Committee Interviews: Clearing Baseball, Not Roger Clemens

Kudos to Rogers Clemens. 

I thought for sure he was going to use that powerful throwing arm of his to deck his former trainer Brian McNamee, sitting only three feet from him in the crowded House Committee chamber.

In the end, he only raised it as he swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.  Whether he did or not is up to the Senate and Clemens conscience to decide. 

What struck me, however, is what the clearly miffed Clemens had to say about his reputation.  

"No matter what we discuss here today, I am never going to have my name restored, but I've got to try and set the record straight."

It's hard to argue with that.  Whether or not he inhaled, ingested, or injected steroids of any kind, the mere fact that he's been accused is enough to tarnish his stellar career as a major league pitcher and jeopardize his future in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown.

Somewhere along the way, though, we lost sight of the bigger picture.  Of all people, it was McNamee who, albeit unintentionally, reminded us of what's really at stake as a result of the Major League Baseball doping scandal. 

"I have helped taint our national pasttime."

In the rush to point fingers, to lay blame, to get a front row seat at the three-ring circus this has all become, we forgot about the game itself.  

Clemens' and McNamee's appearances at the House Oversight Committee was nothing more than a "he said, she said" affair, two men with two very different views of the same situation. 

Clemens cried foul, talked about the harm McNamee has done to his family, that he would never, in good conscience, agree to a "shortcut" to improve his game. 

In turn, McNamee stated Clemens damaged his credibility, destroyed his family, and continued to insist he injected Clemens with steroids. 

Not once did the game come up. Not once did any of the Republican or Democratic chairpeople ask if Clemens or McNamee gave any thought to the damage their actions have cost America's game. The two even failed to offer an apology to the national pastime.  

It seems to me that both men, and even the members of the House Committee so determined to bring them down, have forgotten the importance of baseball to the American people.  

No one can tell you for sure why it's so important, but there's a feeling you get when you walk in to any baseball stadium in North America.  It's an elusive feeling, but it's there, and it just feels good.

The taste of stale beer, the sound of peanut shells cracking underfoot, almost as loud as the crack of the bat.  The summer breeze that wafts through the outfield and in to the bleachers, where rowdy fans with no shirts and their faces painted scream obscenities at opposing players. 

It's baseball and when there's baseball, all is right with the world. 

It all seems to have been lost in the steroid era, where the only sound is the empty voices of fallen heroes insisting they didn't take HGH and their trainers arguing that they did. 

The bottom line is, no House Oversight Committee, no Mitchell Report, and no amount of asterisks in the history books is going to repair the damage the game has suffered as a result of doping. 

The game has taken a fastball to the head. It was delivered by Clemens right hand which may or may not have been injected with human growth hormone by McNamee, and it's possible baseball will never recover from the concussion.