For years we've heard whispers about Major League Baseball players who were using performance enhancement drugs. Most of us have accepted the fact that MLB has been tainted for a good portion of the last 20 years and that a good deal of the performances we watched were aided by PED's.

Today the long awaited (took 20 months to compile) and expensive (estimates range from $25M - $60M) Mitchell Report will be released.

There will be many questions following the release of the report and the names that accompany the 304-page document.

What is the single biggest thing I'll be watching? I'll be very interested to see if any of the players named in the report take legal action in order to clear their name and keep their reputation clean. If your name or reputation was damaged by false allegations, wouldn't you go to great lengths to set the record straight and defend yourself?

Pitcher Roger Clemens' name has already been linked to the Mitchell Report. If I'm Clemens and my legacy, my bid for Cooperstown and my post-career endorsements and business ventures are at stake, if these reports about steroid use are false, I go to considerable lengths to clear my name.

I've said the same thing about Bonds and McGwire. If you're clean and these allegations are false, defend yourself vigorously. Look at 7-Time Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong. He's kept his legal team very busy over the past few years defending himself against doping allegations. To date, Armstrong has never failed a drug test and he's been able to keep his legacy intact by vigorously defending himself.

If athletes don't defend themselves against allegations like the ones that will appear in the Mitchell Report, then the public is left to assume the worst.

In this case, the public and the media (some of whom have a Hall of Fame vote) will conclude that the players named in the Mitchell Report did in fact use PED's to help them extend their careers and land multi-million contracts in the process.

So when you see the list of names released in the Mitchell Report, watch closely to see if any of the players choose to file lawsuits (like a defamation of character suit). And remember, while MLB can be sued, George Mitchell is protected by MLB in any suit where he is named. Mitchell has operated under an indemnity clause stating that Major League Baseball would be responsible for legal costs of lawsuits brought in connection with his investigation.

UPDATE: Roger Clemens has hired an attorney to help defend him from PED allegations. I think this is exactly the correct first step for Clemens if he is to have any chance of clearing his name. He needs to vigorously defend himself as I mention above.