26 of the weirder and wilder moments around Super Bowls

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Stanley Wilson

Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY NETWORK

The night before Super Bowl XXIII, Bengals running back Stanley Wilson was found in the bathroom of his room at the Holiday Inn following a drug relapse. Wilson  had already been suspended during the 1985 and ’87 seasons for cocaine use, so another relapse led to a ban from the league (due to a three-strike rule) and he wasn’t allowed to play in the big game. “There was a dozen used matches on the tub ledge, a cigarette filter with no tobacco in it, little piles of ashes around the sink and a (plastic) sign that had some burn marks on it,” the owner of the Holiday Inn told the Associated Press at the time. The Bengals lost to the 49ers, 20-16, and the late Sam Wyche believes the outcome may have been different if Wilson didn’t relapse. “I wish we’d had Stanley Wilson,” the Bengals’ coach told Fox Sports in 2013. “If you remember, the field hadn’t been watered correctly or had been watered too much. Stanley Wilson was one of those Barry Sanders-type runners who kept his feet low to the ground and dart left and right. He’d have had people falling down. Whereas our other two runners, James Brooks and Ickey Woods were long striders. “It kind of nullified their quickness and speed because of their style. It would not have nullified Stanley. I think he’d have had a big day rushing the ball, but we’ll never know.”