Smack talk is not my favorite mode of conversation, but I do respect true artists of the genre. If you’re committed to it, if you can back it up and if the mix of humor and hate is appropriate, it can be entertaining on occasion.
In contrast, bad smack talk is horrible. Ill-thought-out disses and slams and smack infused with mere kneejerk reaction as opposed to true inspiration rarely plays well. And it’s a total failure if you don’t own it and truly commit.
A great example of the latter instance was on display on Twitter last night following a Carlos Gomez home run against the Braves. Gomez, as he tends to do, made a bit of a show out of his very long homer. There was a mild bat flip, but not much of one, to start things. When he got to home plate, however, he did a dab thing:
[mlbvideo id="566978683" width="600" height="336" /]
Not the most over-the-top thing you’ve ever seen, but enough to set former major leaguer Rob Dibble off:
Gomez saw this and responded:
And Dibble -- busted -- backed down:
The best part of this is that, several years ago, when Dibble was fired from his job as a Nationals commentator for mocking Stephen Strasburg for leaving a game WITH A TORN LIGAMENT, his big defense was, in essence, “hey, I say unpopular things sometimes and you all have to suck it up and deal with my truth bombs.” Now he can’t even offer up some smack talk on Twitter without quickly backing down the moment he’s confronted.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.