My gaydar (which isn't very reliable) often beeped when I looked at Marc Messier, but I never would have believed that Troy Aikman is gay. I remember after the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan scandal, Troy Aikman allegedly wanted to meet and go out with Nancy Kerrigan....beard material, I imagine.
Mr. Pippin grew up in the same area as former Blackhawk/Winnipeg Jets hockey player Bobby Hull. He knew of their family; it was a small farming community about two hours east of Toronto. Everyone knew about Bobby Hull.
Mr. Pippin would not lie about people, and he told me that Bobby Hull not only was an alcoholic, but he also physically abused his wife.
Mr. Pippin said that he did not touch his kids, though.
When Mr. Pippin was a kid, he used to run into Bobby Hull frequently, because one of his uncles worked the concession stand at a local hockey arena, and his uncle knew the Hulls.
Mr. Pippin once had to attend a legal hearing regarding an incident where he works, and the hearing was held in a large hotel downtown (Montreal). This was several years ago. It was the hotel where players from the then Quebec Nordiques were staying (I believe that they are now basically The Colorado Avalanche).
Mr. Pippin rushed out that morning without eating, and wasn't there a huge buffet set up in an area just past the elevators on the fifth or sixth floor of the hotel for the Nordiques players to nibble from? Mr. Pippin sidled over to the buffet and was just about to help himself to some shrimp when, in his words, "a penguin came over and asked if I was with the team." It was a waiter dressed in black and white, with a hoity-toity attitude.
Since Mr. Pippin's attire is casual (at best) I suggested that he might have answered, "Yes, I am, I drive the Zamboni at the Forum." He never did get his grub, but he met Joey Sakic, and reported that he is nicest, most humble guy imaginable. He was very impressed. He said that Sakic, despite his talent, was very quiet and polite. Mr. Pippin said that he was super nice.
He met one of the goons, too, on the Nordiques team. He wasn't with the team for a long time, Craig Llewellyn. They'd played one game in Montreal, and the Nordiques beat the Canadiens. Mr. Pippin teased Llewellyn, and taunted him, "You may have beat us the other night, but your luck is going to run out!"
Llewellyn, according to my trusty DH, is just as much of a goon IRL as he is on the rink. Llewellyn actually blustered, thrust his shoulders forward, hunched over and snapped, "It isn't just a matter of luck!" He was almost bouncing. Everyone around laughed. Mr. Pippin opined that he was an absolute moron. "Talk about all brawn and no brains!" he spat, when he related the story to me.
He also saw Mats Sundin exiting the elevator, looking rather worse for the wear. He said Mats Sundin is smaller IRL than one would imagine (I notice that we do tend to think that people in the public eye are larger than life). He also noted that Sundin had very thinning blond hair and was balding...(Meow!) Maybe we should get Mr. Pippin to join us. He can be very catty and scathing.
Mats Sundin wasn't alone, either.
It was about 10:30 in the morning and the rumpled Sundin exited the elevator in the company of a cheap hooker!
Mr. Pippin also grew up and fought Sandy Hawley, the jockey, when he was in high school and beat him. This was in wrestling. We met Sandy Hawley a few years ago when he was doing some promotional work at The Bonaventure Hotel downtown. He is extremely nice and generous as a person. He's only about my height (5'4", if that) and he is very very slender. Of course, jockeys are usually small.
He told us that he is a strict vegetarian. Likes his beer, though, as it is absolutely un-Canadian for any soul born in Canada not to. I sup it down like it's mother's milk myself on the weekends.
We invited him to our table to share some beer, and poor Sandy Hawley was so tempted to join us, but he couldn't due to his tight schedule. I teased him about Bill beating him during the wrestling match (which was an Ontario provincial competition, Mr. Pip came in second) and winked at Sandy, and whispered, "Let him have his moment of glory."
We left the Bonaventure Hotel with all sorts of memorabilia, autographed Sandy Hawley posters, etc.
The press was there, taking photos. They took pics mainly of the hard-core gamblers, with their mugs glued to the horse-racing on the many screens in the room.
Holy Moly, more of this stuff is coming to me, now that I think of it.
I met Bob Gainey several years ago, and he is a real gentleman, very kind. He was supping a beer at one of the haunts I used to go to sup my ale, sitting very quietly at the bar in a humble way. I happened to be at the bar with a friend of mine, and she's a hockey fanatic. She spotted Gainey and blustered, "Pip, you've got to go over and his autograph for me....I just can't do it."
I'd never heard of Gainey (as a Canadian, I know, I should be mortally ashamed.)
"Who the hell is he?" I asked.
Once my friend explained who he was, I took her book and her pen and sidled over to Bob Gainey. He looked as if he was in a world of his own, being so quiet. I very gently touched his elbow and asked him for his autograph.
This man is a class act.
And so down to earth, too. "Who shall I write it to?" he asked, smiling at me. "Could you please write it to 'Susan'?" I asked. He wrote a really nice message and signed it "Love, Bob Gainey."
I smiled and thanked him for doing it, and he answered, "It's my pleasure, Susan."
"I'm not Susan," I answered him.
Bob Gainey started to tease me, "Sure you're not!" It was actually very funny. He twisted around in his bar stool, regarded me seriously and shook his head. "Some people are shy, Susan. It's okay."
It could have easily slipped into a Pythonesqe skit with Gainey, he seemed like the type. "BUT I HATE SPAM YOU CAN 'AVE MINE I'M NOT SUSAN!"
I think he was bored and welcomed the deviation. "There's Susan over there," pointing her out, as she was hugging the wall, trying to look inconspicuous. "I'm Pippin."
I really liked him, and have not forgotten how playful and nice he was. When I heard about his wife and his daughter passing away, I felt awful. Why do rotten things happen to good people? I wanted to kick something.
I also knew Peter Mahovlich from those days. I used to see him all the time. Now he was HUGE! He was very tall. He used to like his beer, as most proud Canadians should, and he'd drink copious amounts of it. He used to get very drunk. He was the most good-natured drunk I think I have ever met, though, he really was. He was very playful and cheerful, no matter how polluted he got. He'd reel around and grab my arm sometimes if I was standing in his general area, to steady himself. Like someone of my height and weight could steady that alkie!
"Hands off, Mahovlich!" I'd threaten.
Very good-natured guy. He would literally get up and dance on the bar when he'd had a certain amount to drink, and that was often.
I remember one more hockey player, Guy Lapointe. Unlike Sakic, Bob Gainey, Mahovlich, this guy was the ultimate jerk.
He had an overinflated view of himself and thought he was King ****. He tried to pick me up at the watering hole once, and was so conceited that he sent a flunkie over to do his bidding. I've never encountered anything like it and hope I never do again.
The flunkie edged over and smarmed, "Mr. Lapointe would like to meet you."
Flunkie was sent back with a message for "Mr. Lapointe" that wasn't very friendly.
I am sorry that this post is so long but all these memories came flooding back.
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