Two of my favorite sports stars of all time are Gary Payton and Richard Sherman. They don't quite compare in terms of career achievement just yet - Payton is one of the all-time greats of the NBA, while Sherman is still just a young star with (hopefully) many years of excellence ahead of him in the NFL - but that's just a matter of timing.
Besides being very good at their jobs and being clutch players for Seattle-based teams, the two main things they had in common is what made (and makes) me love them. One, they're really good at defense - Payton's nickname The Glove being the basketball equivalent of keeping someone in your pocket - and two, they're just as good (if not better) at trash-talking than playing, allowing them to beat their opponents not only physically (i.e. on the scoreboard) but mentally as well. The Gift of Gab, as some have put it, they both got. You know who also has the Gift of Gab? Jose Mourinho.
As you may recall, after all the hype, Chelsea laid a rotten egg on Saturday (definitely not the Waitrose kind), yet hardly anybody has bothered to talk about it much in the media. Instead, it's all Mourinho all the time. Even when his team aren't involved at all, he gets a mention.
"He should talk about Chelsea and their tie. I don't think he should talk about anything else. It is not his business. If we have to get motivated by Mourinho's comments we shouldn't play football."
-Cesc Fabregas; source: Telegraph
Pellegrini? Check. Wenger? Check. Worst in "many, many years" Barcelona and Cesc Fabregas? Check, check, check. Three-for-three in successfully getting into their heads.
But wait, there's more! You there, in the back.
"I am not here to talk about Chelsea. But Juan was their best player in the last two years. That is it. You can see that, but I am not here to analyse what they did."
-Rafael Benitez; source: Telegraph
Ah, the classic "I'm not going to talk about the thing I will talk about right now." Have fun in Europa, Mr. Interim, we know you love that juice. FACT.
Mourinho, Mourinho, Mourinho, that's all anybody can talk about.
It's beautiful.