The Roger Clemens Saga
Posted by Blake Murphy on February 9, 2008
This article has been submitted by the man with the curly haired brother, Jack Forsayeth.
As many know by now, Roger Clemens has been accused of using ‘performance enhancing drugs’ by former trainer Brian McNamee. Has anyone else realized the irony of his last name? Anyways, this is causing an obvious stir around baseball because now the greatest hitter of all time, Barry Bonds, and maybe the greatest pitcher, in Clemens, are the two most commonly associated with the negatives of the sport. Not the best for the game, eh? Feel free to challenge me on those statements.
Now I, along with most, was not entirely shocked that the brooding Clemens was apparently on ‘roids given his huge increase in weight throughout his career. McNamee claims that he started PERSONALLY injecting him with steroids during his tenure with the Blue Jays in 1998. This is one hell of a risky accusation if it is not true, and I see no reason for McNamee to make that kind of claim on Clemens. To give Clemens some credit, he is fighting hard to clear his name but if it turns out he was wrong, he will essentially drop harder than his splitfinger fastball in Hall of Fame balloting. It is a crime to the sport (steroid rant will come later) and to himself. He still won three, of his all-time record seven, Cy Young awards before allegedly taking the juice and had been a superstar pitcher for the Red Sox for 13 years. He even tied Cy Young himself for all-time Sox victories.
McNamee has new evidence everyday it seems, including photos, charts, and even DNA. It looks as though it is inevitable that the evidence will hold and another great player will suffer from Commissioner Selig’s mistake. So without further adieu THE RANT:Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens NEVER cheated. They took performance enhancers that were allowed under the rules set out by the MLB. They saw that they could get a legal advantage over some of their competitors and smartly took it. Now it is illegal, and any ballplayer should be severely punished if caught. Should Tiger Woods’ major record have an asterisk because he uses a titanium driver when Jack Nicklaus couldn’t? Should Federer’s have an asterisk because he has better shoes? I don’t think that is any different because technology evolves as the game evolves and players should be allowed to use it. The fact is that Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, and Clemens SAVED baseball after the strike and at the time the MLB and Selig knew it and didn’t want to ban steroids. The MLB is paying for their mistakes now though. It was an era of baseball and fans are not being fair to themselves, or the players, if they allow ‘roids to tarnish the game. Forget it, move on, and stop losing more fans by bringing more stars to court everyday. Steroids may have always been morally wrong but you cannot keep an athlete out of the hall of fame for poor morals. After all Mickey Mantle was a drunk.This article has been submitted by the man with the curly haired brother, Jack Forsayeth.
February 9, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I agree. It’s insane how big of a deal everyone is making about this. Until we see some hard proof we don’t even know what is what. As if the politicians in the United States don’t have anything better to do than investigate the use of performance enhancing drugs by professional athletes who should know better anyways… Shouldn’t Congress be thinking about the war in Iraq? Electing a new president? The failing US economy? Nope, they’re too busy spending precious time and resources determining if Roger Clemons was using steroids. Bullshit.
February 9, 2008 at 9:57 pm
to be fair, sports are more important than any of that shit you mentioned, so im cool with that. my problem with it is that they (government people) are ignorant and uninformed about the sport, the business of the sport/league/union, and the plight of the players.
i think if Obama wants to win, he should start spitting his streetball knowledge and maybe admit he tried HGH to beat clinton, then he’d have the public’s eye and respect. word.
February 11, 2008 at 12:05 am
Posted by Kevin Smith
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens should have every record of theirs stripped if found guily of steroid use. I know there has been nothing proven yet, but should they be found guilty they and every other player found guilty of using banned substances should be striken from the history books. They cheated plain and simple.
I will hold this position until the greatest hitter in baseball history is reinstated - a man who bet on baseball but always on his team to win. Thanks for the rant space.