PLAYER FOCUS on....."Johnaldo"!

Unfortunately, it's my turn for the horror that is player focus. This is good fun when you are writing about other players but when it's about yourself..... not so good! Anyway, i turned my well thought out answers over for Jodinho's cerebral analysis and pithy comments. I promised not to edit what he wrote but simply post it..... so....here it is.......!

John "Das Boots" was one of the charter members of the Madison Celtic Club, and he has been a mainstay of the team both on and off the field since the beginning. Having grown up in Scotland he brings enthusiasm and skill each week and is always willing to make sacrifices for the team. In honor of Johnaldo's dedication and contributions to the team a consensus was formed to wear his much-loved Glasgow Celtic's colors. Johnaldo continues to be a season ticket holder for his homeland team, and he regularly attends many of their games. Johnaldo plays solidly in the back, but sometimes reminds his team mates that he is accustomed to playing mid or striker. (He even went so far as to demonstrate some of his scoring abilities over this past summer.....)

And now a few questions answered by the Golden Boy himself:

First time you played soccer? Of course, it was called football in those days and i think i was about 3 years old. I had conquered eating, walking and stuff like that and the next thing on my list was kicking a ball which i have now done for more years than i care to remember. (We'd like to stop counting too...).

Fav Team? Really, i need to answer this one? I was born a Celtic fan and will no doubt die a Celtic fan. I can remember my first ever game going to see Celtic in the sixties. They were the best team in Europe then and those years set a high standard for Celtic to live up to. (It's always good to have memories of the good times....)

Fav Player? I have seen so many great players up close while watching Celtic in Glasgow...most recently Christiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Del Piero, Ronaldinho, Henry, Gerrard to name a few. I was also at the Scotland Argentina game when the 19 year old Maradona scored his first goal for Argentina! But my fav players are Jimmy Johnstone and Henrik Larsson! (Any Scottish players that you care to mention? Oh, that's right, the field of choices is very, very narrow....)

Fav Music? Snow Patrol, Foo Fighters, Black Eyed Peas, Kaiser Chiefs,Nickelback, Oasis, U2, Simple Minds, Keb Mo, Mary J Blige, Jack Johnson, Sting, Keane, Lily Allen, Duffy. (Maybe we should've asked who you don't like....)

Fav Movie? Depends on my mood: for entertainment i enjoy the Harry Potter movies, Bourne series, Star Trek stuff, Amelie, Gladiator, Shaun of the Dead, Lord of the Rings,The Great Escape, Mississippi Massala... More serious movies that i loved; Hotel Rwanda, Rabbit Proof Fence, Das Boot....... (Harry Potter?? (listed first no less) This explains a lot......)

Best moment on a soccer field? Scoring the winning goal in the University sevens final. The team got so drunk after the game the only thing i can now remember about the day was the goal. (Yup, that was something....)

Nickname at school? Well mostly "Housty", sometimes Tex. (Now that's original! No "Son of Sam" (Houston)? That's right, he came along well after your ancient childhood!)

Motto for life? Always look on the bright side of life....da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum (The Celtic fight song?)

Something we don't know about you? I played trumpet in my high school band and we won a UK version of "America's got talent" called "New Faces". A TV star and fame, all at an early age.....it's a wonder i am so normal......Please form an orderly line for my autograph.... (Very impressive....We're sure you'll be treated differently now.....)

Thank God, that's over! Some nice comments from Jodinho though, proving that bribery does work! That's the last Player Focus, and probably the last post, of 2008, but we will be back in 2009 with some new amazing insights from Roniildo, Fribeka, Tom the Coach, Hamid The Enigma, Jerry and many more!...stay tuned!

Have a Great Christmas and Happy New Year....and try to keep fit!

Player of the Fall, Awards! Best Defender

After a sweeping poll win for Roniildo as best midfielder we come to the really hotly contested poll.....Best defender of the Fall! Last Spring the poll winner, El Gato, was surrounded by a swirl of accusation and counter accusation as his shock poll win was investigated for poll rigging and bribery....after an extensive review his win was allowed to stand! After switching to goalie for the Fall it's safe to say we could have our first clean election for best defender!

After losing several potential winners through injury, the candidates are:
La Boca, The Heckelator, Tom the Coach, Tom the Pink, Hamid the Enigma and finally Johnaldo ( Das Boots). I know who my winner is, but will it match yours? Over to the fans for the final decision!

And welcome to Behrooz who is now an official "Blog Follower"!

Player of the Fall, Awards! Best Midfielder

Yes the blog is still active! Another tough poll, after the run away victory of RoRo for best striker.... it's now "best midfielder of the Fall season"! The spring winner was Jodinho and well deserved too! So will his strong Fall performance allow him a repeat win, or will some of the fantastic midfield performances from others get the nod? Roniildo has scored 6 goals this season and had some stand out performances, or Carlito who probably has more assists than any other player in the team. Fribeka ( La Boca Junior!) has also had his moments along with Jerry and Stuart. So it's now down to the fans to decide.....who is the best midfielder of the Fall?!

PLAYER FOCUS on...."Scotty"

Happy St Andrew's Day...the patron saint of Scotland!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Still a day to go on the best striker poll! Make sure you vote....RoRo is way in the lead! I've also added a couple of new features to the blog. The first is the video bar which i have now made more Madison Celtic related....i have loaded up some video of us playing! There is also some video from my camera phone at Celtic park. I have some more video which i will load soon. Also, there is now a "followers" bar which allows you to put yourself down as a follower of the blog. You can be anonymous or use those great nicknames that you all have now....go on, be brave and give it a try! I will also re-explain how to post a comment shortly using the comments feature at the bottom of every post. Anyway, enough of that ...on with player focus!!


This high flying player missed the Spring season but came back to full effect during the Fall. Equally comfortable up front or in a battling midfield position, Scott "Scotty" the ...erm..."Scot", has knocked in 3 goals and quite a few assists. He has the potential to challenge Danny and Fribeka for their titles of La Boca and La Boca junior but so far they remain the top dogs for vocal pyrotechnics. So what else should we know about Scotty?...read on as he beams me up to his World for an in depth interview.


First time you played soccer? Age 7, my first game was indoor, I scored 5 or 6 goals and was hooked from then on. It was like playing against Killingworth.... ( first game and you remember all those goals, huh? so, what were you wearing that day? what was the weather like? what did you have for dinner? no, really... i believe you can remember it....i do )


Fav team? NY Cosmos, really! I went to every game I could and played summer league with a couple of the players. Was great growing up watching Pele, Beckenbauer, Chinaglia and Carlos Alberto (my college coach coached the Cosmos in the 1970's, so I had an affinity for the team even after the NASL folded, and unfortunately had to endure some of the same workouts he put Pele through!) (i can see some of that Pele training in your style of play......ha ha...i know, I'm laughing too)


Fav player? Franz Beckenbauer, "der Kaiser", that was one great German footballer! ( he's not as good as Das Boots)


Your nickname at school? "Scotty"....and only my soccer team mates were allowed that privilege! ( and Scotty it will be....sorry about the beam me up thing...)


Fav music? Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (I'm from New Jersey,what did you expect? You gotta problem with that?) (Whaddya tawkin, stunad? Fuhgeddaboutit!)


Fav movie? Toss-up, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid or No Country for Old Men ( both very happy endings!)


Best vacation? Taking the wife and kids to Europe in 2007, great trip....was very expensive so now I play soccer for money - I'm still waiting on my first check from Tom......( so am i ! )


Best moment on a soccer field? Scoring the winning goal against our arch rival with under a minute remaining in the 1983 county championship semifinal, we went on to win the final (then we lost in the state championship 2-0, that sucked)

Motto for life? Don't take it too seriously and have fun

Something we don't know about you? I'm actually bald and not in very good shape ( i don't know how to break this too you but.....)


Christiano Ronaldo or Kaka? Ronaldo ...didn't he help knock Celtic out of Europe? ( yeah yeah and a few other players too....a bad European run this year )


Thanks Scott for the revealing, inside view of the player that is known to all as ....... "Scotty"!