I have faith in forensics that any fakery that a team trainer might attempt to pull off could be uncovered. As to why McNamee would keep this stuff around this long...I have no idea. But in the area of whether or not it proves Clemens a liar, it doesn't really matter.
But if he was trying to protect himself, then keeping that evidence definitely wasn't helpful. It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever, unless he kept that evidence to possibly extort him. If Clemens ever tried to rat McNamee out, then that evidence would only serve to back up his claims. And even during all this mess, Clemens is the one who's name and reputation seem to be taking a bigger hit. McNamee would have stayed out of jail because before now, it was still just a bunch of hearsay and Clemens will never have any solid way of proving his denials, short of a confession by McNamee.
Then why not turn it over to Mitchell? This makes zero sense to me. The timing makes no sense at all.
I think he did not want to turn it over, probably kept it as a last resort, but when Clemens recorded his phone conversation and then started bringing up MacNamee's character, it forced his hand. Clemens may have just gone all in against the other guy holding the nutz. DD
What??? He's protecting his ass...trying to stay out of jail. Prosecutors ask him if Clemens was involved...he says no....they put pressure on...he says yes. He stays out of trouble only if he tells them the truth...he just gives them his word...nothing more. Years later, George Mitchell leads an investigation. McNamee is questioned again. McNamee echoes his earlier statements. Nothing more. Roger denies it under oath in a 5 hour deposition. All of a sudden, McNamee has physical evidence. Give me a break.
Yes, as soon as Roger up the ante by calling out his charcter and basically blasting him, he had no choice. He never had to turn over any evidence, he just testified, what good would the evidence be until this exact moment? And, who the hell cares about the timeline, if it proves the truth, isn't that all that is important here? Don't you want the truth Max? If Roger did it...he should pay, and if he lied under oath, he should pay..... MacNamee is no saint, he is scum, but it sure looks as if Clemens may be in the same company. That phone conversation was the "no going back" point... DD
I don't think anybody has gone all in just yet but it's close. It's right now a game of chicken, will anybody blink? I suspect both sides have more but it will get ugly and pretty nasty. Now about the evidence, it's simular to the "blue dress", now whether its for personal gain or protection, it is evidence. It will come down to a he/she said deal as there is really no way either side came prove one way or another without a smoking gun. How can Roger prove he's innocent? By discrediting McNamee. How can McNamee prove Roger did it? Physical evidence and 3rd party accounts (Andy or the person who actually supplied Roger)
Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that they physically couldn't be more efficient. I'm saying that if this hearing didn't exist, nothing else would get done faster. They might work on some other small thing you've never heard of, but it's not like this replaced some other major effort like working on SS reform or the mortgage issue or whatever. It's one of a bunch of small issues that Congress is always working on. Removing it is not going to make them solve other problems more quickly.
There are other explanations, although all are a stretch. Maybe towards the end of McNamee's time with Clemens, they had disagreements and Clemens threatened him for some reason or other. In that case, he'd want to keep something as protection. Things like that - like I said, it's a stretch, but there are a thousand possibilities here, and us guessing on what the real reason might be isn't going to work. But I'd guess if we wait another few weeks, his claim will come out.
Well if the evidence is real, then the timing of it being brought before investigators and his motivations for reaveling it is irrelevant. But I'm just skeptical of it being real evidence that hasn't been tampered in any way.
I'm never gonna know the entire truth. It's not gonna happen. I'm going to have to weigh the evidence that's presented...like a juror. That's what I'm doing. I find it very difficult to believe that this guy who had to tell the truth to save his ass didn't present this evidence to the authorities at the time it would have saved his ass...and instead held on to it for 8 years.
and what problem are they solving here?? Mitchell presented the report and said, "here's the past...this is it..don't focus on it. focus on the future." i don't see what great public aim congress is reaching by going through this.
but "evidence" like this wouldn't even be admitted in a proceeding where there was a reasonable doubt standard. that's my point.
If I was holding onto some needles for 8 years, I would be disturbed at myself. Kinda creepy, regardless of the reason for holding on to them.
Shining a huge spotlight on steroids has been vital to all the changes that have been made over the last few years - this is a continuation of that. The same exact thing was said about the Sosa/etc hearings - and that resulted in vast changes in terms of tolerance to steroids within the major leagues. Without those hearings, the testing policies today are likely much weaker and the problem is still much more widespread. The other impact is how that trickles down to the minor leagues and then the amateur levels. We won't know how much change happens at those levels for years. The Mitchell Report also suggested that more aggressive testing be done, it be outsourced, etc. Congressional pressure will be vital to getting the MLBPA to agree to things like that.
I get the point of the first hearings. And the new testing was implemented. What more are we going to learn? All of America knows that baseball had problems with steroids. We all got that. We all knew that what was saw in 1998 was probably all on the back of steroids. I do not see the value of moving past that. Congress getting so involved in MLB and NFL issues is just dumb to me. I don't elect federal representatives to police professional sports.