David Whitlock Super Bowl week is always a cyclone of hype, interviews, sound bites, and controversial statements. You would think that all this would die down by the evening before the Super Bowl and players would begin to get into mental game mode. You would be wrong, below are five examples of players who still seemed to stir the media pot within 24 hours of the game:
5) Brett Favre, QB, Green Bay Packers (January 25-26, 1997, New Orleans Louisiana)
Reports circulated on game day that Brett was seen out on Bourbon Street the night before Super Bowl XXXI, beer in hand. Furthering the evidence against Favre was him being seen dry-heaving before kickoff (team press release: sudden flu). The team muddled through to an easy victory (largely on the quick feet of Desmond Howard) but Favre had far from his best game, with only 14 completions and 246 yards (almost the exact total of Howard on kick returns).
4) Max McGee, WR, Green Bay Packers (January 14-15, 1967, Los Angeles, California)
Speaking of Packers, drinking, and the night before the game, Green Bay receiver Max McGee partied so hard, he missed curfew and was believed to be suspended for the inaugural AFL-NFL World Championship Game (later known as the Super Bowl). In fact, the “bit” player during the regular season didn’t even bring his helmet to the field. However, after a starter was injured, he borrowed a helmet and substituted in effectively, scoring the first touchdown in Super Bowl history and tallying 7 catches for 138 yards and two TD’s. He would only catch 3 passes the rest of his career.
3) Barrett Robbins, C, Oakland Raiders (January 25-26, 2003, San Diego, California)
The whereabouts of the Raiders starting center will largely unknown by the media and general public on the eve of Super Bowl XXXVII. Later, some had assumed he partied too hard in Tijuana. Others thought he simple abandoned the team (his anxiety issues were somewhat known). The believed truth to date was that he strayed from his medication and wasn’t fit to play. The Raiders got trounced in the Super Bowl and Robbins never recovered his career, later being associated with various drug crimes and eventually being arrested in 2010 (recently released).
2) Stanley Wilson, RB, Cincinnati Bengals (January 21-22, 1989, Miami, Florida)
Having already been suspended twice by the NFL for drug addiction, Stanley Wilson appeared to have turned the corner in a productive AFC Championship winning Cincinnati Bengals team. The night before Super Bowl XXIII, he was with teammates heading toward a team meeting, but circled back to his hotel room, only to be discovered later by his teammates on the floor of the bathroom having overdosed on cocaine. The Super Bowl ended up being most memorable for Montana-to-Taylor catch on the final drive, who knows how it would have played out had Wilson stayed clean.
1) Eugene Robinson, DB, Atlanta Falcons (January 30-31, 1999, Miami, Florida)
In the most baffling of the cases on this list, Eugene Robinson was known as an outstanding citizen, player, ambassador to the game, and even won the Bart Starr Award for 1998, given to the player representing the highest moral character. Well, this character was absent when he was arrested for solicitation of a prostitute in a seedy part of Miami on the eve of Super Bowl XXXIII (allegedly the team had been haunting that area all week). He made bail and played in the game…but the team appeared distracted and failed to recreate the swagger they had in winning the NFL Championship game.
- Dave (@lhd_on_sports)
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February 03, 2013
