LoDuca: Anti-Softball Cheers

(By Toni L. Sandys - TWP)

I had a brief conversation with a veteran baseball writer yesterday, in which we both agreed on the following: that veteran baseball writers would not approve of softball-style dugout cheers emanating from Major League dugouts, that non-veteran sports bloggers would approve of such cheers in the strongest terms possible, and that many Major League veterans would side with the former rather than the latter. In other words, that there probably wasn't universal support in the Nats dugout for the Elijah-Dukes led cheering brigade the other night.

Right. So Paul Lo Duca called into WFAN today, and Surfing the Mets (via MetsBlog) shared his predictable thoughts on the softball girls:

I don't know. I'm not a big fan of it to be honest with you. I'll be honest with you. You know, we're struggling. Guys are just trying to have a little fun. I think they saw Figueroa getting a little upset, so they amped it up a couple of notches. I do think it's a little bush league. At first it started off as a little fun, until he got mad. I don't agree with it. But, also, Nelson Figueroa has nine wins in the big leagues and he needs to keep his mouth shut.

As previously mentioned, I have little patience for the notion of buttoned-up decorum among a group of middle-aged men who wear tight pants, spit and swing wood for a living, but I certainly recognize that the Code and all of that predates me by a few years, and probably is at least marginally necessary when you wear tight pants, spit and swing wood 162 times a year. And also, apparently, that the Code has a mixed view of steroid use. See, he's more from Lo Duca on WFAN, concerning his appearance in the Mitchell Report:

I don't view myself as a cheater. Obviously it's something I did. And obviously it's something that helped me. But, you know, a lot of people don't realize I got into a bad collision and got run over at home plate one year, in '95 in Double-A. And I got it prescribed to me by a doctor. A lot of guys did it. There's a lot of guys in front of me that did it. Like I said, I'm not making excuses. It was part of survival. You want to be at home or you want to be playing? That's the way it was. I apologized for what I did, but that's plenty true

As always, a sincere thanks to Lo Duca for the honesty, and for the blog item, and for not being dull and opinion-less. But his criticism of dugout cheerleading appears to be as harsh as his criticism of illegal steroid use. Luckily, I have the proper solution to this conundrum. A little cheer that maybe the Mets could break out tonight, cleansing the palate of both the softball-style indiscretions and Lo Duca's needly past. Goes a little something like this:

Error, error, whoo, whoo.
Error, error, whoo, whoo.
You did it, you did it.
You might as well admit it,
'cause once you make an error,
We won't let you forget it.

Hey, it's better than the Peanut Butter Jelly song.

(Ack, some other local blog beat me to this, too.)

By Dan Steinberg | May 14, 2008; 5:29 PM ET | Category: Nats
Previous: TK: The Bandwagon and the Blogs | Next: N. Chad vs. Kornheiser and Feinstein

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Now we're talkin Steinz! When the Nats get home next week, I will anxiously await the 2,000 word manifesto on the Pro-Cheer v. Anti-Cheer Nats.

Posted by: WebberDC | May 14, 2008 5:38 PM

Interesting developments in the Baseball world and the soccer world.
Wilbon dissing streamers and now highly paid professional athletes being total babies because they can't handle a little rallying in the dugout?
Baseball players shouldn't get shook from chants or if ya do oh well. It could be worse the fans could be throwing streamers on the field.

Posted by: Dadryan | May 14, 2008 5:56 PM

Isn't it funny that LoDuca wouldn't even think to call the local sports radio stations? Kinda says something about DC's understanding and/or enthusiam for baseball, or lack thereof...

Posted by: Rob | May 14, 2008 6:30 PM

There goes the LoDuca interview.

Posted by: Unsilent Majority | May 14, 2008 6:51 PM

Get LoDuca the hell out of a Nats uniform. He clearly just wants to swallow a bunch more of New York's load.

Posted by: JDP | May 14, 2008 8:17 PM

Agree with JDP. Lo Duca needs to be released posthaste. We've got Jesus and Wil - we don't need a declining singles hitter whose batsmanship has been further wilted by his newfound lack of chemical enhancements. And who whines like a lil' girl.

Posted by: Lindemann | May 14, 2008 8:39 PM

You have to love it when Steinz flashes some of those opinions on us.

Posted by: Unsilent Majority | May 14, 2008 10:32 PM

I'll take his roster spot!

Posted by: Javi Herrera | May 14, 2008 10:36 PM

F*** you, pay me

Posted by: Paul Lo Duca | May 14, 2008 10:38 PM

"Isn't it funny that LoDuca wouldn't even think to call the local sports radio stations? Kinda says something about DC's understanding and/or enthusiasm for baseball, or lack thereof..."

Posted by: Rob

The problem isn't D.C., it's the stations; Andy Pollin wouldn't talk to Lo Duca unless he could find some Redskins or Maryland basketball angle in it.

Washington sports talk radio is a joke, with all sorts of sacred cows. It's why I wish Bonneville had turned 1500/107.7 into a sports talk station along the lines of WFAN in New York, with no ex-jocks such as John Riggins or John Thompson to mess up the works. A station that realizes D.C. is maturing into a genuine sports town, just like Dallas has with the success of the Stars, Mavs (and, in the late '90s, the Rangers).

We're not one-dimensional "all-Redskins-all-the-time" anymore, no matter how much that may irritate some of the old guard in this city. Get used to the changes.

Posted by: Vincent | May 15, 2008 2:47 AM

When is LoDuca planning to join the Nats, anyway?

Posted by: DevilGrad | May 15, 2008 10:02 AM

I say they go all out against the Mess and pull out every "Major League" and "Major League II" gag. The synchronized legwork, the bag of marbles, the whole nine yards.

What are the Mess going to do, start throwing at them? Please. They don't have the pitchers for that.

Posted by: BobT | May 15, 2008 10:04 AM

In the polarizing words of Billy Heywood, "Baseball is supposed to be fun, Adults just screw it up."

Maybe the Mets and teams of their ilk should be looking in the mirror and not worrying about getting pounded by younger, hungrier teams.

Posted by: WaPoLiveFan16 | May 15, 2008 10:51 AM

Got off steroids. ... Took away a lot of hard line drives. ... If you do trade him, will get back on the stuff and try to show you he can have a good year.

Posted by: Mitchell Report | May 15, 2008 11:27 AM

You can blame the radio stations; I, as always, blame the Washington NFL
Franchise--AND the radio stations, for being such shameless, gutless suck-ups.
And ["I'm"] Bram Weinstein gets a payday?!? WHY?!?
Al Galdi's the Man, period.

Posted by: Arlington Pimp | May 16, 2008 1:46 PM

I'm late, but pretty well said, Vincent. Sports' radio in this area is a joke and all of the stations are afraid to expand. The teams have performed to a degree, but the coverage hasn't reflected it. When true Southern cities can cover NHL hockey and all of the local colleges and this area can't, you know there is a problem.

Posted by: sitruc | May 17, 2008 3:56 PM

LoDuca: Anti-Softball Cheers

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