The Dodgers Would Like To Forget Their Former Steroid Users

You may not know Frank Luntz, but he's a researcher who tests messages, marketing and polling on what words would work best in order to sell policies or people. He's long worked for the GOP, helping to, among other things, turn "Global Warming" into "Climate Change," allowing the party to soften the debate and seriousness of the issue. And now his firm is working for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That the Dodgers have hired Luntz and his firm is interesting, but that's not really the story. Because I purchased a mini-plan last year from the team I was asked to participate in their survey. And since I love the team, I didn't mind spending the estimated nine minutes answering their questions.

There was one question that stood out, and it's shown above. "And who of the following is your favorite Dodger of all time," it asked. You can see my first two answers above, but as I looked around for my third choice I noticed two notable absences. Just where were two of the most popular Dodgers in recent memory, Eric Gagne and Paul Lo Duca? Oh, that's right. Those two just happened to be prominently named in the Mitchell Report.

The team is clearly trying to distance themselves from their steroid-laden past. While steroids surely didn't help them win any playoff series, they sure had plenty of users on their teams. And so the distancing has begun. And even if they should, didn't they do such a thing by ridding themselves of the players?

The Dodgers may not want a focus on their once-juiced employees, but I'm sure few fans will forget the emotion they felt when "Welcome to the Jungle" roared throughout the stadium and Gagne came thundering through the bullpen doors. "Game Over," they called it, and a rock concert it really was. I won't forget, and I miss those games. And that's why I bet I'm not alone in penciling Gagne into the "someone else" section on the survey.