This is about as unequivocal as you can get:
NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Clemens denied allegations by his former trainer that he took performance-enhancing drugs, calling them ”a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.”
The accusations against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner from former trainer Brian McNamee were the most striking in last week’s Mitchell Report. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998 while with the Toronto Blue Jays, and steroids and human growth hormone in 2000 and 2001, while with the New York Yankees.
”I want to state clearly and without qualification: I did not take steroids, human growth hormone or any other banned substances at any time in my baseball career or, in fact, my entire life,” Clemens said Tuesday in a statement issued through his agent, Randy Hendricks. ”Those substances represent a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.
”I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt, but I understand that Senator Mitchell’s report has raised many serious questions. I plan to publicly answer all of those questions at the appropriate time in the appropriate way. I only ask that in the meantime people not rush to judgment.”
I am, of course, a Yankee fan and I liked Roger Clemens as an athlete when he played. I’m also not naive.
Did he use steroids ? I don’t really know and neither do you.
The fact that the allegation against him is made by the same person who made the same allegation against Andy Pettitte, and that Pettitte has admitted that he did in fact use steroids on two occasions to speed recovery from injury, arguably makes the allegations against Clemens more credible.
But it’s still just the word of one man, and a man who may have had reasons of his own for naming one of the biggest names in baseball.
The thing is, though, I don’t quite know how this one is ever going to be resolved to anyone’s satisfaction. Clemens never failed a drug test and his career is such that it’s hard to believe that its all just a steroid-enhanced fraud. Unless there’s some smoking gun evidence that McNamee is lying, though, or something that calls his credibility into question, there’s not going to be any way to prove that the allegations aren’t true, and people are going believe what they want to believe.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:02 am
A couple things. First, Mr. Petite admitted to using human growth hormone, not steroids.
Secondly, Barry Bonds has never tested positive for steroids by any MLB administered test. He tested positive once for amphetamines, but came up clean in the next six mandated tests. Before his indictment, before the amphetamine test, and, to some extent, before he admitted using the “cream and clear,” Barry Bonds was tried, found guilty, and executed in the court of public opinion.
In reality, the court of public opinion is more like a civil trial. We can find guilt or innocence based on the preponderance of evidence. That said, I’m not sure why Mr. McNamee (and by extension Mr. Mitchell) would want to torpedoe these guys. All indications are that Mr. Mitchell is a square guy with no axe to grind. It follows that he would be pretty thorough in cross checking his information. I would suggest that Mr. Clemens be very careful how he goes about handling this. It may be Mr. Mitchell is holding a full house to Mr. Clemens’ flush.
A final thought. The court of public opinion is a highly contradictory example of jurisprudence. Just weeks before being indicted, throngs sat on the edge of their seats to see Mr. Bonds break the home run title. Mr. Clemens will have no less a fate. He will be remebered for Cy Young’s, MVPs, strikeouts, and wins. The multitude will still want his autograph and will pay to get it. He’ll be included in discussions of the greatest pitchers. It will be argued that his greatest years were pre-steroid. He will be admitted into the hall of fame. The fact is that we want bigger, better, more - more home runs, strikeouts, wins. We want to live in a “golden era” when all the records fell at the hands of our contemporary heroes. And if it takes a few steroids to do it, well, what the hell?
December 20th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
I do believe Roger took the drugs why not he is still pitching at his age so I believe he is full of #%^* and he has kids in the system, very sad. I am a Red Sox fan diehard. Roger started his career here and since has denounced being inducted into the Hall of Fame if done as a Red Sox. I have absolutely no respect for the man whatsoever. We called him Roger the dodger as he would leave the game and let someone else get the win for him, what a sad sad case is he….Why doesn’t he do what MacAuthor did, just fade away. He doesn’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame just like Pete Rose.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Why in the heck would someone with as much credibility as Mr. Roger Clemens feel the need to use steroids? It just doesnt make any sense considering the fact that he proved himself to be purhaps one of the greatest pitchers of all time after just a few years in the MLB. Notice nobody is talking about Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, or any other big name players from his generation. But they are talking about Clemens and Petite who both happened to play for the Yankees during multiple seasons. There are many Bosox fans and all other fans around the nation who severly dislike the Yankees but I dont think that should be a reason for them to point fingers. If age is going to be an issue then maybe we should talk about the success of Brett Favre. As he has grown older in the NFL he has continued to improve his play yet no one has said a damn thing about him using steroids. Second, what do Roger’s kids have to do with all of this? Yeah they play baseball also but that doesnt mean that they are going to be into steriods and follow in the alledged footsteps of their fathers. People just need to wise up and get a life. It is none of their business what Roger did or didnt do. Honestly, I dont believe he used any kind of steriod because Roger Clemens doesnt need to. He could strike anyone out that he wanted because he is just that good. Roger Clemens isnt on steroids because Roger Clemens is better than steroids.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
[...] I noted when this all started, people are going to believe what they want to believe. [...]