The All-Time List of Sports 'Gates'
Late President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal eventually led to his resignation in 1974 and set the precedent for the inescapable temptation to attach “gate” to any burgeoning scandal, regardless of its true potential for wide-ranging implications.
Even if the reasoning behind adding “gate” to something is shaky, it’s guaranteed to make a good headline and give a story a little more cache.
The sports universe is already a place ripe for ideas about hidden conspiracies that go all the way to the highest levels of power, so sports news is naturally inclined to make a scandal "gate-worthy." But when an industry plays fast and loose with something, it inevitably makes it less meaningful, although not meaningless.
So how do the various sports-related “gates” stack up when compared to each other? It all really depends on who has a vested interest and who’s affected. Some of these controversies sound rather silly, but that doesn't necessarily make them less important.
This is a history of sports “gates.”
Towelgate
1 of 25
Gate Date: October 2012
Gate Mate(s): San Diego Chargers
Gate Rate: 0 out of 10 weirdly sticky towels
Straight Gate: Back in 2012, the Chargers were accused of potentially violating NFL rules via the use of some prohibited sticky product. It turned out they were using a towel made by a company called Gorilla Gold, which claimed to use “all-natural resins” to aid in gripability.
Gate Weight: San Diego finished 7-9, so it didn’t work, which helped kill the whole scandal. In November 2012, the NFL cleared the Chargers of any intentional wrongdoing after a three-week investigation, in which everyone involved vehemently denied wrongdoing. So basically, it died right there.
Kneegate
2 of 25
Gate Date: January 2011
Gate Mate(s): Jay Cutler
Gate Rate: 0 out of 5 stars
Straight Gate: During the 2011 NFC Championship Game, permanently beleaguered Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler suffered a sprained MCL against the rival Green Bay Packers. Cutler didn't return to the game after a three-and-out on Chicago's opening second-half drive, and the Bears lost, 21-14.
Gate Weight: People tend to hate Jay Cutler because he has a face that says, “I’d rather be napping,” and on-field production that says, “Jeff George is my role model.” The so-called controversy lived briefly after the game, but faded as fast—like the Bears' playoff chances do most seasons.
AC-Gate
3 of 25
Gate Date: June 2014
Gate Mate(s): Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs
Gate Rate: Two thumbs down
Straight Gate: In Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals in San Antonio, the air conditioning in AT&T Center malfunctioned and temperatures inside the facility soared into the 80s. LeBron James was afflicted with cramps in the fourth quarter and the Heat lost the game. So naturally, the entire city of Miami melted down in a conspiracy theory frenzy.
Gate Weight: This one has slightly more weight behind it, only because the AC breaking actually was a pretty big deal. The sweltering temperatures also likely played a large role in James' cramps, giving a public full of haters yet another reason to obsessively hate on LeBron.
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Toothgate
4 of 25
Gate Date: January 2015
Gate Mate(s): Tiger Woods, Lindsey Vonn
Gate Rate: D-
Straight Gate: No stranger to controversy, once-great golfer Tiger Woods recently showed up to skier girlfriend Lindsey Vonn’s World Cup race in Italy—plus one Skeletor bandana and minus one tooth. According to Woods' agent, some aggressive cameramen at the event knocked out the golfer's missing tooth.
Gate Weight: Toothgate became a big deal, mostly because the story given by Woods’ agent didn’t sound all that credible. And it became even less credible after witnesses and event organizers flatly denied the account. That being said, Woods was involved, so the whole thing had legs as an international story.
Napgate
5 of 25
Gate Date: May 2010
Gate Mate(s): Ken Griffey Jr.
Gate Rate: 5 A-Rods out of 5 (which is bad, obviously)
Straight Gate: In 2010, a member of Ken Griffey Jr.'s own team, the Seattle Mariners, leaked to the media that he had been sleeping on the job. The unnamed player told The (Tacoma) News Tribune that Griffey was snoozing during the seventh inning of a Mariners home game.
Gate Weight: It doesn’t seem like a big deal on the surface. After all, who hasn’t fallen asleep during a baseball game? Under normal circumstances, the whole thing would’ve blown over, but just weeks later, Griffey announced his retirement. Napgate, in addition to a recent benching, reportedly were contributing factors.
Beergate/Chickengate
6 of 25
Gate Date: October 2011
Gate Mate(s): John Lackey, Josh Beckett, the Boston Red Sox's general lack of work ethic
Gate Rate: 2 out of 5 beers
Straight Gate: The Red Sox's infamous late-season collapse at the tail end of the 2011 season was truly epic—they had a nine-game cushion as of Sept. 3 and missed the playoffs. Weeks later, Bob Hohler of The Boston Globe released a report that revealed a culture of laziness within the locker room, particularly among the pitchers, who reportedly “drank beer, ate fried chicken and played video games in the clubhouse on days they did not start.”
Gate Weight: The story didn’t take long to blow over nationally, but there was serious fallout in Boston. General manager Theo Epstein and manager Terry Francona were both immediate casualties, while much of the underachieving team followed them out the door the following August, via a blockbuster (fire sale) deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Buttgate
7 of 25
Gate Date: July 2014
Gate Mate(s): Claude Giroux
Gate Rate: TV MA
Straight Gate: During the 2014 NHL offseason, Philadelphia Flyers captain Claude Giroux was arrested in Ottawa and spent the night in jail for “grabbing a male Ottawa police officer’s buttocks,” per Danielle Bell of the Ottawa Sun.
Gate Weight: Unfortunately, the term Buttgate didn’t really take off outside Philadelphia and various hockey blogs. But it should have, because it’s great. The hubbub quickly died down as Giroux has been keeping his hands to himself…off the ice.
Sodagate
8 of 25
Gate Date: November 2013
Gate Mate(s): Jason Kidd
Gate Rate: RC Cola (at best)
Straight Gate: Last season, then-Brooklyn Nets coach Jason Kidd generated the most controversy that has ever come from spilling a drink. It happened during what would be a loss to the Houston Rockets. Brooklyn was out of timeouts with just eight seconds left in the game, so Kidd decided to create one. While holding a cup of soda, Kidd had one of his players intentionally bump into him. Kidd spilled the soda onto the court, and the game had to be delayed while the soda was mopped up.
Gate Weight: Initially, Kidd insisted it was an accident, but he soon fessed up to spilling the drink on purpose. The NBA fined him $50,000 for the embarrassing shenanigan, while the Nets eventually shipped Kidd off to Milwaukee.
Tripgate
9 of 25
Gate Date: December 2010
Gate Mate(s): Sal Alosi, New York Jets
Gate Rate: Marginal/satisfactory (borderline)
Straight Gate: At the end of the 2010 season, the New York Jets engaged in some very questionable sideline behavior during a game against the Miami Dolphins. Then-strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi was clearly seen moving intentionally to trip Miami’s Nolan Carroll.
Gate Weight: Everything in the NFL is a big deal, so this was obviously a big deal, too. The league launched an immediate inquiry into the incident, resulting in a $100,000 fine levied against the Jets. Three years later, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was fined the same amount for his very own Tripgate.
Tattoogate
10 of 25
Gate Date: December 2010
Gate Mate(s): Jim Tressel, Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State
Gate Rate: 6 out of 10 incriminating emails
Straight Gate: In April 2010, then-Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel received the first bit of correspondence informing him that Buckeyes players had been trading signed memorabilia to a local tattoo artist in exchange for tattoos. In September, Tressel signed an annual statement for the NCAA, claiming he had no knowledge of any violations, a denial he would repeat to the media in December. Unfortunately for him, the story was only getting started.
Gate Weight: While the whole scandal was ridiculously overblown, as everything involving NCAA violations tends to be, the fallout was very substantial. Neither Tressel nor starting quarterback Pryor would be back the next season, as the former resigned in May 2011. Ohio State was hit with a one-year bowl ban, docked scholarships, given one year of probation and forced to forfeit “$338,811 in revenue sharing from the Big Ten Conference for its appearance in the 2011 Sugar Bowl.” In June 2014, former OSU president Gordon Gee said he thought “everyone won” in Tattoogate, which was probably news to Tressel and Pryor.
Seatgate
11 of 25
Gate Date: February 2011
Gate Mate(s): Super Bowl ticket holders, Dallas Cowboys, NFL
Gate Rate: 2.5 out of 5 tickets transferable to a future Super Bowl
Straight Gate: Four hundred fans who traveled to the Cowboys' newly constructed AT&T Stadium for Super Bowl XLV were told their seats were not yet ready and were moved to alternate seats or several of the venue’s bars. Those that eventually were allowed to go to their seats encountered potentially unsafe conditions.
Gate Weight: What real value does a ticket hold if it isn’t guaranteed? Things happen, but the fact the NFL knew about the problem but the affected didn’t find out until arriving is inexcusable. However, all the swag the NFL showered on the aggrieved fans likely softened the blow.
Stompgate
12 of 25
Gate Date: November 2011
Gate Mate(s): Ndamukong Sug, Detroit Lions; Evan Dietrich-Smith, Green Bay Packers
Gate Rate: 2.5 out of 5 flimsy explanations
Straight Gate: During the Detroit Lions' annual nationally televised Thanksgiving Day matchup, defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh stomped on the arm of Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith early in the third quarter. He was ejected, the team was penalized, and it was obviously a legit stomp. The NFL slapped Suh with a two-game suspension, but that didn’t dissuade him from an encore performance against the Pack in 2014.
Gate Weight: Suh hasn’t done much to rehab his reputation as a talented, but dirty, player. So while little about Stompgate is conspiratorial or ambiguous, it did remove the benefit of the doubt for any future incidents.
Shouldergate
13 of 25
Gate Date: June 1978
Gate Mate(s): John Clayton, Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh Steelers
Gate Rate: 4 out of 6 Lombardi Trophies
Straight Gate: John Clayton has been with ESPN for 20 years now, but back in 1978, he was a Steelers beat writer for The Pittsburgh Press. That May, he witnessed players at rookie camp practicing in shoulder pads during the offseason, something he quickly verified with the NFL league office as a rules violation. The team asked Clayton not to run with the story, but he did it anyway.
Gate Weight: This was a case in which the attempted cover-up was probably worse than the original offense, which cost the Steelers a third-round draft pick. It was a much bigger deal for Clayton, who was banned from the facility for six months and reportedly received a number of death threats from an incensed Steelers Nation. Then-Steelers coach Chuck Noll went so far as to accuse Clayton of espionage.
Bottlegate
14 of 25
Gate Date: December 2001
Gate Mate(s): Irate Cleveland Browns fans, NFL referee Terry McAulay
Gate Rate: 8 out of 10 Dawg Pounds
Straight Gate: Down 15-10 to the Jacksonville Jaguars late in the game, Browns quarterback Tim Couch spiked the ball after converting on fourth down. Referee Terry McAulay seemingly defied NFL replay rules by announcing that the catch made in play before the last was under review. The call was reversed, turning the ball over on downs, and Browns fans went bananas.
Gate Weight: Not only was the on-field decision to review a call after another play made on questionable grounds, the NFL's decision to send the teams back onto the field to take a knee, despite Browns fans raining down bottles and other debris, was almost worse—even sadistic.
Sausagegate
15 of 25
Gate Date: July 2003
Gate Mate(s): “Guido” the Milwaukee Brewers Italian sausage racer, Randall Simon
Gate Rate: 3.5 out of 5 stars in their natural casing
Straight Gate: During the Milwaukee Brewers’ customary seventh-inning stretch Sausage Race, Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Randall Simon lightly swung his bat into the 7-foot “Guido,” sending the foam-rubber meat-person tumbling down. That set off a chain of events that would profoundly impact the lives of those involved.
Gate Weight: Sure, you can’t help but laugh when you see Simon cause a giant sausage to crash into a giant hot dog, bringing both down. But he still hit an innocent person with a bat and was rightly questioned by local police after the incident.
Deflategate
16 of 25
Gate Date: January 2015
Gate Mate(s): Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, New England Patriots
Gate Rate: 2 out of 5 (deflated) footballs
Straight Gate: After the New England Patriots wiped the floor with the Indianapolis Colts in the most recent AFC Championship Game, allegations arose that accused New England of intentionally deflating footballs at some point during the game. Everyone freaked out (especially Mark Brunell) and the story dominated the news in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.
Gate Weight: Who really knows what, if any, wide-ranging consequences will come from this ridiculous sideshow? There’s no question that Deflategate was a huge national story, but the fact that the Patriots are denying everything and went on to win the Super Bowl seems to have diminished its significance. Or is it the other way around? Who even cares anymore?
Footgate
17 of 25
Gate Date: December 2011
Gate Mate(s): Rex Ryan, Michelle Ryan
Gate Rate: 7 out of 10 toes
Straight Gate: In late 2011, then-New York Jets coach Rex Ryan found himself, and his wife, Michelle, the subject of the one story for which he had absolutely no comment. It all began when Deadspin published what looked to be videos of Mrs. Ryan starring in a series of online foot fetish videos. Ryan never addressed the story directly, but his non-denial spoke volumes.
Gate Weight: The scandal definitely had legs (and feet!), carrying through the holiday season and into the playoffs. It reached its peak in mid-January, when then-Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker made 11 foot references in a press conference prior to a playoff game against the Jets. Although there may still be some lingering embarrassment for the Ryans, the story is basically dead.
Bitegate I, II and III
18 of 25
Gate Date: June 2014
Gate Mate(s): Luis Suarez
Gate Rate: 100 percent organic (which is good, but costly)
Straight Gate: During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Uruguay’s Luis Suárez's time in Brazil ended early after he bit Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini on the shoulder. Suárez probably would’ve had more luck pleading his case, if it wasn't his third offense!
Gate Weight: In addition to sparking a hilarious viral meme, Suárez felt the full weight of FIFA for his continued cannibalism attempts. He was fined over $111,000 and slapped with a four-month ban. Suárez appealed the punishment, which was ultimately upheld.
Spingate
19 of 25
Gate Date: September 2013
Gate Mate(s): Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman
Gate Rate: Pole position
Straight Gate: NASCAR was up to its eyeballs in bad blood. Clint Bowyer brought things to a boiling point in 2013 when he spun out his car at Richmond, preventing Ryan Newman from winning. Although he maintained it was an accident, Michael Waltrip Racing was later hit with an unprecedented $300,000 fine.
Gate Weight: This kind of drama is commonplace in NASCAR, but Bowyer’s Spingate did much more than keep Newman out of the championship field and fan his already heated feud with Jeff Gordon. It also triggered “the biggest credibility crisis” in the sport’s history, per The Associated Press (via Sports Illustrated) in 2014.
Clockgate
20 of 25
Gate Date: November 2001
Gate Mate(s): Michigan, Michigan State
Gate Rate: 9 out of 10 burning couches ablaze on the East Lansing horizon
Straight Gate: In their 2001 rivalry game with Michigan, Michigan State was down four points with just over two minutes remaining. Hope for a comeback seemed to expire on the 3-yard line for the Spartans, as time seemed to run out before they spiked the ball on second down. But they were miraculously spotted an extra second, perhaps by MSU clock operator “Spartan Bob,” which allowed them one extra play. That extra play turned into a touchdown pass to T.J. Duckett and a Michigan State win.
Gate Weight: Most of us have long put the controversy to bed, but Wolverine fans will never forget the upset. Michigan was 6-1 going into the game and ranked No. 6 in the country. Also, Spartan Bob still feels the fallout more than a decade later. He retired in 2003, as an NCAA rules change called for neutral clock operators. He has since relocated to Massachusetts, but still gets telephone threats from irate Michigan fans.
Tigergate
21 of 25
Gate Date: November 2009
Gate Mate(s): Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren, many mistresses
Gate Rate: A (For adultery)
Straight Gate: In the early-morning hours of the Friday following Thanksgiving 2009, legendary golfer Tiger Woods was involved in a car crash outside his Florida home that turned out to be much more than just a car accident. It was just the beginning of a scandalous cheating controversy that would eventually come to define him, perhaps, as much as anything he’s ever done on a golf course.
Gate Weight: Although the bottom has fallen out on his game and his reputation may never fully rebound, Woods was one of the biggest sports stars in the world at the time and remains so today. This was a scandal that was covered worldwide and played out over many months, as mistresses continued to come forward, and Nordegren eventually pulled the plug on the couple’s marriage.
Bountygate
22 of 25
Gate Date: March 2012
Gate Mate(s): New Orleans Saints, Gregg Williams, Sean Payton, Mickey Loomis, Jonathan Vilma, Joe Vitt, Roger Goodell, Paul Tagliabue
Gate Rate: TV MD (for manufactured drama)
Straight Gate: In early 2012, the NFL released the findings of an investigation into the Saints, which found many players on the team had funded a “bounty” program from 2009-11, violating league rules. Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended the crap out of everyone involved, fined New Orleans $500,000 and docked the team two second-round draft picks.
Gate Weight: Bountygate was obviously a huge story nationally, but the bigger story came later that year when former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was brought in to handle the player appeals. Tagliabue surprised everyone, most of all Goodell, with his decision to vacate all discipline taken by the league, calling the entire case “contaminated.” The Saints have long since put the Bountygate debacle behind them, but it continues to haunt Goodell. And deservingly so.
Sonicsgate
23 of 25
Gate Date: 2008
Gate Mate(s): Seattle SuperSonics, Howard Schultz, Professional Basketball Club LLC, Clay Bennett, etc.
Gate Rate: 9.5 out of 10 crying emoji faces
Straight Gate: In July 2006, Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Corp., sold the Seattle SuperSonics to an Oklahoma City-based ownership group. Publicly, the new owners said their intention was to keep the team in Washington, but it later emerged their plan all along was to relocate. In 2009, the documentary Sonicsgate was released, which chronicled the whole ugly incident.
Spygate
24 of 25
Gate Date: 2007
Gate Mate(s): New England Patriots, Bill Belichick, Eric Mangini
Gate Rate: James Harden (On a scale of Sidney Crosby to Brett Keisel)
Straight Gate: Coming off three Super Bowl wins (2001, 2003, 2004), the Patriots had already reached villain status when news broke that Jets coach Eric Mangini had accused Pats coach Bill Belichick, his former boss, of violating NFL rules by authorizing the filming of defensive signals. The whole thing blew up and ultimately resulted in the loss of a first-round draft pick, a league max $500,000 fine for Belichick and a $250,000 fine for the organization.
Gate Weight: The legacy of and fallout from Spygate still haunts the Patriots organization almost a decade later. It’s debated and discussed ad nauseam, particularly whenever New England makes a deep playoff run or finds itself embroiled in another (lesser) scandal, which is pretty much every year. Perhaps part of the reason it never seems to dissipate is because of Roger Goodell’s decision to “destroy” the evidence without ever making it public. That move haunts him as much it does the Patriots.
Ponygate
25 of 25
Gate Date: February 1987
Gate Mate(s): SMU Football
Gate Rate: 5 out of 5 footballs
Straight Gate: After several years of stunning recruiting success, the private school known as Southern Methodist University drew the evil eye of the NCAA. It was such a big deal that the “death penalty,” which had never been utilized prior and has never been utilized since, was used for the first (and perhaps last) time for a football program.
Gate Weight: Although Ponygate might not be as well-known as the term “Pony Express,” the SMU debacle was a very big deal and is still routinely discussed any time a college football program deals with serious infractions. Even today, there are still more revelations about the SMU era coming to light.
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