Last night, I was lucky enough to be invited to a small gathering to hear Doc Gooden speak about his career. The event was sponsored by Nike, and was held in the Nike store in SoHo.

Doc was looking good, though many in the room became worried when we saw sweat pouring down his face at the beginning of the interview. I turned to my roommate and said "oh no, he's back on the drugs", but the sweat went away after the first ten minutes. He may have just been nervous.

Doc spoke briefly about his personal struggles with addiction, but did not go into detail. The most interesting moment of the interview was when the moderator asked "if you could whisper one thing into the ear of the 1985 Doc Gooden, what would it be?" Doc thought about it and said "to reach out. To get help."

The funniest moment of the night came when an audience member asked of the three distinct hair styles Doc sported during his career (close cut, flat top and jheri curl), which did he prefer. Doc thought about it and then said "definitely the flat top".

I managed to get a question in during the Q&A session. I prefaced my question by saying that I wasn't even two yet when the Mets won in 1986, but that I read the book "The Bad Guys Won", which paints Doc as innocent and naive, and Strawberry as a bad influence. I asked him "what do you think about that characterization?"

He responded by saying that they were both bad influences on each other, totally dodging my question. I was honored, however, to have the opportunity to ask it.