Circus Gluteus Maximus
In a battle of Hall of Fame egos, Roger Clemens and the members of the House Governmental Oversight Committee started the exhibition season Wednesday. They participated in a hearing that, much like a a spring training game, served little useful purpose, but was fun to watch.
Clemens misguidedly wanted to state his case in public under oath. He only succeeded in making it more likely that he will be prosecuted. Given his demonstrably limited vocabulary, maybe Clemens could not read the newspaper accounts reporting that Barry Bonds is being prosecuted for perjury, not a drug offense. He should have taken the Fifth Amendment.
To dispose of the merits, it is difficult not to believe that the Rocket used illegal drugs. If Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch confirm Brian McNamee's stories about them, what reason is there not to believe him about Clemens? Clemens did nothing to help himself, constantly ignoring the actual question to tell the Committee how hard he worked at his trade or to issue a general denial. He seemed to think that adding a few MPH to his answers would fool everyone into thinking he actually was addressing the issues posed.
The people who looked the worst were the members of the Committee, particularly the Republicans who mostly decided to take Clemens side, making the hearing a bit red vs. blue. Making former Yankee trainer and N.Y.P.D. officer Brian McNamee look like a liar is easy, even for a dumbass like Rep. Dan Burton, who was last seen shooting a watermelon to prove that Vince Foster did not commit suicide, but that does not get Clemens off the hook.
These hearings had no legitimate purpose. They were purely grandstanding by Chairman Henry Waxman and his posse. They say they are determining whether the government should impose drug oversight on baseball, but that cannot possibly depend on whether McNamee shot up Clemens, or only Pettitte and Knoblauch.
There is no transcript yet, but from my intermittent watching, here are a few lowlights:
• A discussion of whether an MRI of Clemens butt showed an abscess caused by a steroid injection gone wrong or, as Clemens insists, the result of a B-12 injection. I'm sure that by covering Clemens name on the MRI, the Committee prevented the expert from realizing whose butt was pictured.
• A question from Rep. William Clay, D-Mo about which uniform Clemens would wear into the Hall of Fame. Newsflash: Clemens isn't going to the Hall of Fame as things stand now. That is kind of the point.
• The revelation by McNamee, denied by Clemens, that Clemens would bleed from his rear and started carrying band-aids around.
• A dispute over whether Clemens, and/or his nanny attired in a green bikini, were at a party given by Jose Canseco.
• Rep. Burton cross-examining McNamee by stating, "Gee whiz, are you kidding me? My goodness."
• D.C. representative Eleanor Holmes Norton telling Clemens that he will go to heaven.
Of course, the Mitchell Report is pretty ridiculous in it own right. Mitchell got his hands on the BALCO case, two trainers required to talk to him through plea bargains and the records from a raid on a Florida "rejuvenation center." This is random evidence.
There certainly were many other centers of drug supply where other players received drugs. The names revealed by Mitchell are just the ones that got caught. For each of these, there are many more who have not been fingered. We did not need Mitchell to tell us that steroid use was rampant. Jose Canseco and the amazingly increasing performances had already done that.
As for HGH, the topic of the hour, baseball did not even ban it until 2005 and Mitchell is reduced to arguing that players did not obtain it from a physician, although they presumably could have, and that it was a off label use. This is very thin broth indeed.
Baseball is addressing the problem for the future, nothing can be done about the past and these people, to quote Bill Clinton, should "get back to work for the American people."
Disclosure: I am an Athletics fan and have yelled at Clemens on many occasions, both on TV and in person.
Follow Stephen Kaus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stephenkaus
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Half a dozen soldiers are killed every week in the Middle East, and the Republican Senators want to hold hearings about Roger Clemens?
Every time I think the Republicans can't get any worse, they do something to prove me wrong.
Clemens looks like he might want to be a senator someday. He already looks and talks the part.
The look on Clemens' face when asked if he was a vegan-Priceless!
Let's be Honest Here. Steroids DO NOT by Themselves,create a better athlete. What they do do is -and THis is Important-allow an athlete to recover faster to a 'workout'. In laymens terms, IF You are 35 and take steroids,and then go through a workout such lifting weights,jogging for miles,or other workouts Your RECOVERY from those workouts is Faster. You can therefore be as good an athlete at 35 as a 25 year old who is not 'juised'. It is That simple.
So, you're saying Clemens and Bonds didn't cheat?
Let's say that they augment their great natural abilities. If you wish you may put 200 meters of type lice & other decorations before their names in record books. Be grateful that we live in a free (ok, kind of, sort of) free country where talent may reach its full potential. The money is great too.
Oh, the only reason a big deal was made of the Cleman's hearings was to deflect media attention from the fact that the Senate gave Bush a huge victory the day before.
The telecomunications companies who broke the law of the United States of America can all breath easier. The only motivation i can deduce is that Harry Reid and many others knew about the illegal wiretapping too. As Olberman said, "Prison is bipartisan".
Where are the true journalists? Oh, yeah, i forgot, if you say "pimp" and offend the old farts, you get kicked off the air.
One newscast said the Democrats are going after Clemens and the Republicans are going after the trainer.
Why isn't anybody going after the owners?
You can't tell me that if "half of baseball" was using illegal steroids and growth hormones the owners didn't know about it.
In fact, aren't the owners prosecutable under the RICO statute for condoning a "pattern of misconduct"?
I suspect so, because such a fear goes a long way explain why the Republicans are so eager to discredit the primary witness.
Yes, the owners are liable, but it was the union that blocked testing. I would be very interested in Curt Schilling's role in this, given his holier than thou stance nowadays.
Maybe he got an injection in that bleeding ankle!
I am a Yankee fan of many years duration, but I have, even when he was a member of my favorite team, always considered Roger Clemens to be the Toby Keith of baseball, a vaguely friendly, vaguely bullying sort of large man who is used to getting his way in any room he walks into. That said, what in the world is going on here?
Anecdotal evidence supplied by folks facing hard time doesn't even count for much in a Dirty Harry movie, much less any sort of legal proceeding. And five year old swabs and pricks in a plastic bag is proof of what in legal terms? There is no 'chain of custody' that would hold up under the scrutiny of a law student, much less the top trial lawyer Mr. Clemens would employ should he feel the need for such recourse.
Former Senator Mitchell, a lifelong Red Sox fan, found 2 NY area trainers to pressure about HGH and steroid use. And he stopped right there. Only teeny l'il David Ortiz, alone among all them Sox, has been cited as an abuser of these illicit items. What about the Padres? What about the Brewers? What about the Reds. Nada, because he found nobody who would talk to him.
Were he not an indefatigable seeker of praise, Mr. Mitchell might have considered the impossibility of his assignment:-- not one active player cooperated with his probe, and no other peripheral team employees could be bullied by threat of federal prosecution. Result? A flawed partial story rife with accusation and nearly no legal proof of wrongdoing on anybody's part. Mitchell should have reported to Chief Enabler Selig (remember that scrawny old guy cheering all those home runs the year after the strike? He wasn't too concerned then, was he? Nope. He waited until the fans had returned before making noise.) that, given the circumstances, he couldn't make an honest assessment, sort of like Fitzgerald in the Plame fiasco, and let the matter drop. But that would not have looked good in Mitchell's resume, which is more important than truth itself.
McNamee makes me want to shower.
That he told the truth about Pettitte and Knoblauch does not mean that he is telling the truth about Clemens. This is a guy who has lied repeatedly. St. Petersburg police say that McNamee lied about his role in the rape of a drugged woman. His Doctorate was a lie - and he knew it. He wasn't duped by a diploma mill. Yet he presented himself as a phD and on at least one occasion that I am aware of allowed himself to be portrayed as a physician in an interview. Even his personal checks were imprinted with "Dr. Brian McNamee." Moreover, in 2006, he stated emphatically that he had no connection to steroids or any other illegal drugs.
In the taped conversation with Clemens, McNamee never corrected Clemens who said repeatedly that the allegations were false. If anything, it looked like McNamee was attempting to extort money from Clemens. It is also clear that Clemens was not at the Conseco party where McNamee claims to have discussed steroids with Clemens.
Without "chain of custody" and given McNamee's numerous lies, the gauze and syringes retained by McNamee prove nothing. David Cone has also gone on record stating that McNamee fabricated a conversation that he supposedly had with Cone regarding the Players' Association.
The Rocket may very well have taken illegal substances. However, there is not a SHRED of proof.
McNamme is a slime,granted. BUT 'proof' in a court of Law and MY burden of proof to convince Me of Clemen's guilt of lying is based on three things. As with the Bonds case,I am not blind,nor am I deaf,nor am I a fool.
Plus, if roger is so lily-white and above all things steroid, why did he not protest early on to steroid use in baseball?
It was fun to watch clemens squirm when asked about Andy Petitte's honesty. Lotsa liplickin'. Sickening to see all the repubs gather around afterwards to get autographs/strokes. What a bunch of asses.
This hearing was held because clemens wanted to use it as a platform to clear his name. Don't think it worked.
I watched the entire show with fascination and the only unassailable fact I took away from it is that Roger Clemens can never again be credibly accused of overthinking anything.
The second that.
I second that,
With everything going to Hell in America, please tell me why the fuck Congress is wasting time on this nonsensical bullshit?
Last night on The Daily Show, I saw clips of Arlen Specter agonizing over the topic of steroid use. Is that all he has to think about?
I really don't care if athletes bear their asses and shoot up HGH on the diamond, field or court.
To think that we are paying politicians to waste valuable time on this ridiculous situation is an outrage.
I beg to differ. When young people see great athletes being held accountable in the public forum,the good dividends are incalcuable. As a parent and grandparent I care VERY deeply what athletes do to themselves inorder to cheat their way to riches and fame.
bravo uncle dave
I beg to differ.
There is a crack epidemic still going on.
There is a crystal meth epidemic still going on.
There is a heroin epidemic that has grown in the last 5 years among young people. These affect millions of people and their families.
Where are the congressional hearings about these problems? It's too easy to go after what - ten? - multi-millionaire athletes.
I may not agree with you on other postings but on this topic I would agree whole heartedly!! This country is in dire straits in every aspect and Congress is getting on its moral high horse about this???? Really....
I particularly am not fan of anybody but I think that he must be penalized by the use of illicit substances. If they ignores the situation, will be an excuse so that all the sportsmen do the same. lasvegaswe
The discussion of the abscess on Clemens's ass amused me greatly during work.
For My full disclosure,I've been a Yankee fan for 45 years. That said,during Clemons'time with The Yankees and Especially during His Astros stint,I suspected He was on steroids. An athlete of his age just doesn't perform at that level without help.Yeste
So does that mean Nolan ryan was juiced. Satchel paige? come on. There are a few, granted a very few, unique cases of athletes defying their age.
Yes. A few. Perhaps Nolan Ryan WAS juiced. I don't know. As for Satchel,Nobody actually knew His real age. He had a jar of 'salve' that He always rubbed into His arm. ....That said, I watched Barry Bonds' head grow into the size of a picnic ham. I have His 'rookie card' from when He was first with The Pirates. as I have said,I am not blind,nor deaf,nor a fool. I've watched Baseball for 45 years. I have My own 'court of law'.
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