Roger Clemens
by Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Staff February 12, 2008 09:54 AM
We can give Roger Clemens this: He’s apparently dumb enough to believe himself.
If Clemens hadn’t made a second career out of talking out of both sides of his mouth for more than two decades, perhaps it might be easier to believe him heading into tomorrow’s congressional hearing. Maybe.
After all, it’s not like Clemens’ appearance in the Mitchell Report was exactly a “Crying Game” moment. Many had long suspected that he had dabbled in some sort of performance-enhancing drugs based on the dramatic upturn in his performance as he grew older and the way he doubled in size over the past decade. That’s what we loved about Clemens, we got older…he stayed the same age.
Tomorrow, Clemens will get his opportunity to go mano a mano with accuser and former trainer Brian McNamee (and without former teammates Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch as well as Kurt Radomski) in Washington in a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, yet another proceeding that should have no place or time on Capitol Hill, but will draw more viewers and attention than anything discussed about Iraqi reform over the past three years.
McNamee, of course, was a protagonist in the Mitchell Report, claiming he injected Clemens 16 times with steroids and HGH between 1998 and 2001. Clemens maintains he never took anything stronger than B-12 and if he did then someone slipped something into his Flintstones vitamins vial.
Last week, McNamee presented photos that he claimed provided evidence of syringes that he injected Clemens with, saving them as souvenirs for the past seven years, and they were immediately scoffed at by Clemens’ legal team.
"It is just not credible," Clemens lawyer Lenny Breuer said in a statement. "Who in their right mind does such a thing?”
I wasn't sure if I believed him before, but I don't believe him at all now,
Roger Clemens was on 60 Minutes tonight, talking to Mike Wallace about the steroid issue. He seemed determined in his answers, but a bit too devious for me. Instead of answering some questions, he rode on the fence about them ... I haven't seen him this undecided since he last retired from baseball.
The whole issue was turned around to public opinion, which he basically said, "Sucks."
What's coming next? Lawsuits? Maybe. Retirement? Maybe? Health problems? Maybe. Blame? Maybe. Redemption? Maybe.
Talk about a whiner ....
By Lance Pugmire, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 21, 2007
Former major league pitcher Jason Grimsley accused baseball players Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra, Glenallen Hill and Geronimo Berroa of using steroids, according to a federal affidavit that was unsealed Thursday, 18 months after the document was first released with players' names blacked out.
Grimsley, a reliever who last pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks, also named Chuck Knoblauch as a human growth hormone user, and accused former teammates David Segui and Allen Watson of using performance-enhancing drugs.
The unsealed affidavit contradicts a story The Times published Oct. 1, 2006. Citing anonymous sources, including a Grimsley confidant and an individual "with authorized access to [the] unredacted affidavit," The Times' story said Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons, Miguel Tejada and Segui and strength coach Brian McNamee were named in the document. In fact, Clemens, Pettitte, Gibbons and Roberts were not named. Also, The Times' report said Grimsley alleged that Tejada used anabolic steroids. The only mention of Tejada in the affidavit was a conversation he had with teammates about baseball's ban on amphetamines.
The day after the story ran, Kevin Ryan, then the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said it contained "significant inaccuracies."
The Times made repeated attempts, including earlier this week, to have the government clarify what the inaccuracies were, but spokespersons for the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco declined to elaborate.
After the document was unsealed Thursday and the actual names revealed, Times spokesman Stephan Pechdimaldji said, "We regret our report was inaccurate and will run a correction."
Pete Rose told Dennis Miller that the large group of steroid users mentioned in the Mitchell Report are "making a mockery" of baseball. This will air tonight on Versus. Rose also says that he never thought anyone would make him "look like an alter boy". He may have a point. Of course he may also use this as leverage to get himself into baseball's Hall of Fame.
All future sportswriters and current sportswriters that vote on the Hall of Fame nominees will have a tough decision to make. Just what to do with betters and cheaters. Who actually cheated and to what extent will never be fully known. Also Roger Clemens and others are multimillionaires who have access to the best lawyers and legal advice money can buy. So if you want to call these guys out, you may go broke after they decide to sue you.
Is this the worse problem baseball has had to deal with since the Black Sox scandal?
Could be.
Something to think about, if Pete Rose had known and had access to steriods, would he have taken them?
