For eight years, TJ Lang was a force on the Packers' offensive line and a troublemaker in their building.
"I would just create havoc in the locker room," Lang said on the most recent episode of the Necessary Roughness podcast with fellow former offensive lineman Jon Jansen.
"I would always be the sneaky kind of prank guy," said Lang. "Some of the classic football pranks. Filling somebody's cleats up with soap and shampoo so when they sweat at practice, they have bubbles leaking all out of their cleats. Standing on the sideline and dumping baby powder into somebody’s helmet as they hold it next to them so when they put it on, they get a cloud of white dust all over their head."
Other times, Lang was more devious. And he liked to target Aaron Rodgers, who Lang said "was quite a prankster himself."
"I’d go up to Aaron’s locker and pour a bunch of baby powder over everything -- it would piss guys off and it’s something so stupid -- and then he’d come into the locker room and I’d go up to him like, 'Hey, don’t tell him I told you this, I saw John Kuhn messing with your locker.' And then I would just watch it. I’d watch Aaron go to Kuhn’s locker and fu*k with his sh*t and then John would come in, 'Who did this!" And then everybody cleared out and I’d (tell Kuhn), 'Hey, don’t tell him I told you this, I saw Josh Sitton doing it.' I would just create havoc in the locker room. Everybody’s messing with each other’s sh*t and it was nobody’s fault but mine," said Lang.
Lang, a two-time Pro Bowl guard, said he also loved playing pranks in the dorms where the Packers stayed during training camp. He said the night before a day off from practice "is when you had to keep your eyes open, because that's when the scavengers came out."
"Just the classic 20-gallon garbage cans filled with water leaned against the door so when they open in the morning, there's just a wave of water coming into the room. I didn’t even know you could buy this, I think there was 1,000 crickets involved one time that got released into a room," said Lang. "You see some anger, though. You find out who can take a joke and who can’t in the NFL.
"But those were aways good, man. I took the most pleasure out of being the guy that started all the sh*t and then watched everybody else wreak havoc. You’re just sitting there twiddling your fingers, watching it laughing and nobody knew."