Urlacher adds trash talking to his arsenal.(Chicago Tribune)

CHICAGO _ Larry Bird was one of the all-time best trash talkers, a virtual landfill of comebacks, putdowns and ego shreddings.

Perhaps his best bit of waste management came during the three-point shooting contest at one of those made-for-TV NBA All-Star weekends. Bird had won the competition three straight years and, figuring there wasn't much more to prove, had retired from the puffery a few seasons earlier.

The Bulls' Craig Hodges was full of himself, having won the contest in Bird's absence, and let it be known that if Bird wanted to be considered the league's best shooter, he had to go through a Chicago role player first.

"He knows where he can find me," Hodges told reporters. …