Richard Sherman has nothing on the all-time smack-talk artists.

The art of smack: Some of the best ever trash talkers share their tricks Jim Corbett, USA TODAY Sports 10:29 p.m. EST January 27, 2014(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY Sports)NEW YORK — They are all-pro provocateurs, four of the game's most entertaining mouths that soared.They kept teammates loose while inciting and distracting opponents into mistakes.Long before Richard Sherman's epic rant following the Seattle Seahawks' victory in the NFC Championship Game, Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe, Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp, wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson and Baltimore Ravens sack master Terrell Suggs were smack-talk artists."That was my domain," Sapp said. "I had a master's degree and two doctorates in this."USA Today Sports asked the quartet how they became elite trash talkers and the keys to attacking your opponent without laying a finger on them.When did you first start talking trash?Sapp: "When I came out of the womb. When you're the baby of six kids, you learn to speak up."Sharpe: "I was in the third grade and I had to go to speech class because I talked with a really heavy lisp. The teacher would have us read and when we got to a word we couldn't pronounce, she'd want us to sound the word out."I won't say the guy's last name, but the kid's first name was Johnny. And he's reading, gets to a word and she said, 'Johnny, it sounds like?' And I said, 'It sounds like Johnny can't read.'"She threw me out of the class. So I had to stand outside for 30 of the 40 minutes. That was the first time I trash talked. And she threw me out because the other students started laughing. Then, I realized, 'OK, instead of them talking about the way I talk, I can get on them so they forget that I have a deficiency."Johnson: "It was fifth grade. I've never looked at it as talking trash more so than being sarcastic towards something or somebody. I never really called people out. It was more along the lines of teasing a person. It started for me in fifth grade on the basketball court."Did you have a favorite opponent to torment?Suggs: "Ben Roethlisberger, definitely. We go back and forth all the time. We have the utmost respect for each other."I told him a few times, I was going to knock him the (expletive) out of him. But everybody is so sensitive to quarterbacks in this league, you have to be careful, not only with what you say. But what you do and how you play."Sapp: "(Former center) Jeff Dellenbach. I told him, 'You picked a bad night to make your first start.' But you can't beat somebody and brag about it play in and play out. There's an art to it."The main objective is taking somebody's mind away from the task at hand."Did you have a go-to line?Sapp: "(Former Philadelphia Eagles guard) John Welbourn kicked me, and I told him, 'I'm going to tear Donovan McNabb a new (expletive).'"People want to try to get you in a fight. That's what Richie Incognito did (using N-word in trenches). I told him, 'I'm going to take it out on your quarterback and tell him it's your fault.'"Johnson: "I was more straight-to-the gut sarcasm, slick tone: If a guy was married or had a girlfriend, I would say stuff like, 'Tell your girlfriend to stop cheering for me. Or tell your wife and kids to stop cheering for me.' It cut straight to the chase."It's all fair game. I'd talk about their mother, their father. It was all fair game."Sharpe: "Guys would always start by saying, 'You ain't going to get nothing today, Sharpe!' And I'd say, 'Know what? Don't be surprised if your name is on the waiver wire tomorrow. It could have been prevented. But you wanted to go there. So now when you see your name on the wire, you'll know who put it there.'"Did you feel you or a teammate had crossed the line or got too personal?Suggs: "One of my teammates did. It was Bart 'The Mad Backer' Scott. He said something to an opponent that we were a little offended by it, too. And we understood because Bart was our teammate, he didn't mean that. So myself, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed basically apologized for him to those guys. I can't repeat what he said. But he said it against the Cincinnati Bengals."Sharpe: "The thing that I found worked best was when you questioned a guy's ability. And when you told a guy he was stealing and he didn't deserve what they were paying him. That really, really bothered a guy."I didn't bother with trash talking people's moms, wives or girlfriends."I was like: 'Hold on man, you mean to tell me you're making $10 million a year? That's $9 million, $999,999 too much!' That ate them up."Sapp: "Talking about wives and family was off limits."Who was the best at giving it back?Suggs: "Back when Anquan Boldin was an Arizona Cardinal, he was real good at giving it back to me. He was real good at talking trash. Anquan Boldin and (Chad) Ochocinco. Those guys talked trash to me all the time."Johnson: "No one, really. What happened is guys would say, 'You're sorry. You can't play.' I was like, 'What are you talking about? What are you watching? Because you know and I know, you had to game plan for me."Did your teammates or coaches ever ask you to talk less or cut it out?Sharpe: "My first year we went to the Super Bowl in Denver, we were playing the Packers. (Coach) Mike Shanahan said, 'Shannon, I never tell you what to say. I never tell you how to say it. But just this one week right here, let's not give them any bulletin board material.' That's the only time a coach ever told me not to say anything."Sapp: "Yeah, right. They saw me like a cold. Just let me run my course and I'd stop eventually."Hall of Fame TE Shannon Sharpe usually had plenty to say to his opponents.(Photo: Mark Leffingwell, AFP)Did you ever worry that you'd motivate an opponent with your talk?Johnson: "Not at all. Because if an opponent needed me to say something to them for motivation, he was in the wrong sport. If you have to use me for motivational fuel, something is wrong."Suggs: "No, man. We don't care. It doesn't bother us."Is there anybody you feared or respect so much that you would never say anything?Sharpe: "I never said anything to Reggie White, bless his soul. Bruce Smith, too."Sapp: "Cris Carter. I wouldn't curse at him. Or even use curse words with him. Because I knew he was a religious man."Even Ravens OLB Terrell Suggs admits lines can be crossed when trash talking ensues on the field.(Photo: Steve Mitchell, USA TODAY Sports)How hard was it on Super Bowl media day to not say anything that would create a distraction?Johnson, who played in Super Bowl XXXVII for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers: "I would never say anything to take away from my team, our accomplishment. I think that's the biggest misunderstanding about me is people thought I did self-promotional stuff. I didn't do self-promotional stuff then because winning the Super Bowl was the only thing that was on my mind."I'm smart enough to know, don't try and make any headlines. People would gravitate to me regardless. I didn't need to do anything to hurt my team. And that's how I approached it."Sharpe, who played in Super Bowl XXXII, XXXIII and XXXV: "It was very hard. If you remember the Super Bowl with (Atlanta Falcons safety) Ray Buchanan. Someone asked, 'Are we friends?' I said, 'No, absolutely not. If he's in a snowstorm and his car broke down and I'm in my car driving by and it's running perfectly fine, would I pick him up? No. Did I view him as a friend? No. As an acquaintance? No.'"I'm not going to get into a peeing contest with a skunk — you'll lose every time."Did you ever regret your reputation?Suggs: "No. I don't regret anything. It wouldn't be any fun if all the quarterbacks acted the same and all the 52 other guys acted the same. Football would be dis-interesting."Sharpe: "Some people think all I did was trash talk. But ask my teammates, coaches, they saw how hard I worked, how hard I prepared. The NFL is made up of 1,800 players, guys from different religious backgrounds, different upbringings. I love Peyton Manning. But I don't want 1,800 Peyton Mannings in the NFL."Contributing: Jarrett Bell***Follow Jim Corbett on Twitter @ByJimCorbett