Super Bowl Sunday is an honored tradition all over the US, where this specific day is simply a very special day for football fans across the country, and the world, and we are anticipating great things for this year’s Super Bowl Sunday.
The Philadelphia Eagles are hot on the odds, but the Kansas City Chiefs odds are nothing to turn your nose up at either.
While this year’s Super Bowl is all set to go off without a hitch for one of the best competitions we have ever seen, things do not always go as planned when the Super Bowl comes around.
Today, we will look at 10 examples of when the Super Bowl ended up drowning in controversy. Sometimes the whole game ended up controversial, other times all it took was one person.
#1. Eugene Robinson Arrested
Eugene Robinson was a standup guy in the NFL, his charity work was admirable, and he even got the Athletes in Actions Bart Starr Award.
However, right before he received this honor, he was arrested by an officer undercover for solicitation in a seedy part of Miami. Robinson later returned the award, but none of the controversy ended with his arrest.
It was disclosed his arrest was for soliciting a prostitute in a seedy area of Miami the night before the Super Bowl. His team, the Atlanta Falcons, were shredded the next day by the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.
#2. Super Bowl XL Officiating
The Seahawks were already in over their heads when they went to face the Steelers in Super Bowl XL, but they also needed to face an officiating unit that seemed to hate them.
There were 3 calls which were all questionable and made a massive impact on the eventual 21-10 victory for the Steelers.
An early offensive pass interference against Seattle took 7 points off, then a phantom holding call took another 7 points off, and officials allowed a yard touchdown by Roethlisberger when it was not even 100% conclusive on the replay.
Hmmm, shady!
#3. “Nipplegate”
This was an infamous scene in Super Bowl XXXVIII when Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake took the stage, Timberlake tore off the clothing of Jackson’s right breast, exposing her breast to millions of people.
This obviously drew a huge amount of ire from viewers. Plenty of companies were rightly outraged, and the then Senator Zell Miller spoke publicly about the incident, and CBS who broadcast it was fined $550,000 for this incident.
MTV, who produced the halftime show, has not taken part in another halftime show since.
#4. Guaranteed Victory
Before Namath drunkenly hit on Suzy Kolber, he was a trendsetter and legend in the NFL. He ended up a bit cocky when he decided to ‘guarantee that the upstart Jets would defeat the champion Colts in Super Bowl III.
He said “We’ll win the game. I guarantee you.” His teammates were not pleased about this, sure, they were confident they’d win, but to guarantee it? The Jets ended up pulling off the biggest upset in NFL Super Bowl history, maybe by sheer luck!
#5. Wilson’s Addiction
Making fun of an addiction is never cool, it certainly wouldn’t happen with this year’s Super Bowl LVII picks. However, Stanley Wilson suffered with an addiction prior to XXIII, and he relapsed hours before the Bengals took on the 49ers.
Only a short time before the game he relapsed high on cocaine. He violated the NFL drug abuse program 3 times, which meant the talented running back ended up banned for life.
#6. AWOL Robbins
Robbins’ disappearing act before the Super Bowl in Super Bowl XXXVII was quite the occurance. He is bipolar, and we ended his medication just before the game, instead of suiting up, he actually ended up being on an alcohol powered bender in Tijuana.
He missed the game.
#7. Loaded Johnson
Johnson was not drinking before Super Bowl XLI, instead he showed up with a loaded bunch of firearms, looking like a gangster.
It is said that police actually seized around 550 rounds from the defensive tackle. It was found all over his home, as well as 6 guns, marijuana, and unlabeled pills.
#8. Favre’s Bourbon Street
Brett Favre already had some drug and alcohol problems in his time, and prior to Super Bowl XXXI he went a bit crazy on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. A few eyebrows were raised when he was seen partying in New Orleans due to the infamy of his addictions.
They did go on to win which did calm things down, but it ended up being the beginning of many incidents that ended up damaging his reputation.
#9. Double Kickoff
CBS was late coming back from halftime because they were too busy with an interview and ended up missing the opening kickoff in the second half.
CBS ended up having to get the kick off repeated so that all the fans who missed it got a chance to see it.
#10. “Spygate”
In 2007, Spy gate engulfed the Patriots and the franchise ended up penalized for videoing opponents defensive signals. There were similar allegations raised the day before Super Bowl XLII.
Of course, it was all denied by the Patriots and nothing happened, but investigations insist that the source of this claim was mistaken.
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