Stickum is not a big deal. They're were many players that used it on both sides of the ball back in the day. And Jerry Rice with or without it is still the best Wide Receiver the game has ever seen.
Thats not the point. Rice admitted to using a banned foreign substance to gain a competive advantage, and help him catch balls. But then has also said that Patriots cheated and should have an asterik placed besides their championships, for the exact same reason.
His qoutes on the Patriots using deflated footballs:
‘I’m going to be point blank, I feel like it’s cheating,†“Because you have an edge up on your opponent and its unfortunate that it happened.
“I’ve played in cold weather, I know how hard the football is and you can grip the leather [if deflated] just a little bit better.â€
His quote on using Stickum
“I know this might be a little illegal, guys, but you put a little spray, a little stickum on them, to make sure that texture is a little sticky,â€
Don't these seem to be pretty similar to you? Seriously he is throwing stones in a glass house.