Los Angeles -
It was 60 years ago today. That was the day Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston to win his first title. Something more important happened, however, before, during, and after the bout. Americans had never before seen Ali's brand of incessant trash-talking. He never shut up and, in the process, he successfully sapped Liston's mental and emotional capabilities.
Celtics' legend Larry Bird took trash-talking to another level two decades later when, among other insults, he would tell an opposing defender on a real-time basis exactly what move he was about to make, he'd make the move, and score. Ali and Bird had the talent, and Ali the grace, to back-up their trash-talking.
Regrettably, trash-talking has overwhelmed some of our sports and entertainment as well as our rancid, imbecilic political discourse. And therein lies the problem. Never before have we had such widespread means for delivering invective across social media, and yet most of us lack the talent or grace - and real skin in the game - to substantiate the tough-guy talk. Instead, the talk is cheapened and the talker is weakened. We don't yet understand this phenomenon as a society. So when in doubt, and you know who you are, try being quiet for a change.
The psychiatrist Victor Frankl said it well, "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
Image courtesy of AP Photo.