In these last, critical days leading up to the big game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals, everyone must keep their eyes on the ball. No one wants to join the infamous list that includes Stanley Wilson, Eugene Robinson and Barret Robbins.
"I have listened to what some of the veterans have said as far as 'Don't go out and experience the nightlife,' and I understand that," said Carey Davis, the Steelers' third-year fullback. "Sunday's game is an opportunity to be remembered, and that is what we want to do."
Wilson, Robinson and Robbins are remembered for all the wrong reasons.
Start with Wilson, who played fullback for the Cincinnati Bengals. On the eve of the 1989 Super Bowl, he headed back to his hotel room just before the last pregame meeting, supposedly to get his playbook. When he didn't return, a coach found Wilson collapsed in the bathroom, strung out on cocaine. Naturally, he didn't play in a 20-16 loss to San Francisco, which might have turned out different if Wilson had played on a sloppy field that likely would have suited his running style.
A decade later, it was Robinson who made a stunningly bad decision the night before the Super Bowl. A safety for the Atlanta Falcons and one of the team leaders, he ventured out from the team hotel and wound up in handcuffs for soliciting sex from an undercover police office. He was up most of the evening, meeting and praying with teammates, then got burned on a long touchdown pass in Denver's 34-19 victory.
Robbins was a Pro Bowl center who went missing the day before Oakland's 2003 appearance in the title game. He was eventually found drunk and incoherent in Mexico, spending Super Bowl Sunday in a hospital while his teammates were blown out 48-21 by Tampa Bay.
"I'm just trying to stay grounded," Steelers center Justin Hartwig said. "We're here for one reason, and that's to win this game. There's a lot of hoopla and a lot of hype surrounding this game, but I'm not going to get caught up in it."
Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt was taking no chances. He imposed a curfew for the entire week, instead of just waiting until Saturday as he normally would for a road game. No one revealed the exact details, but it likely involves a bedtime that gets earlier and earlier the closer it gets to game time.
"They want everybody to be focused," cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie said. "I can understand that. If you are going to party, just wait until after the game. It's no big deal."
With many hotels imposing a four-day minimum stay, the crowds began to thicken on Thursday after a rather sleepy start to Tampa's Super Bowl week. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were among the arrivals, holding a news conference to discuss their appearance in the halftime show.
"We want it to be a 12-minute party," The Boss said.
Most of the Super shindigs will last a lot longer. While the weak economy led to some parties getting nixed (sorry, Playboy fans) and others to scale back, but there's still plenty of things to do
- and plenty of ways for a wayward athlete to find trouble here in Strip Club City, USA.
That's completely understood by Rodgers-Cromartie, a native of nearby Bradenton. He knows the area inside-out, but chose to lay low during the week. Even Tuesday, when he had enough free time to visit with his family, "we just sat there and talked, watched TV and reminisced a little bit."
"To me, it is just like any other week when we go out of town," he said. "It's not my home stadium. I stay 30 minutes down the street, but I can't go anywhere. I don't have a car. I'm not affected by it. My family understands why I am down here and they're not calling me and bugging me."
