NFL players have better 'grip' on things
In this file photo, New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz makes reception during the first the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, Wis. (Jan. 15, 2012) Credit: AP
If the Super Bowl comes down to a key catch by Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots, say, or Victor Cruz of the Giants, they'll have more than merely their hands to thank.
Those two players, like plenty of NFL tight ends and wide receivers, wear "sticky" gloves made with a rubbery material on the palms to help hold on to a football. Consider these mitts the 2000s' answer to the 1970s' Stickum, the gooey substance famously used by Oakland Raiders defensive back Lester Hayes and receiver Fred Biletnikoff, among others, before it was banned three decades ago.
"I wear gloves -- rain, sleet, hail, snow, outdoor, indoors. I got to have some gloves," Cruz said. "I feel naked without gloves."
Why?
"You grip the ball better, no question," Cruz's teammate Hakeem Nicks said. "You don't even [need to] think about catching it."
Take a close look during the Super Bowl in Indianapolis on Sunday; most of the players will have their hands enhanced. What the league refers to as "gloves with tactified surfaces" -- with a synthetic material in the palm instead of old-school leather -- entered the football world more than 15 years ago. But equipment makers have developed increasingly helpful models over time, and the popularity has increased.
"I definitely think it's a huge advantage for receivers," said Kurt Warner, a quarterback in three Super Bowls who now appears on the NFL Network. "You see all these one-handed catches, and guys snagging balls, and you say, 'Whoa, that's almost impossible.' It slows the spin on the ball."
And it's not just the guys paid to catch passes; defensive backs, linebackers, linemen use them, too -- even Patriots punter Zoltan Mesko, who wears a glove on his right hand when he's holding for extra points or field-goal attempts by kicker Stephen Gostkowski.
"It's more grippier. It gets the ball down quicker," Mesko said.
Gronkowski's really stand out on TV because they're all white, and he wraps white tape around his wrists at the base of the gloves, making them look massive.
Giants equipment manager Joe Skiba said the team broke out special gloves for the rain-soaked NFC Championship Game in San Francisco because those particular ones "don't lose their 'tackiness' in wet weather." There are models meant to be used on snowy or particularly cold days, but Skiba explained: "Our receivers won't wear a winter glove. They want to feel the ball and think they don't with those gloves."
That won't be an issue, of course, in Sunday's Super Bowl, which is being played in a dome.
Nicks is planning to wear his usual red gloves. Skiba will set him up with a new pair, just like every week all season.
They've become something of a trademark. So much so that while discussing Nicks' remarkable TD catch at the end of the first half in the Giants' upset of the Packers two weeks ago, coach Tom Coughlin didn't mention the receiver by name.
Instead, Coughlin talked about seeing "those red gloves go up." Everyone knew who he was talking about.
