In January, Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice made the mistake of calling the Patriots cheaters without first checking his own closet for skeletons.
Patriots fans, motivated in the days after #DeflateGate first emerged (and still motivated) to find any and all evidence of other teams cheating, found an ESPN.com video published only one day before the AFC title game in which Rice admitted to applying stickum to his 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, laughing, in the video.
Once Rice’s comments surfaced, Rice took to Twitter to address the unexpected brouhaha: “I apologize ppl after doing my research about stickum! The NFL banned this in 1981. All players did it! #equalplayingfield.”
This prompted fellow Hall of Famers like Michael Irvin and Cris Carter to angrily deny using stickum, but the overall story never really caught on. And the story had completely died down.
Until Rice reminded everyone of it on Friday. Via Twitter.
“Never been investigated for stickum!” Rice said. “Mistakenly used that word and dealing with consequences! But I don’t have a problem taking a Polygraph!
How did Rice mistakenly use the word “stickum”? It’s not a new word; it’s been around for decades. Back in 1993, after making a great one-handed catch in stride against the Rams, Rice said, “I had stickum on my glove,” Rice said. “That’s a joke, stickum is illegal.”
So where’s the confusion? He’s known that stickum is illegal for years, he said he used stickum, and he apologized for it. Now, suddenly, Rice is being defiant about it.
None of it makes sense, starting with Rice’s decision to raise his hand like Horshack and remind everyone that he once cheated, too, at a time when no one was talking about it.