Jul 1, 2009 12:30 PM Posted by Gary_Miller  Not as innocent as he looked here, but honest
| It was great to have Paul LoDuca as a guest on Think Blue T.V. last night, and especially to see him interact and catch-up with Eric his longtime teammate and friend. I'd interacted with Paul quite a bit during his playing days, especially as a Dodger, and he was always co-operative and engaging and open. It was no surprise to see him working his way into broadcasting. I had not talked to him since his name appeared in the Mitchell Report, and in fact was a name with some of the most detailed and damaging evidence gathered, and even included documentation that someone in the Dodgers organization was aware of his steroid use. We were a bit hesitant to go into the issue, but in 31-years of interviewing, and hosting "Up Close" for three years, it's difficult if not impossible to ignore the elephant in the living room. You may often get an evasive or unresponsive reaction, but you HAVE to ask the obvious question, even if it's only YOU who sees it as one of the most important things you want to hear from this person. Although the Mitchell Report came out in 2007, the topic was especially relevant again yesterday, especially in lieu of all the recent developments. There was Alex Rodriguez in February, there was Sammy Sosa added to the names on the list of 104 players that had tested positively for steroids in that sample testing, and of course, there was Manny Ramirez. Then, that very day, the most disturbing and irresponsible coverage yet of the steroid era. A website pretty much no one had ever heard of, got visited by one that dominates the blogosphere because they were desperate for some Roto information, and stumbled upon this web site's list of all 104 names. Amongst the grotesque irresponsible inaccuracies in the "list" was the open admittance by the author that the names included had NO source, none at all. And he put them out anyhow. What was it, a guess?! It was so sloppy and amateurish that only 103 names were on the list, and Jason Grimsley's was omitted, and he's been documented to have been on the actual one. Maybe the bigger crime was trendsetting, powerful blogs like "Deadspin", and "The Big Lead," took the website to task, but reprinted all the names! Now they're in uch wider distribution, which gives them merit and attention they don't deserve, and multiplys the wrongdoing astronomically. Paul LoDuca's name was on there too, but although he's all over the Mitchell Report, he told us he had not failed that test. As you'll see in this link to his reaction, he's still contrite, and has some interesting perspective on what not only Manny, but Juan Pierre will go through starting Friday. LoDuca also said it may have something to do with why he's not working in the industry, but he was close to playing for a couple of teams this spring, and based on his candor with us, and the fact he's already doing some Mets broadcasts, and working for the Thoroughbred Sports Network, I think we'll be seeing more of #16 in the near future.
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