San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice is considered the greatest wide receiver in NFL history and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He owns several NFL receiving records, including career receptions and receiving touchdowns.
Rice also has been critical of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl success in recent weeks, particularly after the DeflateGate controversy began.
His criticism won’t carry much weight after Rice admitted in a recent ESPN video to using “Stickum” during his NFL career. ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio, who found the video, explains that Stickum is an illegal substance. In fact, Stickum was banned four years before Rice made his 49ers debut during the 1985 season.
“It wasn’t a little illegal, it was a lot illegal,” writes Florio. “As explained in the ESPN feature, gloves were introduced to football after the NFL decided to outlaw the stuff that guys like Fred Biletnikoff and Lester Hayes would spread copiously on their hands, and elsewhere. Rice admitted in the feature that he enhanced the surface of gloves approved for use in the NFL with a substance that would make it easier to catch the ball.”
Here’s the part of the ESPN video where Rice admits to using Stickum, via John Breech of CBS Sports.
After being caught sticky-handed, Rice took to Twitter in an attempt to explain himself.
[tweet https://twitter.com/JerryRice/status/563980214481346560 align=’center’]
The next time Rice decides to criticize a team for cheating, he should look at his own career.
H/t to ProFootballTalk
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
