Hoops

Hodge stomping on Maher's signature

Cheers for the link hereschenes
again good work Wortho...shudder..

Hey, I thought this was a pretty cool post from Mark Worthington. Kudos to Wortho!

Would love a psychologist to have a quick look at hodge24 and post a few comments.

I feel it is pretty sad if that is the case.

A psychologist would have a field day with all this!

Pretty sure that's the "man" himself, JT. It's his official Twitter account, linked from his official website.

Btw, this is one of my favourite Hodge posts on his website's blog - I love it how he put his name on the top of his own Star Players list! "Yay for me!"

Hereschenes,
iz dat da man? or iz it just another pretender?

Surely it's just someone pretending to be Hodge. I mean, the vocabularly skillz and the general comments on that twitter account is something I would expect from a 15 year old trying to be cool.

Do you expect me to believe that a responsible 26 year old father would twitter those words?

Some interesting updates from Hodge's Twitter:

One of my favorite songs of all time by Kirk Franklin is?? Drum-roll... "STOMP"! LOL!.Okay,okay, I'm done.. Just joking Brett its all love!

What was that dwarf's name again? Happy?..NO! Sleepy?..NO! Oh I remember STOMPY.. Yea that gotta be it lol..

It was in JEST! I was enjoying the moment like I always do..Daaanggg! Anyway.. Running the beach in a few-makes me STOMP the sand out.

Perhaps a banner for the next home game televised on Fox saying:

ATTENTION: NBL
Racist accusations from a Juvenile Disrespectful Player without evidence DOES NOT make Adelaide fans racist. A formal apology is demanded.

Let all of Australia see how the Adelaide fans feel about this stinging attack.

Hodge’s allegations of racial taunting following the game are a serious concern and we will work closely with the 36ers and venue security staff to identify any individuals who may have used racial slurs against Hodge,” said Harmison. “There is absolutely no place for that sort of behaviour in the NBL or indeed in our society.”

Would have been interesting to hear the Melbourne boys at practice this week in regards to their attitude to what Hodge did Saturday, and in response to the racist claims as you said Isaac.

Have any racist claims been established as true yet, or was it the typical smoke and mirrors bullshit?

Glad the Sixers take the high road here, but we come out of it as the bad guys IMO. Do we go from the most knowledgable crowd to the most racist/feral now?

I think you are referring to the specially made toilet paper at the stadium with Hodge's image on it ;)

Is there any truth that someone has organised a banner with Hodge's face on it we can wipe our feet on as we enter the stadium on Saturday night?

Glad the Sixers take the high road here, but we come out of it as the bad guys IMO. Do we go from the most knowledgable crowd to the most racist/feral now?

Wow!!

What a massive joke of a decision!!

on one hand we get a Harmison going on about how juvenile and disappointing the act was and how it disrespected Maher.. i'd also add the 36'ers, basketball in the state and I'd go as far as Basketball in this country as Brett's legacy and standing is right at the top of this and as even Anstey and Worthington have stated it was out of line.

Not to mention the provocative nature and how it could of incited something very serious.. Hodge was trying to get at the cup thrower until he was pulled away.. other codes in this country would at least ask for an explanation from the club and take it from there at the minimum!!

so the 36ers didn't make a complaint so thats it!! now I'm not up on the rules unfortunately but surely that should not be up to the 36'ers!! the league needs to take responsibility for it code and players (along with the clubs additionally, so i will be interested if the Tigers have more to offer..)

And KingJames i'd say if that was the case then bring it on, if both have offended them fine them both i say.

So after all this what we have is the loss which now hurts more!!, Hodge feeling pretty pleased with himself after getting one over the club (long term who knows for the guy what it will do) and significantly Adelaide 36er fans have been accused of racism in all national media outlets and that may be the most significant thing to come out of it.

If true lets find out and catch them, but if no one else backs that up and it's just Hodge's word then that mud still sticks whether its true or not and that would be very sad for the club and fans

As far as I remember, Ninnis seemed to insinuate (either in the press conference or in the paper, I can't remember where) that there was no need for them to file a complaint as it should be a no-brainer for the NBL to press charges.

By Likky i mean Linky.

I would have used Linky, but am still waiting for the Likky Party.

Perhaps the Sixers should have lodged a formal complaint to force the issue?

What a joke. Typical of Chuck Harmless one.

Never mind - I found one. Thanks for the heads-up.

NBL issues ruling on Hodge incident

NBL has issued no penalties

Today's Boti (all include Hodge content):

Former 36er Julius Hodge says he was 'racially slurred' by Adelaide fans


Julius Hodge blows blows chance at redemption by playing race card

Common sense - and the plot - go missing (NBL weekly wrap)

NBL has issued no penalties.

KB's take on the whole Hodge saga before and after saturday night, i think its fairly balanced and makes a bit of sense, from reading this you can sort of understand why Hodge wasnt happy with Brett and the club but that doesnt make what he did right, as KB says 2 wrongs dont make a right.

http://insidethegametv.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/saturday-night-fever/

Hodge has spoke to The Age newspaper today...read this:

Link: http://linky.com.au/zz8qi

MELBOURNE Tigers' American import Julius Hodge said his post-game antics after an 87-84 win over Adelaide on Saturday night were part of a conscious move by the injury-plagued team to be 'a-holes' to help break their losing streak.

But there is much more...

After all the Hodge threads and comments, it took 3 DAYS for somebody to come out and say "I heard _____ get said as a racist remark."
It took 3 days to get a racist quote?
If it did happen I'm disgusted, but otherwise, I smell a rat.

So there were legit racist remarks?

Wow.

That's WAY WAY too far. If I heard that sh*t, despite how upset I was, I'd escort peeps outside the BMC myself.

NO Sixer fan would condone that - no chance in hell. And if that's what happened, then u have my genuine apology as a Sixer fan. Very embarrassed.

yeah wot stephon said

Great post Stephon.

I hope his fav coach Phil Smyth gives him a call, and a clip over the head for what he did, Smyth should explain to him how good and how much of a legend Maher is not just in SA but in Aus basketball, and how good a guy he is, I doubt Smyth would have been happy to see that and i hope he tells him that and gives him Mahers number to apologise.
Mr Hodge, drop the attitude and let your game do the talking, i dont think wortho and co will be happy about your actions and i doubt they will be wanting to apologise for you again, so if you dont wanna be cut at the end of the season let your game do the talking, sure wave your arms around and rev up the crowd and drop the occasional quote to the press, but go no further and do not disrespect legends of our league. I dare say if you behave like that again you will be sent home (at least at the end of the season) and not be signed by anyone else in the NBL.
The annoying thing was prior to that i (like many others im sure) had given him the benefit of the doubt, especially after maher backed him up saying management screwed up, sure he was gonna get booed and i thought he handled all the pre game attention and interviews since his arrival well and with class and humour, all he had to do was play the game, sure rev up the crowd during the game but just shake hands and leave afterwards, and all 36ers fans would have respected that as he can flat out play. If you wanna rev up the crowd but have some class just do what wortho does he wasnt the most popular guy in Adelaide but he showed some class once the game was over.

How long before the league make a decision- maybe by the end of the week?
The less time this story lingers for the better.

He's like a budgie with a mirror - identical mental capacity too.

Yes, his own reflection on that shiny polished hardwood.

The stomp reminds me of what we used to do to cane toads when I was residing in Qld.

Perhaps he wasn't trying to stomp the signature but saw a cane toad on the floor?

I agree with the sentiment, but that's cracked me up.

get a disctionary for christmas

Not to mention #24 now claiming "the Tigers were told to play like a-holes". Bit rich crying foul now.

Victorian - Adelaide absolutely has a small-town syndrome, and it's utterly frustrating much of the time. However, I think that has little-to-nothing to do with the events of Saturday night and their aftermath. Riding a villain playing away from home is a time-honoured tradition across many sports, in many countries. True, a small minority took things too far, (cup-throwing, spitting etc) and I hope they are caught and punished. But again, drawing lines between all of that and "small-town syndrome" is pretty ridiculous IMO.

He thinks it's good for the game- what would he know about what's good for the game in this country or anywhere else?
He can't even be a professional athlete- as if he spends a single second of his self-absorbed day thinking about what's good for the game.
Dickheaded shit-talking delusional asswipe.

I think he meant the crowd was sold-out to him in love. Or something.

(To do a quote thingy, start with <blockquote> and end with </blockquote> after the quote.)

Cheers hereschenes - getting painfull to read all these interviewss.

I gotta learn me how to do the quote thingy...

"I think the rivalry is good for the NBL. It was a sold-out crowd which was very good for the league and for the 36ers and for us," he said.
~#24

There were < 6,000 people at a nearly 8,000 seat stadium; does any of this guy's daily existence involve reality on any level?

Thanks Isaac, will have a read now.
Rip City, cheers for the heads up.

Same old attitude- he can antagonise the crowd but heaven forbid if he gets put in his place.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/6557483/hodge-claims-racial-abuse/

Brett Maher on Australia Live TV now with KG and Phil

Really hard to read your posts Monique.

So has Brett actually commented on the situation at all? Don't think I have seen anything re this.

Fans like those two should never have to walk away from a game feeling the way they would have- it's not part of what they expect to see when they buy a ticket regardless of if they show up every year or just to a random game here and there.
I could practically see that poor old man's heart break in that moment for what it meant to him symbolically.

Could it be that of the Sixers who did see it, that they in that moment, were as stunned as some of the crowd?
I can still remember the brief footage from ST last night where while Hodge was stomping, I could clearly see a middle-aged man perhaps in his 40s or 50s in the stands in the background who threw his head back and put his hands on his head in disbelief.

There is also a clear shot of a woman in an orangy shirt in Yvonne's picture, who amongst the anger in the stadium, is just standing there flabbergasted and stunned at what she is seeing.

Jerry gold, good to still see some humour here..

A (sincere) apology from Hodge would be a good start on the right path back to sanity.