MERALCO rookie Cliff Hodge on Sunday night quickly disowned a tweet that called for the resignation of Bolts coach Ryan Gregorio, saying his Twitter account was hacked.
The Twitter world went ablaze shortly after the Bolts’ 83-73 loss to San Mig in Game One of their PBA Governors Cup semifinal series when a tweet fired from Hodge’s account @therealchodge1 read: “Coach Ryan should resign immediately before HE LOSES another game for the team!!!!”
The Fil-American forward moved quickly to douse the fire, claiming he had been using a ‘very weak’ password for his Twitter account and that it was most probably hacked by “people who tried to distract him and the team in the semis.”
“It was my fault. I only had the name of my girlfriend Mackenna as my access code, so it was easily hacked,” Hodge said.
“You know I can never do that to coach. I have very high respect for him. And even if we lose by a hundred points, I can never blame him. It’s a team game,” he added.
Hodge said it is not his style to air his grievances in public while reiterating his utmost respect for the coach who made him the fourth pick overall in the last rookie draft.
“If I have issues with coach Ryan, I will talk to him man to man … privately. I am not the type of person who will use other means to air my feelings,” he stressed.
“I know how hard coach works for this team. And I know he doesn’t want this result to happen. I can see his sacrifices,” Hodge added, while reiterating his utmost respect for the man who made him last year’s 4th pick overall.
The Pensacola, Florida-raised cager said his admiration of Gregorio had not waned, even during the time when he was the object of trade rumors in the early goings of the Governors cup.
“I have no grudge against coach Ryan. He is like an older brother to me,” he added. “I even played almost 30 minutes today so there’s no point to criticize him like that!”
Asked if he has already discussed the matter with Gregorio, Hodge said no.
“I’ll talk to him early morning tomorrow. I don’t think it’s the right time. And I don’t think he’ll even believe it was mine (my tweet),” he said, while declaring that he only opens his Twiter account from his mobile phone.
The 6-foot-5 hard-banging wingman likewise ruled out a case of prank from his teammates.
“They can’t do that. We’re all focused in the game. We’re so busy at our aim to win to do such irresponsible jokes,” Hodge said.
Hodge also advised fellow players to keep a stronger password on their every social network account to avoid such troubles.
“Avoid troubles. Keep a stronger password. You never know what they will put on it using your name,” said the former Reedley College standout.
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