You know how it is – IF you are accused, you MUST be guilty.
And that’s Roger Clemens. After 4 years and millions of dollars spent, Roger gets his day in court, but it doesn’t matter because reporters have long since decided that no matter what ANYONE says, he’s guilty. One idiot guy, whose name I refuse to repeat, actually compared Clemens to a large market baseball team and the US government to some poor small market team, unable to compete.
Really?
Check this from Lester Munson, ESPN:
“Agents from the FBI, the IRS and the DEA have devoted countless hours to the pursuit of Clemens, digging into every aspect of his life. They gathered thousands of pages of documents, and they went all over the United States interviewing anyone who knew anything about Clemens.
Here is a list of the documents they examined:
• 15,732 pages of Clemens family bank records from J.P. Morgan Chase.
• 1,139 pages of records from American Express credit cards.
• More than 300 pages of medical records from MLB teams for which Clemens played.
• Hundreds of pages of phone records from nine companies.
In addition to reviewing the documents, a group of 93 agents interviewed 179 individuals in 68 locations and produced 235 reports of their interviews. The Clemens legal team prepared a map that shows the extent of the agents’ work. In many of the interviews, the agents were accompanied either in person or on the phone by assistant U.S. attorneys Steven Durham and Daniel Butler, who led the government trial team.”
Small market team, my ass.
And after ALL of those countless hours and all that search, they couldn’t find even ONE piece of evidence, even ONE witness to corroborate anything McNamee claimed? Not ONE? Even McNamee’s own WIFE contradicted McNamee’s account.
The reporters, who can’t be bothered to, you know, like actually READ the original court transcripts, insist that Andy Pettitte (who, by the way, is not only an admitted HGH user – I refuse to call it a PED, because it isn’t – but a guy who lied THREE times about using) changed his story about Clemens, when he repeated his original testimony to Congress verbatim.
Why on earth they have ignored/excused Pettitte’s illegal drug use AS WELL AS his repeated lying about it, but yet insist that Clemens MUST be guilty of drug use based upon ONLY the word of a man who is a drug dealer, rapist and general dirtball, I absolutely do NOT get.
I think that Roger Clemens has earned their undying hatred because he absolutely refused to confess and cry – and that is what the media was hoping for, something sensational. They just love all the boo hooing. See Andy Pettitte – you see, they want to “forgive” players for doing whatever they could to play. They just LOVE Pete Rose for saying that he’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball, but they HATE guys who actually mean it and do it.
They want to be able to insist that Clemens only succeeded because he “cheated” by using HGH, which has not been proved to do one single thing that could by any definition be considered performance enhancing in healthy young men. They want to believe that Dan Duquette was right and that Clemens succeeded after Boston waved byebye only because he was a drug user, and won’t look at any statistic except win/loss record. WHY they want to believe this, I do NOT get, but they do.
Maybe it’s because they see Clemens as an UN-humble mercenary (unlike almost every other baseball player there is) instead of a umble “team player” guy like Pettitte. No idea why on earth Pettitte has been labeled as umble, but it’s what the media has decided and there you go.
But really, how IS any accused person supposed to respond if he is not guilty? After the Mitchell report came out, Clemens, like a few others, proclaimed his innocence. He said it himself, not in some fake sounding statement issued by some PR guy. Media demanded he say it to a group of reporters, live, not Mike Wallace and fawning groupies on a canned TV show. He did. They demanded he prove his innocence by suing MacNamee. He did. They demanded he say it under oath before Congress. He did. It didn’t change anyone’s opinion.
Mitchell and his little Congressmoron friends demanded that the Department of Justice investigate and indict Clemens for perjury for daring to stand up to bullying. They obliged their old buddies and Clemens STILL insisted he was innocent and spent a HUGE amount of his hard earned money, refused to cop a plea, went to trial, demanded a jury, and earned his verdict of not guilty.
It’s still not enough. Nothing will ever be enough. If Brain McNamee confessed on his death bed that he made the whole thing up because the government people insisted he do so in order to stay out of jail, the media STILL wouldn’t believe it. Absolutely NOTHING whatsoever would do it.
This makes me understand why Perry Mason was always so intent on making the guilty person confess in court – because even when a person is found not guilty, they really aren’t considered not guilty, just not convicted. I’ve seen videos of prosecutors and law enforcement persons making statements about a person who had been convicted, who was protesting his/her innocence, saying how terrible it was that convicted person wouldn’t confess, take responsibility, apologise. Yet, I don’t see videos of those self same prosecutors admitting fault or apologising when those convicted persons are absolved by DNA evidence and found to be innocent.
When I hear people insist that Clemens HAD to have used drugs, I ask then why did he HAVE to? Because he was good. And besides, him throwing the bat at Mike Piazza could only have been roid rage. I asked if this meant that when Ty Cobb jumped into the stands and beat up some heckler that he must have also been guilty of steroid use. (No, that’s different.) Or when Juan Marichal attacked Johnny Roseboro with a bat, that it was proof positive that Juan was shooting up steroids (which most certainly DID exist back then) right? Oh noooooooo, guys wouldn’t NEVAH have used no illegal drugs back in the Golden Age and besides, amphetamines don’t improve performance unless you are drunk or hung over or tired or sore or hurting or unfocused or something.
Who was that politician of 30-40 years back who was accused of some heinous felony who was actually proved innocent, who said – now where do I go to get my reputation back? He never found out where and he was exiled from his former pals and existence. Accused = guilty, no matter what.
You might could shrug and say – well, if Clemens had just confessed, false or not, and not stared down George Mitchell, Bud Selig and their little political friends, he might be enjoying the good life like Pettitte. Sometimes, you have to lie in order to protect what you have. Like Pettitte did. And look how things turned out for him. He’s back pitching for his Yankees and the BBWAA has declared him to be a Good Guy, drug use, lies and all, and he’s going into the Hall of Fame, in spite of the fact that he’s grossly inferior to Clemens, and in fact, wouldn’t belong in the HOF even if he never touched drugs or lied about his use, THREE times, yet.
For Clemens, his baseball life is certainly over. He didn’t change the opinions of those whose eyes are shut and the baseball owners aren’t going to buck Selig and hire him in any baseball capacity. That 10 year personal services contract with the Astros which has been, um, postponed? You think Crane is going to touch it? You think anyone is going to employ him as a pitching coach? He’s finished.
And the Hall of Fame, currently occupied only by saintly choir boys who never sinned in any way, never cheated, never cut corners, never put themselves and their own interests before the team , that Hall is closed to Clemens and pretty much everyone who has played during my own lifetime, except for the inexplicably declared pure, such as Thome, Maddux, Glavine and Junior Griffey. And the undeserving such as Jack Morris.
Ah well.
If the Hall wishes to cut off its nose to spite its face, that is its affair.
But Clemens will be a guilty man for the rest of his life in the eyes of the public because the media has declared it so.
Tags: MLB
Crane says Clemens will be welcomed back with “open arms”. We owe that guy a LOT……….he was the ONLY reason the Astros made it to the world series. Thank you Roger Clemens, we will never forget your grit, and there are STILL a lot of us who believed you!
it would be great if that was true
i’m damm tired of all the reporters who say that roger is a cheater who escaped “justice” – based on, like, WHAT?
and roger was great when he was here and yeah, he certainly WAS a diva. but so are almost all stars.
MLB.com has the article on Crane. Becky
Here is a link to the article about Jim Crane that Becky was probably referring to: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/eye-on-baseball/19379650/astros-owner-says-roger-clemens-welcome-with-team
At this moment there is only one comment, and I quote: “garddogdan June 18, 2012 11:55 pm Astros are a clown franchise…”
Hoping not everyone feels that way, but due to the effects of the machinations of the Budfather and his cronies, it’s not hard to understand why they might.
becky and wags
i’ll believe it when i see it – meaning if/when clemens actually starts publically working for the Astros. talk is cheap.
Understood. But Crane, in his unending campaign to win over disgruntled fans, has shown he will do what it takes to eventually win consistently. If he thinks Clemens can bring a winning attitude, I wouldn’t put it past him to honor the service contract.
Service contract? How about the bullpen? If Jamie Moyer can do it, Rocket can do it!
Finally it’s over! Have a great life Roger! Hofer 1st ballot any way you look at it! Thanks for the memories!
i hope crane does find the stones to actually have roger clemens work for this team.
the fact that the BBWAA will keep him out of cooperstown based on the word of a piece of crap like McNamee, who would have said anything to keep his drug dealing rapist ass out of prison – that says bad things about them, not Roger.
Roger wouldn’t want to pitch out of the bullpen – and he was on his last legs – hahahahha – in 06 – was surprised he managed to throw even 5 innings/start the next year.
As for the trial..what a complete, utter waste of taxpayer money and time of government resources. It’s just as well they didn’t go after Lance Armstrong.
Between Bonds and Clemens, the Feds only managed one count of “guilty” Congress is just plain stupid, folks.
barry lamar’s “guilty” had absolutely ZERO to do with drugs – he got zapped for giving an indirect rambling answer to some question about his father.
feds can’t go after armstrong – there is nothing they can charge him with. but the WADA people have been absolutely determined to discredit him, don’t ask me why, for years and years and so you can be sure they will because they don’t have to have any proof of anything.
this entire stupid waste of enormous amounts of taxpayer is beyond infuriating.
Do *NOT* get me started about the useless amount of politicians we have in Washington, D.C. Waxman started all this crap. If I were Clemens I would sue EVERYONE who “danced at this circus”. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Becky
becky
unfortunately, he can’t. he couldn’t even get the slimy politician who publically said that the whole thing was a perjury trap from the getgo – to testify. the dirtball used some 200 year old excuse to get out of it.
Lisa….you are on my “bucket list”! BEFORE you leave the Astros, for another team, I’d love to have the opportunity to meet you! You are one SMART baseball mind! I REALLY wish you would continue this blog, because you’re REALLY good at it! This is one blog where everyone gets “it”. Becky
That’s a good piece of writing, Lisa. I do think Clemens used performance enhancing drugs (even if not all were effective in enhancing performance), but I also believe a large number of players did anything and everything to get an edge, just as they have always done throughout baseball history. I think the playing field was about as level during 1990-2005 as it has been in other eras. The best players of any era belong in the hall, so that means Bonds, Clemens and others should be there. I know they won’t be, but they should.
steve
i remember when ken caminiti was in the repentance phase of his drug use/trying to stay clean, and he said that 50% of ballplayers were doing roids. Now i know a thing or 2 about drug users and their confessions. i know that part of it is self-justification – but EVERone was doing it. But i also know that there is always a lot of real confession during the repenting phase. Cammy didn’t rat out anyone and wasn’t trying to make money or stay out of federal prison.
i look at “cheating” with roids the same way i look at men “cheating” in their supposed to be monogamous relationships. I know from statistics that over half of em cheat. so i do have good reason to believe that any particular man is cheating, just because the statistics support it.
but
i am not about to accuse any particular man without evidence of actual sexual activity with another person.
and the same is true of any particular baseball player shooting roids. roid use is used to explain early declines, early injuries, sustained success, late in career success, late in career injuries, any change in body habitus – weight gain is proof of use, weight loss is proof of stopping use.
i am more likely to believe clemens did not use roids for the reason that the FEDS spent hundreds of millions and uncounted hours searching bank records, medical records, phone records, gyms, houston dealers, EVERYWHERE and they couldn’t come up with one single thing, not ONE thing. after four YEARS of searching. not even something inadmissable they could give, i mean leak, to the Daily News, who is bankrolling mcnamee.
McNamee is just not s credible witness. he can’t keep his stories straight, he can’t keep his timelines straight, he can’t keep his story about evidence collection straight.
Pettitte has lied multiple times about his OWN drug use and by his own statement, never told clemens or discussed with clemens, his OWN drug use in spite of the insistence by the prosecution that pettitte was clemens little lap dog and that clemens had told andy all about HGH use that supposedly happened even BEFORE mcnamee HIMSELF said that clemens used.
i don’t say i don’t BELIEVE that clemens used roids, ever. i know it is possible, just as i believe it is possible for any other baseball player (before testing) to have used. i AM saying that at this point, i sure want more evidence that what has been offered.
I understand your points, Lisa, and they are perfectly sensible. I wish more people thought like that. The only mitigating factor is that being proven guilty in a court of law demands evidence beyond a reasonable doubt. We do that to err on the side of letting criminals go free rather than imprisoning the innocent. It doesn’t work all the time, but it’s better than the alternative.
I choose to believe he enhanced his performance because I believe most star players of the era did so. That may or may not be true. It doesn’t change my belief that the best players of the era are All-stars, and the best of the best belong in the HOF.
I’m not going to differentiate between ‘roids, hgh, speed, greenies, spitballs, corked bats and whatever. In every era, guys try to get an edge. MLB attempts to keep it under control and sometimes fails. Whatever.
steve
i don’t know/care which guys did/didn’t use – stars, scrubs, minor leaguers. i seriously doubt that roids do anything besides help repair tissue and give players “confidence” – all this silliness about how it turns nobodies into somebodies and how it turns flyouts in 450′ homers is just media hysteria.
maybe roger used roids, maybe he used a placebo like HGH, maybe he drank horse piss, who knows, who cares? i sure don’t.
to me, cheating is scuffing balls – and cheaters are already IN the hall – like gaylord perry and don sutton as well as innumerable drug users, and ILLEGAL drug users like molitors. and keeping out bonds, clemens and sosa, whose crime is taking an interpreter to congress, is pure crap.
i’m sure that guys would shoot horse piss if they thought it would make them better ballplayers
eric
i find it very hard to believe that a ballplayer would use clostebol on purpose – i read about it – it isn’t very available, it would have to be injected and a guy would have to use a very large volume. even then it wouldn’t absorb very much and what did absorb wouldn’t do much of anything.
then again, the WADA banned albuterol – at least for a while – like any nonasthmatic would use something that makes you shaky and doesn’t improve breathing.