Hines Ward - Good Guy, Thug, or Somewhere In The Middle?

[Texas Aggie]

I am not sure why someone has to be a "thug" because they play hard or talk trash.

I think its reasonable to put constant, unnecessary trash talking in the thug category, especially if a player is constantly initiating it and doing so with players he doesn't match up against.

Perhaps I'm just a little less tolerant of this stupidity than you are, but your question that I referenced here makes me scratch my head. To me, the burden would be on you to show why someone isn't necessarily a thug when he engages in stupid behavior that involves initiating trouble on the field. I will concede that "punk" may be a better term, but thug isn't unreasonable.