Best of 2007: Rocket's Red Glare Comes Off Roger Clemens

As the year winds down, it seems 2007 will be remembered as one of the landmark years in the history of sport.

The Red Sox, long thought a cursed franchise, won a second World Series in four years. The Indianapolis Colts—and more importantly "losers" Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning—finally won The Big One.

Tim Tebow won the Heisman Trophy as a sophomore. Appalachian State came into The Big House and defeated the Michigan Wolverines, leading to the departure of their coach Lloyd Carr. Notre Dame suffered an even worse season.

And LeBron James led his Cavaliers to the NBA Finals.

The Florida Gators' men's basketball team repeated as NCAA champs. Barry Bonds controversially eclipsed Hank Aaron in career home runs. NBA ref Tim Donaghy admitted his role in a gambling scandal.

Knicks coach Isiah Thomas, Falcons' quarterback Michael Vick, and the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drug use in MLB loom in most fans' minds as the three main headliners of 2007.

Washington sports fans would cite the death of safety Sean Taylor; Cincinnati fans might cite the fact that the word "limousine" isn't in the vocabulary of any of their Bengals. In Portland, it was the preseason knee injury to phenom Greg Oden.

But from this reporter's viewpoint, the Best Sports Story of 2007 centers on Roger Clemens.

While Bonds has been suspected for years, Clemens was a whisper, a training-room rumor, a fitness hero, and a model to a generation of hurlers that includes Kerry Wood. He was the ageless heir to the ageless Nolan Ryan, a man who had played with his son in the minors, a warrior who told big league GMs when and how he would pitch, and travel.

Before the Yankees inked Clemens in 2007, the team didn't appear headed for a .500 record, much less the postseason. But Mitchell Report charges that Clemens used PED's blew the cover off the Rocket's image.

Bonds haters had long been showing up at enemy ballparks waving placards decorated with syringes, or huge caricatures of a bloated Barry. Bonds was subpoenaed in the BALCO case, and accused by Bay Area authors and former mistresses. His trainer served prison time rather than testify against him.

Not so for Rocket.

The Clemens story is that of the emperor without clothes, the mound mercenary revealed to have a secret weapon, a chemical fountain of youth. Clemens' recent denial (as opposed to admissions of HGH usage by Andy Pettitte and Fernando Vina) further muddies the mythic waters of his legend—and his prospects for Cooperstown enshrinement have dimmed, as witnessed by a poll of baseball journalists last week.

Isiah Thomas still has a job. Vick and Donaghy have copped. Bonds was never trusted by non-Giant fans, and training partner Gary Sheffield had penned an expose about his attitude.

Clemens, if what is alleged is true, had fooled most of the people all of the time—except Dan Duquette.

Bijan C. Bayne is a freelance sportswriter and media consultant in Washington, D.C.