Roger Clemens and the American Dream (Shattered)
I’ve always enjoyed watching Roger Clemens, as a member of the Red Sox and the Yankees. He played hard and always seemed to embody the American dream of hard work. He did on occasion throw at players, which I’ve always felt is a case of assault with intent to kill, although baseball accepts it as a way of life. Baseball, its timid commissioner Bud Selig, and its greedy owners, also accepted steroid use as a way of life until it became politically incorrect to do so. Fortunately the current management of the Phillies has a no tolerance policy, which you can’t say for the Mets and the Yankees and the Giants and all the other so called power teams.
When Clemens went before Congress he denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs. His former trainer contradicted him. Clemens also says he never attended a party thrown by drug user and whistle blower Jose Canseco. Canseco even said Clemens wasn’t there.
Now, the New York Daily News reports that a photo taken by a young fan shows Clemens at the party! The boy was eleven at the time. The moral of this story: never throw away old pictures. You never know, do you?
If that is accurate, Clemens could face perjury charges. This is serious business. It is apparent that someone is not telling the truth.
It is one thing to allegedly lie to the public. It is another to allegedly lie before Congress and under oath.
There is one thing that surprises me about the Clemens controversy. If he did use booster drugs, why not just fess up? Is it ego, pride or confidence that you might be able lie and get away with it?
Most sports writers have already condemned Clemens. They shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Who knows the real truth? But if this photo exists, Roger Clemens is in real trouble and could be pitching for the softball team at a Federal prison.
Comments(11)
Most of America hates Roger Clemens and they hope his little dingy falls off the next time he takes a shower. Larry didn’t you see Roger throw his bat at Mike Piazza? Anyone with that audacity has a major problem. In a world where Milton Street is happy with a guilty verdict for income tax evasion I can only hope that someone like Roger Clemens
finally accepts his shortcomings.
1) I’ve always liked and admired Roger Clemens. As we grow older we can really appreciate his accomplishments. The body just doesn’t bounce back like it once did. A day of shoveling snow leads to days of back pain. To go out a pitch every 5th day at the major league level is incredible. Only a handful of non-knuckleballers have done it before.
2) The evidence against Clemens, although circumstantial and ‘he said-she said’, does indicate that Clemens was involved in HGH as a minimum. Why would his pal Andy Pettitte throw him under the bus? Why would Mitchell put arguably the best pitcher in MLB history in his report? I don’t totally believe McNamee but I don’t believe Clemens either.
3) I just hope that Clemens is not the ‘other’ superstar, sacrificial lamb to go along with Barry Bonds. Being ‘PC’ is always a factor. Enough said.
4) If they go after him for perjury on this Canseco party thing, as you suggest Larry, can you remember where or what party you were at 10-15 years ago? This is lame. If they end up with proof that he did HGH or steriods, then prosecute. I think Clemens and his lawyers are counting on the fact that there is no indisputable evidence that will stand up in a court of law and he’ll eventually walk.
5) The late, great Boston Globe Sports Writer Wil McDonough use to refer to Roger Clemens as ‘the Texas Con Man”. Maybe he was right afterall.
hello Larry,Baseball is the greatest most perfect game ever invented,and even though the rightwing side of congress gave him a pass,i hope Clemens sits in the cell right next to Bonds,and the rest of steriod junkies,the owners are part of the problem and bud selig should be thrown out of baseball too,i much rather see Pete Rose walk in the Hall of Fame he earned it,of course maybe the picture is fake and the eleven year old boy could be working for NY Times.
JR, we agree on baseball being perfect game and Bud Selig is a bum.
Thank you for bringing the Rightwingers into the conversation. It’s good to see that every issue can become political. The eternal struggle of the poor liberals versus the evil conservatives.
Rick, you’re starting to sound like Larry. On one hand this but on the other hand that….. Roger Clemens has been a bad boy. How seriously bad only he knows for sure. The “perfect” game of baseball has always had cheaters, from sharpening cleats to corking bats, from stealing signs to scuffing balls. from using amphetamines to using steroids. Roger’s battle is with himself. He doesn’t want to go down in history with an asterik next to his name. In exchange for immortality Roger is willing to risk a charge of perjury. It’s pure ego plain and simple.
Ed, he throws at batters because of roid rage.
He didn’t throw the bat because of roid rage, he was just trying to get under Piazza’s skin, and it worked! Having said that, I think it’s pretty clear that he was a user. I know a lot of people were ready to “convict” him from day 1 of the Mitchell report, and no matter what Clemens said, it was proof that he did it. Well, now he finally has erased the doubt. From here, he and other users like McGwire and Sosa should be treated like Pete Rose. Even though Pete violated a written rule of baseball and deserved his lifetime ban, I think it’s time for MLB to reopen his case since he has eventually come clean. If Clemens would have fessed up, I think we could have understood that it was part of the game back then and eventually had some sort of reconciliation. Not now.
rick-i watched the hearings the softballs the republicans were throwing Clemens made it look political,not me.
but don’t worry,Clemens is a texas republican and friends with the president’s family and will receive a pardon.
but hopefully baseball will not pardon him and keep his butt out of the Hall of Fame.
if Pete Rose is not permitted in the Hall of Fame then the steriod cheaters should never have a chance at the Hall of Fame.
I can’t see how anyone at this point can deny that Clemens was a cheater. But baseball has been filled with them. It is hypocritical to single out Bonds or Clemens when most of them did it.
JR is still bitter that a Beagle won at Westminster.
For all, I never said Clemens was innocent, just that he thinks he’ll get off because there likely is no “smoking gun” evidence.
BTW, Congress need not involve themselves in BB or FB. They have bigger issues to be concerned with.
Bud Selig should be the one in front on Congress being asked why he did nothing to stop the steroids and HGH. Course we know why, people started coming back and filling up the seats (always about the money). Selig and the owners are the ones responsible. The players were doing what they knew they could get away with to make lots of money and set records.
Let them go into the Hall of Fame but build a special room for them called the Cheating Steroid HGH User Room. Put their pictures in there so that all baseball fans from now until the end of time will know that they were cheaters and what they looked like and how they stole the records from the players who didn’t use steroids and HGH. Also put Bud’s picture in there to and let everyone know he was the one the let it happen.