If you look at any picture of Golden Tate that was taken during last year's Super Bowl, it looks a lot like Tate has a black eye. The prevailing theory is that Tate got the black eye after Percy Harvin punched him in the face the night before the game.
Several media outlets have confirmed the Harvin punch, however, Tate says it never happened. "I didn't get punched in the face, that's all a lie," Tate told CBS Detroit.
It's possible we could just be talking about semantics here though. Harvin could have given Tate a black eye without punching him (Headbutt, elbow). Either way, Tate didn't want to talk about the subject of a possible fight with Harvin.
"It's all a drama and people need something to talk about," Tate said. "It's unfortunate what people are having to deal with who aren't involved... I don't want to draw attention to this organization over some things that happened in the past."
Although Tate wouldn't confirm that a fight happened, something definitely did happen. Former Seahawks fullback Michael Robinson, who was on the team last season, said he had to break up the fight.
"Something did go on at the Super Bowl that a lot of fans don't know about," Robinson said. "There was an altercation in the locker room between Percy Harvin and Golden Tate... There was an issue, I physically broke it up, I was there, you would have to ask those guys what they were arguing about, I'm not at liberty to talk about it. ...
Robinson also added that things were eventually ironed out.
"I talked to Percy and Golden and they ironed their situation out," Robinson said. "But again, you've been in locker rooms, these type of things happen all the time. Families fight."
Another former Seahawks teammate, Breno Giacomini, confirmed there was a fight. Giacomini, who's now a Jet, will be playing with Harvin in New York.
"They settled it. They got together and they settled it," Giacomini said of Tate and Harvin. "We went off and took the team photo then. Everyone was smiling. Why? Because it wasn't a big deal."
So we definitely know there was a fight, the only question left to answer is: Did Tate have a black eye and if so, how did he get it?