Top 5 Super Bowl Controversies
Every year, the world obsesses itself with the Super Bowl. Each day leading up to the big game, local, national and international media coverage is just another angle to a football game played between the league's top two teams, so drama and controversy is only inevitable.
It doesn't matter which teams are involved, there are scandals and stories being shared every hour. Because there are too many to count, let's narrow it down to the top five Super Bowl controversies in the last 50 years:
5. Stanley Wilson gets banned
It's the night before Super Bowl XXIII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals, and while the Bengals are about to have their last team meeting before the big game, fullback Stanley Wilson had told some teammates he forgot his playbook in his hotel room. He never showed up to the meeting - they found him laying on his bathroom floor shaking after overdosing from cocaine.
Because it was his third offense of the NFL's drug policy, he was then banned for life from the NFL. The Bengals lost to the 49ers 20-16 after being stopped on a goalline stand. I'm sure the Bengals would've had a shot at winning had Wilson been playing and healthy.
4. McGee's hangover
Max McGee was a backup wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers fifty years ago in Super Bowl I. Because he wasn't expecting to play much at all, McGee stayed out past his curfew and had a long night of drinking. Lo and behold, the starter Boyd Dowler was injured during the second drive of the game and McGee had to strap on a helmet and play the rest of the game in his place.
Apparently, he was too hungover to remember to bring his helmet from the locker room before the game. So with another teammate's helmet, McGee went on to have seven catches, 138 yards and two touchdowns in the first ever Super Bowl victory. Who knew drinking could make someone so good at football?
3. Eugene Robinson wins award/loses dignity
Eugene Robinson was a safety for the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII when they faced off against the Denver Broncos. The morning of the day before the big game, Robinson was awarded the Bart Starr Award, given to the player who showed high moral character. Good for him.
Unfortunately for Robinson, that night he was arrested for making an offer to an undercover female police officer posing as a prostitute. To make matters worse, he was blown by in an 80-yard touchdown pass to Rod Smith as the Broncos smoked the Falcons, 34-19. Ouch.
2. Robins Sent Home
Oakland Raiders Pro Bowl center Barrett Robins missed a team meeting the day before Super Bowl XXXVII against Tampa Bay. While some speculated he left the team to hang out in Tijuana to party, he was actually sent home by head coach Bill Callahan because he was suffering from bi-polar disorder and depression.
Missing a star center hurt the Raiders as they were trampled by the Bucs 48-21.
1. Deflategate
This one was weird. Before last year's Super Bowl, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were being accused of using deflated footballs in their win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship. The two weeks leading up to the big game were completely surrounding the pressure in the footballs, who deflated them and why. the media needed answers, but the two teams just wanted to get ready for the game.
The distraction never hurt the Patriots in the long term as they ended up winning on a walk-off interception by Malcom Butler by a score of 28-24 over the Seattle Seahawks. Suffice to say the footballs being used in the games are now being watched 24/7.
