Hodge Interviewed

Interview with Zane Hodge

by Jay Unver

(Lehrton, Mississippi) Zane Hodge was treated and released from the Lehrton General Hospital, Wednesday morning. I went by his residence in Greenwood after he got home. He looked fine physically, but he was still fuming over his sentence.

"A five-year $250,000 Show Cause! Are you kidding me?!?!" he yelled.

A Show Cause judgment means that if any other athletic organization signs Hodge to a contract, they have to either pay Big ASS Endurance $250,000 or show an acceptable cause (acceptable to Big ASS) why it should be exempt from the judgment. In short, Hodge, whose contract with Big ASS expires in June, is unhirable for the next five years.

Over the past few months, rumors have had it that the Fasttrack Fatties has made overtures to Hodge. Now, you can bury that rumor, that plan (if it was one) for good. No one, and I mean no one, will touch Hodge now for the next half decade.

"Five years," Hodge started back. "In five years I'll be 68. Heck, Big ASS and the Fasttrack Fatties put together aren't worth $250 dollars much less $250,000. And they hit me with a quarter of a mill. What a joke."

"Are you swimming?" I asked Hodge thinking a slight change of subject might do him good.

"What do you mean? I always swim."

"I mean Virtual Meet 3. You are still eligible to compete."

He seemed surprised. "I'm not suspended?" he asked incredulously.

"No," I answered stunned that he had not realized this.

He set there quiet for a minute. Then I repeated, "Are you swimming the meet Friday?"

"I don't know. I reckon. Unless my lawyer tells me not to," he mumbled like his brain couldn't take it in.

The redness of his face was fading.

"What I want to know is how did Randy Beets become the darling of the Association? When did that happen?"

"It's just business," I told him. 

"Business crap. Show Cause for five years for the kind of money no one could imagine. I'm appealing. I'm appealing that crazy part. You can have the rest of it, but they don't own me. I am an American. They can't take my 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'"

I left at that. I think he's swimming Friday.