Does Hodge really need to ..

[CatsFan]

.. say the things he does?

As I read the paper this morning, the article of the day starts off as the following..

There's a new drinking game that's guaranteed to keep you sober. Every time the Moncton Wildcats score a goal, take a drink.
Be careful of dehydration if you participate in this exercise. Heck, never mind a goal. You could've had a drink every time the Wildcats had a quality scoring chance in their past several outings and still driven home secure in the knowledge you would pass the breathalyzer.


Yeah, I know the team is going through some offensive woes right now, but is that really necessary? Mind you, I am not surprised he would say something like that.

[Score]

They are averaging less then 3 goals per game so far......so he does have a solid point.

In the Eastern Division, only Lewy has scored less goals........one less goal, but two less games played.

[CatsFan]

He does have a point. I can see what he is saying, or trying to. But we're talking about young people here.. most of them aren't even legal to drink. I dunno. I just didn't think it was quite appropriate.

[hockey1981]

I don't think It's appropriate at all, coming from a world class journalist like Hodge, I'm not shocked

[HockeyAngel17]

im seriously gonna find out where he took his journalism course to make sure i dont go to the same school..(i want to be a sports journalist)

I mean seriously, he's talking about a bunch of young guys who are under 19(most of em) and alot of the fan base is under age as well.. it was really inappropriate to use that kind of comparison. I think if he'd just stick to what he's supposed to talk about it wouldnt be so bad.. I know he's trying to be original but he doesnt have to be straight out rude about it... We all know our offense in non-existent, after all it is us the fans who attend the games... and i dont think its right for him to give Flynn coaching advice (maybe not directly but we all know thats what hes doing) after all he's a journalist not a qualified coach.

I know some fans complain on here about some tactics used by Flynn but its not really the same as printing it in a Newspaper thats read by the whole city and surrounding areas..

But thats just my opinion...

[senators19]

hockeyangel17 said:

im seriously gonna find out where he took his journalism course to make sure i dont go to the same school..(i want to be a sports journalist)

I mean seriously, he's talking about a bunch of young guys who are under 19(most of em) and alot of the fan base is under age as well.. it was really inappropriate to use that kind of comparison. I think if he'd just stick to what he's supposed to talk about it wouldnt be so bad.. I know he's trying to be original but he doesnt have to be straight out rude about it... We all know our offense in non-existent, after all it is us the fans who attend the games... and i dont think its right for him to give Flynn coaching advice (maybe not directly but we all know thats what hes doing) after all he's a journalist not a qualified coach.

I know some fans complain on here about some tactics used by Flynn but its not really the same as printing it in a Newspaper thats read by the whole city and surrounding areas..

But thats just my opinion...

A good journalism school should teach you to report what you see based on facts which is what Hodge is doing. If he pulls his punches and only reports "feel good" stories about the Cats then he is doing a disservice to all his readers. The only problem I really have with his reporting is the tendency to cut and paste most of the story from previous articles.

[sec21critic]

I really fail to see what the big deal is here. Bunch of people getting their panties all balled up over nothing if you ask me.

a) He was making a valid point. Perhaps it could've been reworded but regardless, the point was made. Quite frankly, I like it when Hodge deviates a bit and throws in analogies such as this. I gives his articles more life... and as evidenced in this thread, it gets people talking.

b) It doesn't matter what the average age of the fan base of the team is... I'm willing to bet the vast majority of those who read that article ARE over legal drinking age... even if they aren't, so what? Oh no, Neil Hodge made a drinking reference in his newspaper article! That's pretty tame compared to much of what is dervied from other media outlets or sources of entertainment that young people would have easy access to.

I won't get into the ages of actual players in relation to what was written in this article as it is very obvious the article was directed at fans and using player ages would be a very weak argument, IMO.

[extitanfan]

I dont think he was saying that for the players but more for the coaching staff,,,to wake them up,,like do something,,,

[t-dude]

I think the real people who are going to be upset with this is the people who sell the beer @ the coliseum, they're not going to make any money unless the cats get their thumbs out of their asses and play...

As for all the comments about the players being underage, this is the same debate that made Pro-Line remove Q games... so f'king what? The players aren't betting/drinking... they're playing... Neo-Conservative B.S. is what all this is...

Here's a thought... every game the cats win, RKI gets them a keg... that might help them get their game on...

[Deer]

"Every time the Wildcats score, do a line of coke......... with your favourite prostitute."

With a couple of the reactions here, you'd think he wrote something like that..........

[Arnold Slick]

deer said:

"Every time the Wildcats score, do a line of coke......... with your favourite prostitute."

With a couple of the reactions here, you'd think he wrote something like that..........

;D

But seriously I can't believe some people are making a big deal out of this. I actually thought what he wrote was pretty funny and it certainly got my attention which is what you want to do at the start of an article. Everyone is pretty frustrated with the lack of offense lately and I think Hodge did a good job of getting that across. Good work Neil!

Also someone is complaining about Hodge giving Flynn coaching tips? It's called giving his own personal opinion as to what could/should be done to improve things. What's wrong with that? That's a heck of a lot more interesting than reading about the 13th highest scoring right winger in team history in Thursday night games starting at 7 PM with a full moon and over 4,000 fans in attendance.

[Deer]

make15 said:

deer said:

"Every time the Wildcats score, do a line of coke......... with your favourite prostitute."

With a couple of the reactions here, you'd think he wrote something like that..........

;D

But seriously I can't believe some people are making a big deal out of this. I actually thought what he wrote was pretty funny and it certainly got my attention which is what you want to do at the start of an article. Everyone is pretty frustrated with the lack of offense lately and I think Hodge did a good job of getting that across. Good work Neil!

Also someone is complaining about Hodge giving Flynn coaching tips? It's called giving his own personal opinion as to what could/should be done to improve things. What's wrong with that? That's a heck of a lot more interesting than reading about the 13th highest scoring right winger in team history in Thursday night games starting at 7 PM with a full moon and over 4,000 fans in attendance.

Hodge can give all the "coaching tips" he wants in the papers.... he's still got nothing on our play-by-play man. On some nights Kenny MacNeil is pretty much literally coaching the team over the airwaves! Some don't like such editorializing, but I find it refreshing; it's great IMO to see people who cover their organizations (like Hodge and MacNeil) develop real serious passions for their teams.

[digitalman]

I for one appreciate the new spin Hodge has put on his articles. He always used to just spit out the same old stuff that we all knew anyways over and over again and people complained (rightfully so). But now that he actually gives his own opinions, I think it's a lot more interesting to read him. He spoke up when Baca wasn't playing which I agreed with 100%. He also wrote about Labelle and how the team wasn't giving him much of a chance and that if they plan on trading him, they should at least give him more exposure. That's the journalism I want to read, not just the tyical feature articles on a certain player talking about where they're from and how they worked hard to make the team, etc.


The other thing is the wildcats are going through a pretty rough time right now, one of the lower points of the last 5 or 6 years. The players are obviously frustrated but the fans and media are also, so it comes out in the articles. Hodge isn't just gonna pretend everything is rosie right now. The team has consistently been one of the better teams over the last six years so there usually hasn't been anything to complain about.

If you go to a place like Montreal, the media is always ripping apart the management for every little thing whether it be passing over a quebec born player in the draft or starting a certain 4th line player over another one. Hodge's articles are pretty tame compared to that.

[Deleted]

Maybe he's finding it a little harder to get positive stories about the Wc's lately

I personally think he's doing a good job.

[CatsFan]

hipsterdoofus said:

Maybe he's finding it a little harder to get positive stories about the Wc's lately

So then, must be the same way reading the papers up there too eh..