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

Comments

[NABNYC]

I'm not particularly a Clemens fan. But there are occasions in which the tribunal itself, or the questionner, are so lacking in credibility or legitimacy that any witness should be proud to evade, duck, stall, and do anything in their power to avoid giving the members of the inquisition more ammunition to use against others.

Assuming the members of Congress have a good enough vocabulary that they are capable of reading a newspaper, and assuming they ever bothered to try to figure out what their responsibilities are other than hustling for dollars, then Congress should do it's job and stop staging circuses to divert the public from the problems that are crushing us.

Lillian Hellman, when called before Huac to be questioned about whether she knew anyone who ever thought or spoke in a manner that was apparently offensive to the drunks and bullies who were in Congress at that time, had a response something like this: "I cannot cut my conscience to fit today's fashions." She said she would answer questions about herself, to some extent, but she certainly was not going to be interrogated by these fools who were trying to get her to point the finger at others.

Everyone involved in this gross misuse of Congress should be ashamed of themselves. If they're such guys, if they're so clever at asking questions, if they see themselves as committed to some greater good, then they should subpoena Bush, Cheney, and everyone in the administration and ask them some tough questions.

Such as why did they lie to the world and start this war of aggression against Iraq. Why did they authorize kidnapping, torture, and murder? Why shouldn't they be turned over to international authorities and held for prosecution as war criminals.

[Puller58]

Roger Clemons did not want to wind up like Sandy Koufax and end his career at 30 years of age. So he got on the drug routine. He and the world of baseball that did it and now want to wish it away are just sad examples of the state of sports today. Money, money, money is the mantra. So what should happen now? Let the thing fade into history. It's a kid's game and we're all suckers for taking it too seriously. Congress is just the result of the electorate being as smart as the Rocket.

[NJTVGuy]

play acting is a kid's game too, but we pander to these spoiled entertainers just as much as the sports heroes. and let's not forget the music industry people named as hgh users, etc.

[jhNY]

And what about CEO's? Aren't they among the most admired in this society? Mandatory drug test the lot of them!