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End of an era, the passing of a legend |
WATERTOWN, MA - Watertown Waves FC said goodbye today to star striker Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The 38-year-old Mozart retires as a 2-time MVP after spending 20 seasons with the club. He is the club's all-time leader in matches (297), points (201), goals (156), X-11 appearances (110) and X-11 captain appearances (10). In the club's final match of the season, Mozart was carried off the field.
"We're sad to see him go." Said longtime manager Rockafowla. "For so many seasons, he carried us, and it was finally time we carried him."
Mozart arrived to the club as a cocky 18-year-old from the German youth league back in season 19. The club, then known as "Westend," was a bottom-tier club on Berlin's west side. Shortly after Mozart's arrival, manager Rockafowla came aboard.
"A lot of people say Wolf was cocky and a diva." Rockafowla said in a recent retrospective interview. "He was confident to me, the type of player who could take over a game at any moment."
Rockafowla gave Mozart his favorite shirt number, the number 11, and the two went on to have near immediate success. Former Westend veteran star defender Armin Trochowski, now the coach of the Waves youth organization commented:
"Mozart was a near surgeon of the set-piece and could put the ball anywhere he wanted." Trochowski said. "He turned so many free kicks into goals and allowed us to have quite a bit of success in those early years. Guys like me, Riccardo Bianchi and Charlie Button we all owe our careers to the Wolf."
"When Wolf arrived, our club was nothing, we were in the bottom of division eight." Fernando Cardinho, the club's first star said at his home in Milan. "We didn't even have real uniforms, nothing. Wolf changed all that."
Former star midfielder Sol Sefton was happy to interrupt his climb to the summit of Mount Everest when reached via satellite phone for this story.
"Wolf was my greatest friend," Sefton said while catching his breath. "I was the best man at his wedding. He deserves every honor and accolade for his great career. I owe him my life and wish him the most success in this new chapter of his."
Sefton and Mozart teamed up when Rockafowla decided to move the club to the east coast of the United States and a little village of Watertown, just outside Boston.
"It was a big risk." Hilmersson said. "We weren't sure how we would be received and had we not won or had we not had Wolf to win the crowd over, who knows where we would be today."
The initial trepidation of the move turned to triumph, as Mozart, Sefton, John Vanberg and others built the newly branded Watertown Waves FC into what it is today.
"We're a legitimate club now." Vanberg said "I can remember a time when we didn't have a practice facility and we were sneaking onto school playgrounds. Now we're one of the top 120 clubs in all of Xpert International, that's largely due to Wolf."
Mozart released a statement through his PR Firm, Radloff-Moreau-Dilweed Communications.
"It has been my honor to suit up in gray for 20 seasons. The good times have been plentiful, and the matches won have been many. I've treasured every moment of my time with Rockafowla and the dozens of teammates I've played with and come to know over the years. I wish the Waves the best of luck moving forward. I plan to launch a career as a movie star, model, mogul and motivational speaker. Please buy my book, "The Lone Wolf and his Wolfpack," due out next month. A movie deal is in the works and I plan to star in the picture as well. If by chance that doesn't work out, I'd still love to be involved with the Waves in some capacity. For now, it has been my privilege to play for you and I remind you that life is about finding the balance between melody and harmony. - Wolf."
Not to be outdone Rockafowla said that while no plans of adding Wolf to the Waves front officer were imminent, a statue of Mozart will be erected at the front of Watertown Arsenal Arena prior to the start of next season.
"I first met him in a cubicle in Illinois in 2010." Rockafowla said, shedding a tear outside the Waves locker room. "He's been with me for 20 seasons (four years time) and has seen me grow up from a young 20-something into a man. Since that time, I've gotten married, had multiple jobs, moved across the country, welcomed a baby into my family, and had countless other life adventures that are too specific and too grand to include here.
He's been with me on a boat in the middle of mediterranean on my honeymoon as I updated my lineup. He's been with me in South Korea as I poured over his stats. I paused for him in Paris in the middle of the Louvre shopping mall to watch him dominate FC Seven Club in a fantastic upset. He's been with me in the delivery room and with me in the funeral parlor. "
Confused reporters looked on, bewildered to ask a follow-up before Rockafowla, followed-up:
"He's done everything I've ever asked of him. He's been everything I've ever wanted. He's taken me on a journey. And he will be greatly missed."
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