Clemens Is Liar & PED User. It’s Done. Next!
Anyone else out there have the Buzzcocks’ “I Believe” stuck in their head now as a result of today’s congressional hearings regarding PEDs, Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee?
O.K., after today, this is what I believe in: Roger Clemens is lying when he says that he’s never used PEDs. And, this is not because of anything that Brian McNamee had to say today (or before). I wouldn’t trust McNamee any more than I would trust Brittney Spears when she says she’s a fit mother.
But, I trust Andy Pettitte. When Andy Pettitte swears to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help him Gee-Oh-Dee, he’s going to tell you the truth. Need proof of this? Check out the disclosure today that Pettitte used PEDs in 2004. No one knew about that – except Andy, his father, and maybe a few other people in Pettitte’s life (that he may confide with on such matters). There was no need for Pettitte to cough up this information. It was a tree falling in the woods with no one there to hear it. But, Andy did confess to it – because he swore to tell the truth.
And, if Pettitte says that Clemens mentioned some time around 1999 or 2000 that he used PEDs, I believe this to be true. Further, if Pettitte says that Clemens, in 2005, then later claimed that Andy misunderstood him – and that Roger meant that it was (his wife) Debbie Clemens that used HGH, again, I believe Pettitte (that this happened).
However, as it was brought up in the hearing today, there’s a problem here. Clemens, and McNamee (for what it’s worth), have confessed that Debbie Clemens was injected with HGH in 2003. Therefore, unless Roger Clemens has some sort of temporal buddy-pass that allows him to bend the laws of time and space, there was no way possible for him to be discussing Debbie Clemens in 1999-2000 (using PEDs) since it wouldn’t happen (yet) for another three years.
In the end, this won’t change the way I look at Roger Clemens. For all we know, he’s not the only player in baseball over the last 20 years to use PEDs. And, I’m not sure that I can fault him for using PEDs – the more I think about it. Baseball players are always looking for an edge. And, while some may see PED-use as cheating – at least it’s a player cheating towards a winning outcome. I understand the issue around having a “level playing field.” Still, is there ever such a thing as a “level playing field” in baseball? Doesn’t it seems like, at any time, some player or team has an advantage over another for some reason?
In any event, in the end, I do believe that Roger Clemens is a liar when he says that he never used PEDs. I got that out of the hearings today – besides the Buzzcocks ear-worm. And, this will be a tough time for Roger now…for a while…until the next guy comes along. Just like Clemens took Bonds out of the PED center ring. And, there will be a next guy – there always is.
I feel like Elijah Cummings, U.S. Representative from Marlyand, who is “searching for an independent party” to figure out which side to believe. You have two sides, two questionable characters, and one truth that eludes even the most important figures on Capitol Hill.
In one corner you have a defamed hero, screaming at the public for the right to defend his legacy. In the other stands a trainer, who now admits to being a large part of the steroid culture that flourished in the national pastime.
The most truthful statement of the day came from Clemens, who amongst all the unsure answers provided this statement about the future of all parties involved.
“I have been asked to prove that I did not do it. How in the world can I prove a negative? No matter what we discuss here today, I am never going to have my name restored.”
That truth was learned today. Take from that what you will.
http://www.mvn.com/mlb-rays
You know, all we hear about is HGH. Andy took it, Debbie Clemens took it, and Roger and Andy discussed it. But (unless I’m wrong here, and I certainly didn’t hear every word of the hearing) I don’t remember anyone but McNamee mention Clemens using steroids. Andy got a pass for using HGH, and there were numerous others in the report who bought HGH. Paul Bryd pitched a playoff game after admitting to using it. Even if you take Pettitte’s word as gospel, then all we know is that Clemens did HGH — and that seems to be a forgivable crime nowadays.
baileywalk,
McNameee alleged that he shot Clemens up with Winstrol in Toronto, which may have caused an abscess. The committee found a nationally renowned expert who viewed the MRI (which Clemens’s attys only surrendered on Monday despite earlier requests) and offered the opinion that the Winstrol could well have caused an abscess. Then one of Clemens surrogate defense attys, in the person of Tom Davis, weighed in that Clemens has a doctor who thinks otherwise.
Rich:
You raise a relevant point, but if Clemens did PEDs, the question in my mind is how many times did McNamee inject Clemens with steroids? If he only did so the infrequent number of times mentioned in his testimony, well, then that doesn’t seem to have been enough to elicit the desired effects. Once the furor over whether Clemens did PEDs dies down, I think it is more important to examine the extent to which it helped him in his career. Assuming that the best science is correct and that HGH alone is not a PED, what do we make of Clemens superior performance in the post testing period?
williamnyy,
I’m certainly not saying that McNamee is a good or even decent man, but his allegations have been corroborated to some extent by Pettitte, Knoblach, the nanny, and perhaps by extrinsic evidence.
That said, I agree that Clemens’s career may have only been minimally affected by PEDs. If in fact he did use, as seems likely, and he admitted it, his career would have taken a hit, but I think people would have been happy to forgive him and put his career in context.
The Pettitte-as-truthteller is kind of funny to me. I think Andy is an honorable man — not because of his devotion to his religion (which, frankly, means little to me), but just because I get that sense of him. But Andy has now changed his story for the third time. First he said he never did any PEDs. Then he said he did them once. Now we find out he did them again.
I think he’s telling the truth, and I believe he only used them to recover from injury (it must have worked the first time if he used again, no?). But he has lied twice now.
We kill McNamee (who, in my mind, is a total dirtbag), but somehow Andy is held up as the absolute example of an honest man. But both have been exposed as liars — maybe for different reasons, but both showed they would lie. (And this in no way means I don’t believe Pettitte’s account of the conversation he had with Clemens.)
Can we prove that Clemens took PEDs? No. So it’s up to someone’s opinion. IMO though, he might have done something. Then again hundreds of other players have. Yet, we hold a Congressional meeting over one guy?! Give me a break. That’s why naming names in the Clemens, I mean, Mitchell Report was unintelligent. You didn’t get EVERYBODY. 80+ players from decade in which steroid was used?? That is certainly not all of them.
Lastly, the Yanks will win the World Series and all will be well.
Congress didn’t want this hearing. The committee didn’t think there was enough substance to proceed, but Clemens pushed the hearing as way to clear his name. Clemens asked for this meeting, not Congress.
I agree with baileywalk here. McNamee, Clemens, and Pettitte have all lied about this at some point. Pettitte didn’t come clean until he was under oath and at risk of perjuring himself. I guess that’s the difference – McNamee and Clemens have both lied to Congress (or, at the minimum, have been very misleading or inconsistent in their sworn testimony), while Pettitte has told the truth under oath.
I think the most damaging evidence against Clemens comes from the dispositions and interviews of some of the peripheral characters – CJ Nitkowski, Knoblauch, Gene Monahan, etc. There is a ton of information in their testimonies that corrobarate McNamee’s accusations. Unless someone thinks that those dozen or so people got together to frame Roger, I don’t know how anyone can think Roger is clean here.
Of all of the dispositions and interviews, I found Knoblauch’s to be the most interesting – specifically when he talks about his throwing problems. To this day, he doesn’t know why he can’t throw a ball to first base.