Since my blog has been largely inactive, I was surprised to see how much of a response I've received to my article about meeting Doc Gooden.

I've had a couple people respond saying that they didn't think he was dodging my question, that he either wasn't clear what I was asking, or that he was refuting what I was saying.

What I left out of my recap was that Doc had dodged nearly every question having to do with his drug abuse or anything dealing specifically with his relationship to Darryl Strawberry. One anonymous poster had this to say:

I don't think he dodged your question. Seems to me that by saying they were both bad influences on each other he is refuting the notion that he was an innocent and Straw was the corrupter.

While this is actually a really good point, it flies in the face of what Doc wrote in his own autobiography. After the interview was over, the moderator approached me and commended me on my question, and told me that despite what Doc had just said, he actually wrote in his own autobiography that he felt Darryl was a bad influence.

I don't blame him for dodging questions. This was an open conversation about some of the most uncomfortable moments of his life. I can't even imagine having strangers ask me questions about such uncomfortable moments. I just called it as I saw it. I stand by my characterization that he was less-than forthcoming when it came to his drug abuse and relationship with Darryl Strawberry.