Watch what you say because the past might come back to haunt you. This is probably how Jerry Rice is feeling at this very moment after being caught using the banned substance, stickum, during his playing days.
On Jan. 22, Rice offered up his two cents on the whole #DeflateGate scandal, telling Jim Rome, “I’m going to be point blank, I feel like it’s cheating. Because you have an edge up on your opponent and it’s unfortunate that it happened." The 2010 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, added, "I’m not saying the outcome of the game would have been different or anything like that because they got beat 45-7, but they still had an edge.”
On Friday, Pro Football Talk pointed out that not too long ago, Rice admitted to using stickum in an ESPN story on the evolution of gloves. “I know this might be a little illegal, guys, but you put a little spray, a little stickum on them, to make sure that texture is a little sticky,” Rice said. Now, this wasn't "a little illegal," this was illegal for someone who came into the league in 1985.
While today's gloves feel like they already have stickum on them, it's the principle that is the issue here. For someone to criticize one team for allegedly trying to get an edge and then come to find out that that same person is guilty of, basically, cheating himself isn't a good look. Meanwhile, the excuse of creating an equal playing field doesn't hold much weight either considering there have been people out there saying (almost) everyone tampers with the footballs.
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[via Pro Football Talk]
