Rebuttal: Is Roger Clemens Really a Scumbag?

The short answer is yes.

The long answer is yes with a but ... 

I've spent the last couple of days digesting all the sordid details of the Roger Clemens/Mindy McCready scandal, the lurid accusations, the questionable truths of it all, searching for the answer to the question "Mindy who?" and I've come to a conclusion.

Something stinks and it ain't just McCready's music although that has a lot do with all of this.

If you're unfamiliar with the allegations, I'm not sure why you're visiting Bleacher but just in case you've been in Djibouti for the last several months, here's the Cliff Notes version.

It's alleged the country music singer met Clemens when she was a struggling singer of 15 and he was Boston's big man on the mound, a 28-year-old married father of two.  In a karaoke bar, no less! 

And so began a so-called long standing relationship that, allegedly, had nothing to do with sex, at least not right away.  Apparently, McCready is a "close family friend" and nothing more.  Clemens' camp denies sex ever entered in to the equation.  

Whether or not that's true, it's inconsequential.  The bottom line is, we all know Clemens is a liar and a cheat.  There are very few who don't believe Clemens was involved in the muscle-growing, testicle-shrinking world of steroids. He has become the poster boy for the Mitchell Report, has had several people accuse him of taking steroids and yet continues to deny any wrong doing.   

Fair enough.  If that's what you want to do, be my guest.  I still won't believe you  and no one is going to believe you about the whole no-sex-with-Mindy thing either. 

On to Mindy McCready.

One columnist described McCready as the Amy Winehouse of country music.  A quick surf over to Wiki and it's a fair assessment.  Here's the rap sheet: 

August 2004:  Busted for using a fake prescription for buying the painkiller Oxycontin

May 2005:  Pulled over for speeding and then arrested for driving under the influence as well as driving with a suspended license 

July 2005:  Charged with identity theft and all the other charges that come along with it

August 2005: Probation violation  

July 2007: Charged with battery and resisting arrest after getting in to a tussle with her mother

September 2007: Probation violation

What a peach! It's not hard to see what Clemens liked about this gal, huh? 

Prior to all of this, she had a moderately successful country music career, producing two big hits in "Ten Thousand Angels" and "Guys Do It All The Time" which opens the door to all kinds of jokes about this whole situation. 

Here's the stinky part I was referring to earlier:

Mindy McCready is working on a new album.

The world of PR is a wonderful thing, isn't it? 

McCready is working on a NEW ALBUM!  

How long do you think Mindy was holding on to that Ace card?  She and her publicist and her music company must of peed themselves when the Mitchell Report hit the headlines. 

There's no better way to sell a couple of extra albums than with a scandal.  

Even better; McCready is, at this very moment, negotiating a deal for a reality show. No doubt it will be a coast-to-coast candid look at life in the McCready home, such as it is.  A forum where she can talk candidly about Roger and Me, I'm sure.  You can bet viewers will be there for at least one season, enough to earn her some spendin' cash!

In PR, it's all about timing.  Just as the Mitchell Report fall-out was fading away, when all there was left was Clemens' defamation suit against his former trainer Brian McNamee, McCredy plays the Ace.  

Talk about a bad beat for The Rocket. 

Personally, I find all of this disgusting.  From the allegations against Clemens to the way McCready turned this into what will certainly be a big money day for her because you just know her albums will sell, her reality show will air and she'll go on Oprah, Ellen and The View and wax poetic about her hard life. 

Scumbags.  Clemens, McCready, the lot of them.  

I take some comfort in knowing that, within a decade or so, people will again be asking "Mindy who?" and Clemens will be nothing more than the answer to the bar trivia question "What MLB pitcher was once nicknamed The Rocket?"

A fitting end to the careers of both of them.