Robert "Goose" Greenawalt

Taking some time off from college, Manhattan native Robert Greenawalt joined the Lions back in ’92. And while he’s disappeared now and then for stints as a rapper in Croatia, student at Columbia, and ski bum in Vermont, he’s never really stopped playing for the Lions. In fact, Greenawalt has probably played as many Lions matches as anyone in club history.

But if the name doesn’t sound familiar, there’s a good reason for it. Upon joining the club, Greenawalt was promptly dubbed “Goose” for an unorthodox (some would say unsightly) running style, and the nickname never left. Now 34 and an attorney, Beavis lookalike Goose still plays fullback, wing and occasionally flyhalf for the Lion Kings. Recently married to a Brazilian charmer named Carla, Goose talks about his bad case of snapping scapula, rapping at his wedding, and doing the Running Man when it was still cool.

A PINT WITH: How did you end up with the Lions?
GOOSE: I was taking a semester off from college. I’d recorded this rap song that was promoting awareness about the war on Croatia. I was walking around the Village with a guy I’d played with for the Swarthmore Evil Buzzard Rugby Club, and he said, “That’s a rugby bar. There are cool guys in there.” So I walked into the Red Lion, and I was told to come out to practice.

APW: You’re one of the longest-running Lions. How much longer will you play?
G: Assuming my Snapping Scapula Syndrome doesn’t act up, I plan to keep playing for as long as I can.

APW: What the f*** is Snapping Scapula? It sounds like some scary-ass animal.
G: It’s kind of like, if you crack your knuckles...If I move my shoulder, it’s the sound my shoulder blade makes.

APW: Was the team pretty thin in your early days?
G: No, my first few seasons, we had a full A and B side -- I was lucky to get a half in the B game. The club had just formed, and we were working our way up. I remember going to a playoff game, when we advanced to the second division. We’d walk into the back of the Red Lion and we just owned the place. Alan Whelan would insist we stay in the back of the bar so his regular customers wouldn’t see us – he kept us there by giving us discounts.

APW: Were you one of the few Americans?
G: Dennis Martin was there, Andy Gonzalez, Chris Ratay, Marty, Kieran, of course -- there was a big St. John’s contingent. These guys were all wet behind the ears, playing in the B side. Alan would bring these foreigners over to work the bar, but they’d only come for the fall season. So in the spring season, some of the B side guys would play A side.

Alan liked to schedule us against tough competition, even in the spring. One of the last games he scheduled was the famous Downing Stadium game on Randalls. We looked at these touring Welsh guys and said, “They’re really big. They are REALLY big.” But they took one look at the field and said, “We can’t play, we have jobs to go home to.” So the Lions played against each other in 10s.

I recall a conversation that you had with one of the Welsh guys. He was asking what you were doing for a living, and you said, well, I’m a writer, and I’m working on this and that. Then you asked what he did, and he said, “I’m a plumber. Think there’s much opportunity for me here?”

Then we took them to Hogs and Heifers, where they were completely out of place.

APW:What keeps you coming out?
G: I still love the game, and I love the guys. Like that bumper sticker that says, I’d rather lose at rugby than win at softball. I have won at softball, and it’s true – I’d rather lose at rugby.

APW: How did you end up with a hip-hop hit? Or was it just called rap back then?
G: No, it was hip-hop. It was originally hip-hop. And there are certain Lions that carry that spirit on today. Trezza…

APW: You’re gonna get him started…
G: I wanna give props to Trezza.

I grew up in New York City and I knew how to do the Running Man. This was back when people admired those who could do the Running Man – it was before Vanilla Ice ruined the Running Man for white boys everywhere. I was at Swarthmore and these guys wanted me to be the singer in their band. I said I don’t really sing that well, and they said, no, you got the moves.

APW: Could you do the Roger Rabbit?
G: I could do a bunch of that stuff.

APW: How about the Screaming Viking?
G: No, that was…

APW: I made that up. That was from “Cheers.” It was a cocktail they made up.
G: No, we had a Screaming Viking on the Lions. What was his name, Rolf? He’s married in Minnesota. He used to come to parties and say, “I’m a Viking, I’m a Viking.” And this woman who caused me the most …this woman I dated for two years, he brought her to a party.

APW: You stole the Screaming Viking’s woman…
G: Alright, back to me. Let’s talk about me for a while [LAUGHS]. So I wrote this rap song, and when I showed up in Croatia, I’d go to the clubs and talk to the DJ. I told him I was a rapper, and the DJ said, [IN CROATIAN ACCENT]: “Oh great. You write lyrics for me! You and I will sing on Saturday night!”

So I did. I wrote this stupid get-up-and-dance song – this was like ’89 –

APW: This was after the Beastie Boys…
G: Yeah. “Fight For Your Right to Party” was out. It was pre-Vanilla Ice. De La Soul had come out with “Three Feet High and Rising,” Public Enemy was big. So when I returned to Croatia every summer, I would do these little club gigs. Then the war was about to start, so I decided to write a political song.

APW: Let me hear you rap in Croatian.
G: The song had a chorus that was “Oh Slobobidan kdj37dk%*dks pdjf>&rw [SOME CROATIAN STUFF],” which means, “Free us from Slobo.” Then it was “kdu*$sakad adhfadfaeick(*&&$dk [MORE CROATIAN STUFF],” which is “Croatia’s gotta be free.”

I recorded it in Philly and we sent it to the main radio station in Zagreb, and then found out they played it 18 times the first six hours. It went to #2, in between U2’s “The Fly” and Guns ‘N Roses’ “Don’t Cry.”

APW: Did you ever get money for it?
G: I qualified to be a member of the Croatian Society of Record Producers, but the royalties were like $16, and the annual fee was $32.

APW: Were you recognized in Croatia?
G: I mentioned the town that I’d go to in the song, so people there knew who I was, but it wasn’t like I was a huge star. Though I did a few shows in the U.S., and had my first groupie experience.

APW: Go on…
G: We were flying to Chicago to do a show at the Croatian Cultural Center, and it was first-class Croatian style: Philly to Pittsburgh to Cleveland to Chicago. On the last leg of the flight, we met these girls who were wearing Croatian motorcycle jackets. They were like, are you guys the band?, and we said yes. Then we got there and they put us all in one room at a Howard Johnson’s in Urbana, Illinois.

APW: Do you still bust rhymes anymore?
G: No. My last performance was at my wedding, to my wife.

APW: “Roses are red—”
G: No, no, no. No, no, no. “I was a ball of trepidation/Should I invite her to the Lions celebration?”

APW: Is the next line about masturbation?
G: No. When I met Carla, I was looking for a date for the Lions’ formal. I met her at the International House at Columbia.

APW: You met your wife at IHOP?
G: No. The International House at Columbia University. She was there for a student’s birthday party. So was I.

APW: How did you end up with the nickname Goose?
G: My gait. I was running down the pitch, and Kevin Shuker yells out, “He looks like a Goose!” And it stuck. I absolutely hated it. I was like, why do you have to call me Goose? Other players have cool nicknames, why am I Goose?

I took a season or two off from the Lions when I went back to school. But when I returned, I was welcomed back by Thierry Langlais seeing me and yelling, “GOOOOOOSE!” And I learned to love the name.

Some Lions out there only know me as Goose, which is good, because it means anything I do will stay separate from my legal practice.

Quick Facts:

• Hometown: NYC
• Occupation: Lawyer
• Favorite Beer: Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout
• Most Valuable Teammate: Yoshi – “YMCA” will never be the same
• Best Lions Memory: Best and worst: October 2001, coming back from two tries down in the last five minutes against Danbury after they sent one of ours to the hospital with the dirtiest play I have ever seen on a rugby pitch.
• Tupac or Biggie: Rakim