The NFL's 1977 Cheating Epidemic

cheating happens all the time in every professional sport but when's the last time that we've seen a major cheating scandal in the NFL we've had deflate gate spy gate Bounty gate and even scandals as small as some teams telling their centers to move the ball up a few feet every play but none of these scandals are quite as game-changing as one that is seen as the Pinnacle of NFL cheating which forever changed how the game of football is played imagine a ball comes your way and no matter what position your body is in if the ball touches your bare hands or even just a part of your body for that matter you'd be guaranteed to catch it well what if I told you this was true for an entire team at one point in NFL history even before gloves were being used like they are today it All Began in the late 1960s when chemists came together for years to create a sticky adhesive compound that could be used as a paste or as a spray the paste which had the greatest effect of the two products was named stickum stickum was initially directed for industrial reasons mechanical work household usage anything that just needed some stick to it that was until it caught the attention of an Oakland Raider legend wide receiver Fred bnov almost a decade later bnov came across the substance in 1977 and realized how strong of a residue it left on anything that it was applied to especially his own hands in 1977 bidikov started to bring this industrial past with him to games realizing its potential to change everything for him as a receiver and his catching ability he started off by applying it subtly on his hands in small amounts but as time went on bnov realized that the paste would wear off rubbing off of his hands and onto the ball so what did he do well let's just say that his uniform was probably a pain to wash after games bnov began to abuse the use of stickum rubbing the substance all in his socks and his pants so that he could reapply it throughout the game when it wore off simply by reaching down and just grabbing a handful of it it got to the point where bnov truly didn't have to use his hands to catch the ball he was so extremely lathered in stickum that the ball would just stick onto his body wherever the pace was applied his quarterback at the time Ken staer even said that he would have to ask the referees for a new ball multiple times a drive because of how sticky the ball would get bnov made some ridiculous catches with the stickum and his overall play certainly improved but the effect that it had on his teammates may have been even crazier one player in particular cornerback Lester Hayes began using stickum shortly after seeing bullet off success with the substance Hayes came into the NFL as an athletic player and may have been a wide receiver if it weren't for his poor hands that was until he started using stickum unlike bit nikov hay smothered stickum all over his body not just his uniform up his arms down his legs he was coated in that sticky paste and what do you know Hayes hands were no longer an issue Hayes quickly turned around his reputation as a defensive back with poor hands as he set the Raiders franchise interceptions record in 19 1980 with 13 just one shy of the NFL record not to mention he also added five more in the playoffs for a total of 18 picks in 19 games outside of Hayes and bnov there were cases where the Raiders would smother stickum all over the football before the opposing team would kick field goals so that the Long Snapper would soar the snap over the holder's head due to how sticky the ball would be on top of that Raiders defensive players would put Globs of stickum on the ball before the opponent's offense went on the field which caused quarter backs to severely struggle throwing the ball after a season full of ridiculous catches interceptions and a whole lot of tampering with other teams this stickum smothered Raiders team Cruis to a Super Bowl title in 1981 upsetting the Eagles 27 to10 and just like that the NFL unsurprisingly put the hammer down on stickum ending a historic era in NFL history in 1981 the NFL enacted what was called the Lester Hayes rule officially Banning stickum and other sticky adhesive pastes taking away a huge huge part of the Raiders game however what the NFL didn't know is how incredibly hard it would be for them to mandate this rule not just for the years ahead but for decades to come and ultimately how this rule would change football forever while the Raiders themselves had a lot of eyes on them making it hard for them to cheat without anyone noticing other teams caught on to the incredible advantage that adhesives gave to skill position players with stick's pasty yellow appearance being pretty easy to notice players began to use Invisible Spray adhesives putting it all over their hands and the NFL had no clue until years later for example Jerry Rice perhaps the League's greatest receiver of all time admitted after retiring that he used adhesive spray for nearly his entire career after his rookie season a rookie season that was plagued with drops and fumbling issues other players joined rice in admitting to the usage of these adhesive sprays and other sticky substances that were hard for the league to crack down on from an outside view but upon hearing these stories the NFL had their officiating Crews really start to monitor the situation and bust players with the sticky stuff on their hands in fact the league even added a rule in the 1980s where some players uniforms were checked at halftime for substances particularly offensive linemen who began putting silicone all over their bodies so that Defenders couldn't get a good grip on them as years went on players continued to seek out new creative ways and substances that could be used and other loopholes to the Lester Hayes stickum rule one case includes Giants running back Tiki Barber who in the 2000s put tape with a slippery substance all over his jersey so players couldn't grab him also in the 2000s the Raiders once again found another adhesive spray this time it was invisible making it hard for the rest to notice which the offense would use during cold and wet weather in 2012 the Chargers equipment crew began bringing gorilla Gold's sticky towels to games and the rest of the league began following suit by using and concealing these towels players and teams just kept on finding loopholes the stories kept on surfacing and the NFL kept on tightening up their rule book and Rule enforcement so that begs the question do players still use hidden substances today to keep their grip as strong as possible the answer probably so but in all honesty hidden substances aren't needed anymore this is because there's one thing in particular that players utilize that the NFL cannot and will not mandate no matter what this is the advancement of gloves as the league continued to crack down on sprays and paste in the 2010s football equipment companies found ways to counter the changes and recreate the legendary stickum used nearly 30 years prior and with only one small rule in the way of Manufacturers the glove game was quickly altered forever NFL rule book Rule 5 section 4 article 4 item 8 says that quote unquote No adhesive sprays or paste may be applied to players bodies or equipment if the said substances leave a residue on the ball the problem with stick them like sprays and paste is that they left the ball sticky and grimy but glove Manu facturers found a few key ingredients to make their gloves recreate the feeling of stick them without leaving any sort of residue one of those ingredients is actually a sugar called kaidan which has a primary usage as a bandage that effectively stops severe blood loss from wounds with that said a handful of glove companies figured that if kaidan is adhesive enough to stop severe bleeding maybe it could help NFL players enhance their play with the mid-2010s marking a generational period of time for glove development as shown by some of of the greatest catches that the NFL has ever seen many have wondered if the league will once again look to enforce some sort of restriction on the grip that players are provided in today's game especially considering the high rate that players are making these ridiculous catches it's fair to wonder are today's gloves taking the scale out of football given the direction that the NFL is taking with other rule changes and enforcements we have a pretty good idea of the future approach that the league will take with these enhanced gloves will the NFL ban certain ingredients in glove development like kaidan well after seeing the league recently ban hip drop tackles greater enforcement of penalties like roughing the passer and unnecessary roughness and of course the never-ending debate of pass interference calls it's pretty clear that the NFL is leaning towards an offense heavy higher scoring game compared to the old days meaning that sticky gloves are here to stay so while stickum itself is long gone on the grid iron it's safe to say that the discovery made by Fred bnov Lester Hayes and the late Raiders organization nearly a half century ago is one that changed the game of football for decades to come subscribe to football today for more stories just like this one

Channel: Football TDAY

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Length: 8min 37sec (517 seconds)

Published: Sat May 11 2024