My point was that people said that Clemens could just say what he wanted and get away with it because McNamee's credibility was shady, so there'd be no way to catch him lying (ie, it would be he-said, he-said case). As it turns out, when people investigate, new things tend to come up. I'm not arguing whether there should or shouldn't have been hearings, but we just may be able to learn more about what happened here than people thought. But as far as the hearings go, the Feds did learn about at least one new supplier and have shut that down (the source for Pettitte's dad). Who knows if that has or will lead to more distributors and the like. That's the way they've been finding all these internet pharmacies and the like - just linking suppliers to customers to more suppliers to more customers, etc. Also, after years of being completely obstinate, the player's union opened the door to possible HGH blood testing this week if a legit test can be designed. There is also discussion of manufacturers being required to put a chemical in HGH that would then be detectable in urine (I'm not sure if the HGH people are taking is manufactured legally or illegally, though). Would this have happened without all this publicity? Maybe, maybe not. But every time these kinds of hearings happen, it seems like lots of progress gets made in the weeks after.
Again - the fact that he is showing that he is unfit for white collar defense work in spectacular fashion by helping to put his client in jail makes him into a loser in my opinion.
I concur, why do people hire this guy to manage their ...well....campaign? Rusty Hardin will get a ton of money out of this, and Roger may go to jail...not good.. DD
I agree 100% Max. This is ridiculous. Quite frankly, I could care less if he shot up or not - but if we're going to focus on this particular issue let's focus on all of the players, the management, the owners, the sportswriters, the trainers, etc. Let's also take a real close look at why our society places so much importance on sports, why there's so much money involved and what leads these players to do what they do. This is MUCH bigger than Roger Clemens and Waxman has taken the "issue of steriods" and made it his own personal crusade against Roger. Is he lying? Probably. Should he have handled himself differently? Probably. Was it really necessary to drag his ass to Washington and put on a show? No freakin' way. Does Congress (especially the freakin' Oversight Committee of all people) have nothing better to do? Are we as a society (and more importantly as individuals) more concerned and apauled by Roger using steroids/lying about it than we are with the flagrant waste of resources to prove that he did so? I think Waxman should be held accountable for his actions as well. How about a committee sitting him down and asking how steroids became his priority with everything else going on. And if the answer has anything to do with the fact that the media pushed him into it, we have much deeper problems in this country than anyone would like to admit.
I don't really care much one way or the other with respect to Clemens, but whenever anybody brought up the incredible amount of time and resources, and the unlimited power, brought to bear against President Clinton with respect to the whitewater investigation, which obviously greatly exceeded its intended scope and usefulness, you would lecture us about the sanctity of a deposition and how perjury was the most heinous crime imaginable. I am not trying to go "gotcha" on you but you definitely seem to have changed your tune since those days.
President Clinton lied under oath about sex with employees/underlings in a sexual harassment suit brought by an underling. I didn't realize this was a hearing on perjury to begin with. Before Congress called him in for a depo, Roger had never been under oath to begin with on this topic. Somehow I have this idea that I MIGHT want to hold a president, the chief executive, to a higher standard than I hold a 40-something year old pitcher. The very fact that these events are even remotely relateable to anyone exhibits just how blown out of proportion this event has become.
ummm..except i defended bonds then, as well. yeah,roger hasn't been demonized at all in this. it's purely racial. everyone clearly thinks roger is a saint.
a suit that was thrown out and I also think its disngenuous that everytime you refer to the lewinsky affair, you bring up sexual harassment when monica never accused him of that.
The suit was not thrown out...Clinton paid her $850,000 to make it go away. It was settled...not thrown out. It doesn't matter if Monica accused him of that. That wasn't the question. When you're being sued by a former employee/underling of sexual harassment, your sexual history with other former employees/underlings is entirely relevant. When you lie about that under oath to create space for yourself, it's called perjury. If Roger perjured himself, then he should be held accountable too.
What lesson? I'm still trying to figure that out. Seems like cheating is OK so long as you are a good guy and just fess up to a little bit of it.
This whole thing is bull****, and the only people responsible are the MLB. And I'd indict congress for being a humongous hypocrite. Steroids aren't exactly new. They have been around for decades. For decades, MLB turned a blind eye to it. It was obvious. The NBA and NFL have had steroid policies in place for years, so by MLB not imposing anything they were, in effect, saying that you could take steroids. If steroids increase my salary ten fold, you're damn right that I'd at least condider it. Anyone would. Now MLB put together an anti-steroid policy, and I'm fine with that. But this is a freaking witch hunt targeting some people over others. MLB should be put out of business for going backwards to try and find out which of their players were using steroids while they turned a blind eye. I mean, if Jeff Bagwell isn't the freaking poster boy for someone who took steroids, I don't know what is, yet his reputation is unscathed. (thankfully. I'm a huge Bagwell fan) MLB shot themselves for doing this. It is reprehensible. And the Gov't even looking at this in these economic times is just as disgusting. I'm going to puke.
Well, from the goverment's perspective, they aren't going after Clemens here because he did steroids or HGH. They are going after him because he potentially lied under oath. Steroids or not, that is a serious deal, and one I hope he has to answer for if he is guilty. The rest of the investigation they did with the giant hearings with Mark McGwire trying to talk about the future rather than the past and with Sammy Sosa suddenly being struck mute...yeah, that was a witch hunt designed to get some congressmen/women's face on the camera, I think. That's not to say it wasn't effective in changing things, however. And I disagree with your statement that Bagwell is the "poster child" for steroid use. Every bit of evidence anyone could cite to prove their theory that he used can be explained away by some other, logical means (most relating to his chronic, hereditary shoulder problem). I'm not saying the guy never used, but I'm saying no one has any clear proof one way or another. That, in addition to playing in Houston where the media is not so ravenous, is a big reason his reputation was not effected, I think.
Agreed. But, but, but his pictures show that he's *BIGGER* in his late 30s than in has early 20s! That's PROOF1111!!!!!!!
