Andre Rison
Andre "Bad Moon" Rison is a former American football wide receiver who played professionally for the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts. Rison was selected to the Pro Bowl five times, from 1990–1993 and once again in 1997.
Rison won a Super Bowl championship with the Packers in 1996 over the New England Patriots, scoring the first points of the game on a 54-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Brett Favre. He also won a Grey Cup championship with the Toronto Argonauts in 2004. He is one of the few players to win professional football championships in both the United States of America and Canada. He was released by the Argonauts during the 2005 CFL season. He holds an NFL record for scoring a touchdown with 7 teams.
He was a star player at Flint Northwestern High School and in college at Michigan State University. As a senior at Michigan State, Rison had 30 receptions for 709 yards and 5 touchdowns; he was a prominent contributor to the 1987 Michigan State squad that won the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1988.
Professional career
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts selected Rison in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft. In his rookie season, he caught 52 passes for 820 yards with four touchdown receptions.Atlanta Falcons
On April 20, 1990, the Indianapolis Colts traded Rison, Chris Hinton, a fifth round pick in the 1990 NFL Draft, and their first round pick on the 1991 NFL Draft to the Atlanta Falcons for their first overall pick and their fourth round pick in the 1990 NFL Draft. The Indianapolis Colts used the trade to move up to select Jeff George first overall in the 1990 NFL Draft. His next season marked the first of five very productive campaigns with the Falcons. During these years, Rison finished near the top of most receiving categories, and led all NFL players with 15 receiving touchdowns in 1993. Andre Rison was only the 5th Receiver in NFL history to score 60 touchdowns in his first six seasons. Rison led the NFL in most receptions in his first four and first five seasons. Rison was second in the NFL for most receptions in six seasons. During his final season in Atlanta, on June 9, 1994, his girlfriend at the time Lisa Left Eye Lopes from TLC burned Rison's house down.Cleveland Browns
After the 1994 season, Rison signed a lucrative free agent contract with Cleveland, where he was expected to become the featured receiving threat for the Browns, who had made the playoffs the year before. Rison, who had been named to the Pro Bowl in four of his previous six seasons, had career lows in receptions, yards, touchdowns, receptions per game, and yards per game. Rison also developed a feud with the Cleveland fans, who were angered over the announcement that the team would be relocating to Baltimore. After a home loss to the Packers, Rison, who had been booed by the fans throughout the game, lashed out, stating, "We didn't make the fucking move. So, for all the booers, fuck you too. I'll be glad when we get to Baltimore, if that's the case. We don't have any home-field advantage. I've never been booed at home. Baltimore's our home. Baltimore, here we come." Rison, however, did not make the move with the team to Baltimore as he joined the Jacksonville Jaguars in the offseason.Jacksonville Jaguars, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders
Rison had a very short stint with the Jaguars, and joined the Packers in 1996. He won a Super Bowl in his stint with the Packers. He signed with the Chiefs prior to the 1997 season. He made it to the Pro Bowl after a solid first year with the Chiefs. His 2nd season was less successful. In his final NFL season, with the Raiders in 2000, Rison had 41 catches for 606 yards and 6 touchdowns.Rison finished his NFL career with 743 receptions for 10,205 yards and 84 touchdowns, along with 8 kickoff returns for 150 yards and 9 carries for 23 yards.
Toronto Argonauts
He signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in August 2004, who went on to win the 92nd Grey Cup championship that year. He was released by the team in August 2005.Nicknames
Rison is also remembered for his life off the football field, which garnered him the nickname "Bad Moon" Rison from ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman, alluding to the song "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival.During his three-season stint with Kansas City, Rison was nicknamed Spider-Man and would often fake shooting a web, like Spider-Man after scoring a touchdown. Rison gave himself the nickname in part because he viewed Spider-Man as a positive character and wanted to be thought of as less of a headache and problem. His "Spider-Man" nickname has been named one of the best nicknames in sports history by Bleacher Report.
Life after football
Coaching
In the 2006–2008 high school football seasons, Rison was assistant coach at Beecher High School in Flint, Michigan. The head coach was Courtney Hawkins, Rison's former teammate at Michigan State.In March 2010, Rison was named the new head coach for Flint Northwestern High School's football team.
For the opening week of the 2010 and 2011 high school football seasons, Rison and Flint Northwestern faced off against Courtney Hawkins and Flint Beecher. Not only did these games showcase two former NFL players coaching at their alma maters, but the schools are so close geographically that it made for an intriguing and intense rivalry. The crowds came in large numbers for both games, which forced each game to Flint's 11,000 seat Atwood Stadium, instead of Flint Beecher's Russ Reynolds Field, or Flint Northwestern's Guy V. Houston Stadium. Beecher won the 2010 opener, 28–18, spoiling Rison's head coaching debut. The 2011 opener was a thriller, with Northwestern holding on for a 46-44 double overtime victory. In two years at Flint Northwestern, Rison's coaching the team showed noticeable improvement in his second season, nearly doubling their offensive output, and losing four of their games by a combined total of only nine points. In May 2012, Rison announced that he was leaving Flint Northwestern in order to complete his degree at Michigan State and join the football team as an assistant coach.
Andre Rison coached in 2014 for Skyline High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as the offensive coordinator, where he "led" them to a 0–9 record. He also coached his son Hunter Rison, who committed to Michigan State on April 1, 2016.
Other interests
Rison also trains wide receivers at the Andre Rison Football Academy, and he coached in the 2008 Hawaii All-Star Classic. Rison has also recently appeared on an episode of the MTV reality show Made. He worked to help a student become a high school varsity quarterback.Rison was a featured Pro on the second season of the reality show Pros vs. Joes on Spike TV, and also appeared in an episode of TNA Impact. He was at the center of the hexagonal ring, and then Abyss came out and Black Hole slammed Rison.
Rison appears prominently in the 2012 ESPN 30-30 documentary Broke about former professional athletes who squander their wealth. The film, directed and written by Billy Corben of Rakontur, was featured at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival as part of its TFF/ESPN Sports Festival, and is included in the second season of ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series.
On May 30, 2017, Rison was one of eight new inductees announced for the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in Detroit. The induction ceremony took place on September 15, 2017.
Personal life
Rison dated Lisa Lopes of TLC on and off from 1993 to 2001. Their relationship was rocky, with domestic violence allegations. During one altercation, Lopes attempted to light his shoes on fire in the bathtub resulting in his house burning down and her being charged with first-degree arson.Andre's son, Hunter Rison, played as a true freshman wide receiver for Michigan State University in 2017, before transferring to Kansas State University in 2018.