Clemens’ Hearing an Utter Circus
Posted on February 13, 2008
Filed Under Roger Clemens, Sports
There was no knockout blow today against Roger Clemens, but there were three stunning punches that came close. Had the steroid hearing not deteriorated into a matter of partisan debate, that trifecta might have actually brought closure to this debate. 
    The first moment involved Andy Pettite, a religious man who is well respected around the game of baseball as an upstanding citizen. Earlier, Pettite had corroborated McNamee’s claims that he had used steroids in 2003. He went a step further in his deposition admitting to self-injecting human growth hormone in 2004, an even nobody else knew about. Petitte didn’t need to make this claim, but did so he said because he ultimately has to face god and doesn’t want to lie. At that moment he running an 11 on the credibility scale and it is then that he claimed that Roger Clemens had admitted using steroids and HGH. Up to that point it was Clemens’ word against the tainted word of his former trainer, but Pettite’s claim changed the dynamic.    Then there was an issue of a party at Jose Canseco’s home in 1998. The trainer claimed that Clemens was at this party, a gathering where steroids was discussed. Clemens claimed repeatedly that he was not there and couldn’t have been there because he was golfing.  The trainer had seen a woman at the party with Clemens’ children whom he later found out was Clemens’ nanny. The congressional committee asked the Clemens camp for information on this nanny so she could be interviewed. They balked, not producing her information until two days before the hearing. It came out that Roger met with her before producing her to congress and coached her on what to say, or that was the implication. It didn’t seem to matter, as she told congress that Clemens was at the party in question. Like most of this debate, the party itself wasn’t that big of an issue, but when Clemens lied about it he made it an issue. Her testimony further damaged his credibility.    Then there was this question of an abscess on Clemens’ right butt cheek. McNamee claimed this was the result of an injection of Winstrol, a horse steroid. Clemens claimed that it was from a B12 injection. Testimony was then provided from a leading specialist in the field who claimed that it was highly unlikely that B12 could have caused the abscess and that it was likely the result of a steroid injection, just as McNamee claimed.   Those three issues should have been three nails in Clemens’ coffin, except each time evidence damning to Clemens was provided one of the Republican committee members would do whatever they could to discredit it, whether it meant attacking the trainers credibility, that of a doctor providing independent analysis, or the Mitchell Report itself. When did the issue of Roger Clemens become a matter of partisan debate? How is Clemens’ use of steroids a Republican or Democratic issue? Yes, Roger is a Republican and contributed to the Bush campaign, but this was downright puzzling. Embarrassing, really. Reps Burton, Shays, and Issa should have been ashamed of themselves as they dismissed credible evidence and sound arguments, putting politics in front of our children and that is what this is really about. How do I explain it to my son when Roger walks and it does appear that this will forever reside in the murky confines of ambiguity?      Roger Clemens should be the new Pete Rose, but it seems now that he is Bill Clinton. Â
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