washington.

The recent U21 All-Ireland football final was marred by a ‘he said he said’ debacle on and off the field, while across the Atlantic the engrossing NBA playoffs has been almost as characterised by some verbal volleys as the extraordinary number of buzzer beaters that have decided games.