Where's the plunger?

I enjoyed these anecdotes about the Edmonton Oilers and their relationship with Gerald Ford in today's Edmonton Journal:

[Gerald] Ford loved golf and played in several PGA Pro-Ams, but he had a propensity for sending the odd ball rocketing into unwitting crowds. He joked about his wayward shots, but he wasn't alone. In 1984, Wayne Gretzky had the same problem. He inadvertently plunked a fan during the Canadian Open Pro-Am. "It could be a race to see who hits the first spectator," kidded Gretzky, who admitted he was nervous playing with Ford, even more so than when he teed-off with hockey legend Gordie Howe.

Interesting that Gretzky would be nervous about golfing with Gordie. It's just funny to think about Gretzky being nervous at all; he always seems so self-assured.

Another time, Oilers winger Dave Hunter excused himself to go the washroom and was mortified when the toilet overflowed. "I looked around and said, 'geez, they must have a plunger somewhere,' but they didn't. There was water everywhere. The guys were hanging around outside the bathroom, and who started coming down the hall? Mrs. Ford,'' said Hunter. "I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed."

How completely and utterly mortifying in any situation- and how much worse is it when it's in a president's house. I bet the guys were cracking up.

The always nutty Esa Tikkanen got it in his head to try and play a practical joke on the president one night at Wally's Turtle. He wanted to sneak under a table and slap some ketchup on Ford's shoe, a fairly common activity for Tikkanen, who was a master of deception. He'd done it to coach Ted Green one day, which had everybody chuckling, but trying to elude the secret service would have been a chore. Also not very smart. "The players had to talk him out of doing it to a president," said [Craig] MacTavish.

Surely Tikkanen could come up with a better prank than that one? You wouldn't want to do anything too mean-spirited to the former president, but come on- ketchup on a shoe? That's lame. Those nutty hockey players!

I leave you with a haiku by John Poch and Chad Davidson from their book "Hockey Haiku":

See Craig MacTavish
See Craig MacTavish's hair:
helmetless, feathered.