Virtual Meet 3

Virtual Meet 3

By Jay Unver

(Lehrton, Mississippi) I stopped Zane Hodge's house to get his reaction to Virtual Meet 3. Hodge, who has been Big ASS's top swimmer since 2007, has recently suffered a series of swim defeats to his arch rival Randy Beets. In Virtual Meet 3, Hodge was treated like a red-headed step child by the tall guy from up north. Hodge and fans alike are unused to seeing this kind of outcome. The results are as follows:

   Hodge                     Beets

250 - 3:38                250 - 3:33

100 - 1:19                100 - 1:12

650 - 10:15              650 - 10:01

total - 15:12             total - 14:46

Hodge's cheerful wife, Penny, showed me out the back door. "You know where he is," she said.

He was there alright, at Plate City, but not working out. He was sitting on a tire, an eighteen wheeler tire, with a scowl on his face.

"Hey there," I greeted him.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

I ignored the snub. I had expected him to be in an ill mood. Losing to Randy Beets is not something he is used to and certainly not something he likes or can even tolerate.

"I guess you're here to crow about your boy, Randy."

"He's not my boy. I'm here as a reporter, here to get your reaction."

"Here to see if I am going to shoot myself?"

"I know you hate losing. . ."

"Dang tootin' I hate losing. That goof, what happened? How did he get faster than me?"

"I don't know," I answered. "Maybe it has something to do with that enforced layoff when you are fell off."

"Yeah. That's it. I'm still on the comeback trail, you know."

"I know. No one is downgrading you. They are just wondering how you will react. How you will respond. Will you quit? Will you get even? Will you train harder? What will you do?"

Hodge was silent for a full minute or more. When he spoke it was not about the swim meet, but his trial. 

"What do you think they're going to do to me?" he asked.

"Are you saying you're quilty?" I asked.

"No. But I am saying the deck is stacked against me. What am I going to do?"

"Swim?" I answered after some silence of my own.

"Yeah. I'll swim until they banish me from Big ASS. Win or lose, I'll never give Beets the satisfaction of retiring me."