It’s not easy as an NFL writer to keep the ideas flowing in February, the slowest month of the year. Once people get sick of talking about the Super Bowl, the only remaining stories consist of arrest reports and speculative posts about coaching staffs (not that we’d know anything about that) and the draft.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio knows this all too well, as his site pumps out several NFL-related posts a day. It’s a varied mix, including everything from important news stories that rock the NFL world to space-filling notes detailing fringe roster moves.
Florio thought he had a world-rocking story when Jerry Rice admitted to using stickum (which was banned about five years before Rice entered the league). With everyone talking about “Deflategate,” Florio would change everyone’s thinking about cheating in the NFL.
Yes, despite the fact that Rice used stickum decades ago. Yes, despite the fact that an individual admitting he looked for an edge is a tad bit different than an organizational plot that was brought to the NFL’s attention by multiple suspicious teams.
Before Jerry Rice suggested applying an asterisk to the Pats’ Lombardi, he admitted to applying stickum to his gloves http://t.co/cNDbHE5TU0
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 6, 2015
Jerry Rice doubles down on his admission of cheating with stickum, claims everyone did it http://t.co/aGrmXROITo — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 7, 2015
Florio was in the mood to make a timely joke after Haley finally earned a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame:
How long until Charles Haley admits to using stickum . . . in a very different way? — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 7, 2015
Hey, why isn’t anybody talking about my scoop-o’-the-century?!?!?!?!?!
Jerry Rice admits cheating, ESPN and NFL ignore it http://t.co/ILJFKvJo8A
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 9, 2015
Maybe this makes me unique, but whenever I see Cris Carter or hear his name, my automatic response is to either change the channel or not click the link:
Jerry Rice says everyone used stickum; Cris Carter says, “Not me.” http://t.co/h8WAB4Ua44 — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 9, 2015
Some more, um, humor here:
@49ers . . . Check his gloves.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 10, 2015
Anyone else notice one particular similarity between the two elite 1990s receivers who piped up to deny they used stickum? Other than that both of them are media talking heads who were a level below Rice when they played, I mean:
Michael Irvin strongly denies using stickum http://t.co/CuxXm3joUP — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 12, 2015
Florio’s frustration started to come out today (or he couldn’t think of anything to write and figured it was worth one last shot):
Stickum situation continues to catch little attention http://t.co/yMDSWBIaJN — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 15, 2015
One last Hail Mary (until Terrell Owens makes up some sort of stickum admission just to get back into the news somehow):
Defensive backs used stickum after 1980, too http://t.co/BLXE3yldne — ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) February 15, 2015
