A guy I work with is a huge Red Sox fan and he was watching this earlier in our break room. He came up with a very interesting theory: As you might remember, after the last strike in the early '90s, MLB lost a lot of fans who were turned off by these guys striking. The 2 to 3 seasons after the strike, IIRC, attendance was down. Then we had that season (I think it was '98) where McGwire and Sosa were hitting all the homers. This co-worker thinks that Bud Seelig called a meeting with Don Fehr and the owners and told them to do whatever it took to get the fans back - mainly make baseball a more offensive game with more home runs. If that meant for players to take performance-enhancing drugs like steroids and HGH, then so be it. This theory seems far-fetched but the more I think about it, it does make some sense, especially if you believe John Rocker's latest revelation (about how a MLB team doctor advised him on how to use steroids).
Nah, I'd prefer to talk about the nanny in the bikini and the fact that while Roger was away, Debbie pulled down her pants and let Brian stick it in her (his needle). Good times.
I doubt such a meeting ever took place, but most people believe that baseball turned a blind eye to the rampant steroid use because of how the results brought fans back. That's not a new theory.
Interesting statistical performance analysis compared to other durable pitchers of his era. No definitive conclusions of course, but interesting nevertheless. http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/analyzing-roger-clemens-a-step-by-step-guide/
RM95, I completely agree with you about baseball turning a blind eye towards this, especially Selig. I just found it interesting to imagine Selig spearheading a meeting where he lays down the law to the owners and Fehr about doing "whatever it takes to get fannies back in the seats." That would actually mean that Selig could be considered somewhat competent!
Personally I don't see how anyone can make a definitive opinion on this whole mess when we still only have testimonies about recollection of events that took place almost ten years ago and syringes and gauze pads that were stuffed into a shoebox for almost a decade. Both Clemens and McNamee present valid arguments at times, but their stories also seem to fall completely apart at others. The ONLY way this situation will ever be resolved is if some positive drug test surfaces (which it won't) or one of these two admits to lying.
During testimony didn't it come up that McNamee might have a vial of Clemens blood, that contains steroids? That would be even more evidence, right? DD
It was mentioned that there could be traces of blood on the gauze pads or the syringes or whatnot...if he submits to a DNA test and it links his DNA to that evidence, then certainly that would be damning. But I still don't think it's definitive unless they can determine a time frame...would they be able to tell if the traces of blood and steroids came at the same time or was one of them added later?
As I've said before in a different thread... I believe BOTH were lying. I believed Roger did it then and believe it now after hearing the testimony. He won't be convicted in a perjury charge just because like everyone said, there is no evidence or without reasonable doubt that McNamee is a credible witness. In my opinion, Roger is guilty of lying and guilty of taking Steroids. SO WHAT! As one person said, it's just BASEBALL and Entertainment for us. Are we going to put Britney Spears, Amy Winehouse, Keith Richards on the stand too? McNamee is still a piece of crap in my book. He made a lot of money off a lot of baseball players and as one of the congressman said...He's a drug dealer, a liar, and in my eyes...a rapist, and just not a good man. Roger may have done wrong...but he's done a lot more good than wrong in my book. He is going about this the wrong way. In my opinion, he should've just admitted to it but that's just me. Now all the good he's done is all for nothing. O yea and McNamee is going to have a book deal...you can bet on that for sure. By the way.. Jose Canseco has another book coming out on opening day supposed to be part 2 of Juiced. He names MORE players that weren't on the Mitchell Report. When will this ever STOP?
didn't see the testimony today ... but have certainly enjoyed the discussion of such event. this is like iran-contra, OJ's trial and lewinsky all over again... in any event I have a question that I haven't seen answered: has anyone explained why roger would even get lidocaine injections. the b12 stuff is controversial in medicine but certainly a lot of docs still believe it can help (although recent research thinks its mostly placebo effect unless you have a documented b12 deficiency which isn't as common as you'd think)... the lidocaine i'm baffled by. i mean i'm a pediatrician and we use lidocaine to give very localized numbness or to take the sting out of certain antibiotic injections that can burn going in - but if i understood correctly roger said he got the injections in his buttocks for generalized pain. did he say the pain was local to the spot of injection? or if any adult docs are using this for generalized pain please explain? personally i've never heard of giving lidocaine injections for generalized pain - but then again I don't practice sports medicine much...
I believe Roger. Obviously, 1. Pettitte misremembered 2. McNamee is lying, but only about Roger 3. The nanny in a bikini is lying 4. Canseco told the truth 5. Clemens was the only guy who had an abscess caused by a bad vitamin shot 6. No one told Roger he was implicated in the Mitchell report 7. Roger takes no shortcuts and he's a Titan of the game!!!
Finally, someone with a sane view of the situation with which I can wholeheartedly agree. bronxfan, maybe the lidocaine was for the pain from the abcess on his buttocks.
Add to it that Clemens' wife is lying - ESPN just flashed that she acknowledged taking HGH before her swimsuit thing.
Forget the hearing, who was that chick that was sitting behind the Senators and chairman? Anyone know her name?
Yep and unless you are an absolute genetic freak of nature, anyone who looks like that, especially at that age is taking something. And another thing, 1 or 2 injections of GH isn't going to do crap for you. You have to take it daily for MONTHS before you start to see results. They are all lying when they say they had 1 or 2 injections. And I know this from experience, I've taken it before under a doctor's supervision.
You can not like it all you want. I don't like the process. I'm not going to condemn a man without more than this. If that's all you got, you better not pick me for your jury. This is not support for Clemens... AND IN NO WAY WAS CLEMENS ONE OF MY BOYHOOD HEROES.
I stand by my posts, Clements is not guilty! I'm not so sure about Clemens. I'm a notorious poor speller, bad typist and space cadet.
