Many years ago, my little brother was playing Melee with me. He kept losing and eventually rageflung some stuff at me. Most of them hit me, but the controller missed and hit the wall behind me, busting the stick.
Years later long after we ascended to Brawl, it eventually started to wear out the pad on the stick and it eventually fell off. Hurt like hell to use it even before when it was just a tear in the pad, and it was apparently too porous to tape the damn thing back on, so I just stopped using it.
My other two working controllers, both crappy wireless ones, died at the same time (and less than a month before the second one began to stab me). I have no idea what happened to them, but the only thing I'd been using them for was Brawl.
The fifth one, which I bought after I didn't have any controllers left, was a complete piece of trash (also wireless) that I do not blame Brawl in any way for, but it still didn't work.
Nintendo does not know how to make a decent control stick. The N64 sticks we're too skinny and easily damaged, and the Gamecube sticks we're painful wads of some sharp material covered in a half-assed rubberish pad.
Also I am now prejudiced against wireless controllers.