Roger Clemens’ worst enemy isn't Brian McNamee. It’s not former Senator George Mitchell either.
Roger Clemens’ worst enemy is Roger Clemens.
Clemens might be the least intelligent sports figure of our generation. At least Barry Bonds had the smarts to pay off his former trainer and claim he had, in fact, used steroids...but didn’t know what they were.
Hardly believable, but at least almost plausible.
It took Roger Clemens DAYS to come up with the following excuse:
“It wasn’t steroids, it wasn’t HGH, it was B12!”
That’s almost as good as his “I thought it was the baseball” excuse after he famously flew into a 'roid-rage and fired the sawed-off end of a baseball bat at Mike Piazza.
Roger’s memory is apparently on par with his intelligence. Check out the following excerpt from Jose Canseco’s book:
It was so open, the trainers would jokingly call the steroid injections “B12 shots,” and soon the players had picked up on that little code name, too. You’d hear them saying it out loud in front of each other: “I need to go in and get a B12 shot,” a player would say, and everyone would laugh. (Of course, that was the kind of joke you really only made around other steroid users, because obviously they were in the same boat as you. What were they going to do, tell on you? Not hardly.)
It was the pitchers that kept the “B12” joke going. For example, I’ve never seen Roger Clemens do steroids, and he never told me that he did. But we’ve talked about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations, and I’ve heard him use the phrase “B12 shot” with respect to others.
A lot of pitchers did steroids to keep up with hitters. If everyone else was getting stronger and faster, then you wanted to get stronger and faster, too. If you were a pitcher, and the hitters were all getting stronger, that made your job that much more difficult. Roger used to talk about that a lot.Today's Must Reads
“You hitters are so darn strong from steroids,” he’d say.
“Yeah, but you pitchers are taking it, too. You’re just taking different types,” I’d respond.
And sometimes Roger would vent his frustration over the hits even the lesser players were starting to get off good pitchers. “Damn, that little guy hit it off the end of the bat and almost drove it to the wall,” he would say. He would complain about guys who were hitting fifty homers when they had no business hitting thirty. It was becoming more difficult for pitchers all the time, he would complain.
Even though Jose Canseco vehemently defends Roger Clemens today (as he did on a recent interview with WEEI’s Big Show), he continues with the following:
I can’t give chapter and verse on Roger’s training regimen. But I’ll tell you what I was thinking at the time:
One of the classic signs of steroid use is when a player’s basic performance actually improves later in his career. One of the benefits of steroids is that they’re especially helpful in countering the effects of aging. So in Roger’s case, around the time that he was leaving Boston—and Dan Duquette, the general manager there, was saying he was “past his prime”—Roger decided to make some changes. He started working out harder.
And whatever else he may have been doing to get stronger, he saw results. His fastball improved by a few miles per hour. He was a great pitcher long before then; it wasn’t his late-career surge that made him great. But he certainly stayed great far longer than most athletes could expect. There’s no question about that.
Roger apparently thinks we don’t know anything about steroids. Barry Bonds must not be on steroids, because according to Clemens it doesn’t help you...it hurts you.
According to the Rocket, his career would have ended long ago if he were on steroids, because steroids make you break down and grow a third ear out of your forehead. Or something like that.
This was my favorite excerpt from Clemens' “hard-hitting” 60 Minutes interview:
Mike Wallace: George Mitchell says he believes McNamee and this is why. McNamee got caught up in a federal steroids investigation, and the federal prosecutors agreed not to charge him if he told the truth about his involvement with steroids. But they would charge him if he gave any false information. So Mitchell says McNamee had strong incentives to tell the truth. What, hold, what did McNamee gain by lying?
Clemens: Evidently not going to jail.
Here’s the logic Clemens expects us to all buy into: McNamee was told to tell the truth or he goes to jail. So McNamee lied in order to keep himself out of jail.
Either McNamee is as dumb as Clemens, or something appears flawed in that logic...don’t you think?
Clemens could have gotten himself out of this. He’s not Barry Bonds. He was actually rather well-liked by most fans (outside Boston, anyway).
He could have saved himself, if only he weren't so stupid.
It was his word against a guy nobody knows, nobody ever heard of, and nobody had any reason to believe. Had he immediately gone in front of the cameras, denied everything, told the world McNamee had a grudge against him, and maybe even filed a lawsuit (as Curt Schilling suggested), he might have skated through.
But he thought we were dumb enough to buy the B12 excuse. Are you kidding me?
So, Roger, stop blaming the “guilty before innocent” American public. Stop blaming the Mitchell Report. Stop blaming your former trainer and friend Brian McNamee.
You're the one to blame, Rocket.
You are your own worst enemy.
I'm SeanMC.
http://bostonsportsrants.blogspot.com
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7 months ago
There's always the possibility that he's telling the truth. I don't think he is. I think Clemens tat least tried these substances at one point. The story he told about taking the mound no matter what drugs he had to take in the World Series, tells me that he would do anything to enhance or prolong his career.
7 months ago
It's funny how all you jackasses that are distanced from the situation seems to know *exactly* how someone *should* respond to steroid accusations - as if you know far more than all of their lawyers and advisors that demand million dollar salaries. I mean, he's gotta be stupid, right? He hasn't hired SEAN CROWE on as his top advisor! I mean, seriously - if he'd only hire SEAN CROWE, he'd have responded to this situation much earlier and more effectively.
If Barry Bonds "paid off" his former trainer to keep quiet, I'd love to see your evidence of this. You probably should break this juicy story right now, before someone else beats you to it.
If this article were listed under "humor" I'd be more understanding.
This website's worst enemy is whatever woman gave birth to the retarded author of this article. Hopefully she didn't deliver any other down syndrome babies to this earth.
from 7 months ago
I'm speaking about how an innocent person would react. The same way Curt Schilling did on his blog. I wouldn't be the right person to hire and advise Clemens. I'm not sure how you should react if you're actually guilty.
from 7 months ago
Also, the "This website's worst enemy is whatever woman gave birth to the retarded author of this article. Hopefully she didn't deliver any other down syndrome babies to this earth." line was one of the more entertaining comments I've gotten so far.
Good stuff.
7 months ago
In the end...what does it really matter now. Being linked to steroids might be a little bit like being accused of sexual assault. Even if you can prove you did not do either, the tag sticks with you.
If the FEDS have nothing, it is not outside the realm for them to suggest that a lie be told. How embarrassing would it be to go through this entire charrade and land a big one.
The minute the US government gets involved in anything...I am prepared to take the other side. The US government has been screwing US citizens forever, what is to say that could not do it in this case as well.
And for the record....I could give rats ass who used them, why they used them and if they used them. Pam Anderson has fake breasts...that won't keep me from looking at her.
Jennifer Anniston had her nose done, Joan Rivers her entire mug (bad example)...who cares. They are paid to perform...do you really care....we pay to watch them to perform to their best...if they don't do it....we feel ripped off.
Those people who watched Roger strike out, what, 100 batters in one game, do you think they are saying....it was the greatest game I ever saw pitched...but he had help...I will no longer see it as the greatest game pitched.
This game, this government and the sporting world is full of hypocracy....lets just view it as entertainment and nothing more....and forget about what these people do to their bodies....it ain't all that important in the big picture as far as I am concerned.
7 months ago
You ever see that Discovery channel episode where investigators share their examination strategies. One of the sure bets that a suspect or witness is slightly fabricating a story has something to do with that person getting a dry mouth.
Anyone notice how frequently Roger licked his lips and needed to sip water from the studio glass?
from 7 months ago
I noticed how smug and proud he looked during his press conference while playing that ridiculous tape that he somehow thought made him look better....
Do you realize he constantly compared his wife being upset that he's been accused of taking steroids to MacNamee's kid dying? He's unreal.
7 months ago
If Clemens is guilty, I also think Schilling is. The guy got miraculously better at age 32, which no pitcher in the history of the game ever has. He was above average at best in Philadelphia, and then turns into a Cy Young winner in Arizona. Makes no sense. At least Clemens was dominant prior to taking anything. Schilling is such a hypocrite, and that's why no one in baseball likes him.
from 7 months ago
Not to ruin a good argument with facts, but a couple of things to note:
1) "prime" for a starting pitcher is generally between 28 and 34.
2) all of the significant pitching statistics for Schilling have declined since he turned 35.
3) when he was 28, he could throw nearly 100 Mph on command. When he was 32, he could dial it up to 97 on occasion. Now he throws 89. Steroids would have helped that number, don't you think?
7 months ago
I have a rule of thumb as well as a phobia for needles.
If you're willing to let a non-medical professional inject you with ANY substance, then its not out of the realm of possibility that Clemens received HGH... what about the 2001 WS when he told Torre he would do ANYTHING to keep his start in that game....what qualifies as ANYTHING?
I'm guessing ANYTHING was whatever Brian McNamee had in his bag, and we know HGH was in his bag.
Plus all those years of being a scumbag are coming back to haunt Clemens. Remember when Piazza'a bat broke and Clemens chased him up the baseline and threw it back at him?
What was that? People don't forget such behavior.
from 7 months ago
Hey, he thought it was the baseball!
Also, he thought he was playing dodgeball.
7 months ago
As each detail and analysis develops, I begin to think Roger is guilty more and more. Not entirely sure if it really matters in the grand scheme of things, but it's entertaining at the very least. It just makes sense, though. How many guys linked to PED's have been wrongly accused? 9 times out of 10, they're guilty of some "wrong-doing."
But forget the Roid Rocket. How pumped is Bonds now that Clemens is hogging the spotlight for all the wrong reasons? For once, he has to be pretty satisfied with sitting quietly in the shadows. Imagine that.
Misery loves company.
6 months ago
Fools! I can't believe how naive (perhaps stupid) Americans are. With all the shit going on in this world and country and you idiots take this shit seriously? Beyond stupidity! Prioritize crime! Clemens and steroids v. Sibel Edmonds (FBI translator) finding Bush Administration kosher sellouts who sell nuke secrets to humps! Wake up America! Google Sibel Edmonds.
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www.wakefromyourslumber.com
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