Roger Clemens and steroids

[Kiwon]

Clemens denies he did steroids. I believe him.

Am I being naive?

[Zool]

I am torn. He seemed pretty genuine on 60 minutes, but he and Pettite are best friends supposedly. He claims he had no knowledge of anything going on. Doubt we'll ever know for sure.

[MJZiggy]

Well, here's a question: Clemens has had a very long career and he's quite old. Do steroids keep you going longer, in essence preserving youth, or does the chemical reaction in your body make you stronger in the short term but break the body down more quickly. If it's the latter, I might be hard pressed to believe that if he did them, he did them for very long. If it's the former, I'm less certain about it.

[Kiwon]

Looks like Clemens is putting his money where his mouth is. He apparently is filing a defamation suit against his former trainer.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,320551,00.html

I can't kid you. This guy is the Brett Farve of football for me and I respect the heck out of him.

It would bother me very much if these allegations were true, maybe something akin to the discovery that Brett Farve bet on football which would open questions on whether he threw INTs on purpose.

Brett Farve and Roger Clemens are heroes in my book and I don't want to believe that either of them would disrespect their professions to that degree.

That said, Roger has to defend himself to clear his name because too many of us are perpetual cynics expecting people to fail.

Baseball let this steroid BS get out of hand and now the chickens have come back to roost. Even if Clemens is clean, the sheen of MLB's shine will be tarnished by others.

[packinpatland]

He was sounding more credible as the interview went on.

His trainer.....who is he? There in, is the answer. He's a nobody, who is having his 15 minutes. Keeping himself out of jail, bringing down a sports icon.

[Deputy Nutz]

Read the Mitchell Report before you all start wondering who his trainer was. Apparently he was good enough to inject Roger with 'roids. Story is pretty detailed and he was facing federal charges if he was caught lying in the Mitchell Report, so I believe the story was credible.

[Cheesehead Craig]

McCarthyism all over again. Someone starts fingering people to save their own ass. Bigger the name, the better.

[Deputy Nutz]

McCarthyism all over again. Someone starts fingering people to save their own ass. Bigger the name, the better.

I don't know what kind of pressure or tactics that were being used during the interviewing process, but I still see no reason to lie about Clemens when he fingered Pettite and that was confirmed as truth by Andy himself.

[Freak Out]

Why is he going before Congress?

[packinpatland]

Was he ever tested with the results being positive? Does MLB test the same as the NFL?

[Deputy Nutz]

Was he ever tested with the results being positive? Does MLB test the same as the NFL?

Nope. That is why there has been a 10 month investigation. Baseball didn't start punishing players until two years ago for taking steroids. Really go to ESPN and read the Mitchell Report. It is really long but you can pick and choose what you want to read. I suggest reading the first part, intro to why there needed to be this investigation, then go look up players names and see the proof or info on why they have been sited, also note how the Players association refused to be of any help to the investigators or to their players themselves.

Just go here.

http://i.l.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/12/13/mitchell.report.pdf

[packinpatland]

Without reading it, it sounds like they can't get out of their own way.

I got a few hours tonight................think I will read it.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Clemens attys are saying the trainer was pressured into specifically naming Clemens by investigators. This is going to be interesting.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

Clemens definitely did performance enhancing drugs.

Let's take a look. One, he claims that he shot up lidocaine. LOL. Lidocaine is a local anesthetic. Injecting it into your rear would do nothing, numb some of the skin/muscle. Doesn't treat joint pain at all, and would do so for a very limited time period.

B12 doesn't do anything for the joints either. You get an energy boost, thats about it.

So, why inject lidocaine..unless you were numbing an area for REPEATED shots.

Two, take a look at his career. clemens was a the prototypical power pitcher. With the exception of Nolan Ryan these guys don't last long. But, even those that do, don't statistically match up with what Clemens has done.

From 93 to 96, clemens wasn't clemens (11-14, 9-7, 10-5, 10-13). Suddenly after moving to Toronto at age 35 clemens becomes clemens again. Starting 30 plus games 2 consecutive years..when he could only do that once in the past 4 years.

BTW, his toronto teammate was JOSE CANSECO.

C'mon, he was 18-4 and 17-9 at ages 41 and 42. His ERA is ridiculous in the 18-4 year and the next couple as compared to the league average.

Take a look at Ryan's last couple of years. Clemens obliterates him. At 43 he had a sub 2.0 era almost 1.5 runs better than Ryan.

The shame is that Clemens could just petered out like most players and still been elected to the Hall. Now, everything is in doubt.

Third, Mcnamee (spelling?) seems very credible. And, more importantly his attorneys seem ready to go. That doesn't sound like a guy who is lying.

Fourth, Clemens' best bud is Pettite..and now he is claiming he didn't know Pettite did drugs. LOL

Finally, tyrone knows a few people that move in the baseball world (friends of ballplayers, stores they frequent, childhood friends, etc.) including a friend who pitched in the majors..and that friend has told tyrone about a number of players juicing and what happens on the road with women.

Tyrone has been informed by one of those people and has been around a pro ballplayer who said clemens did juice. The ballplayer said it wasn't by accident that Clemens retired every year and then came back late to a club...helped avoid drug tests.

Anyone who was a baseball fan knew something was going on. When guys like Bret boone are clubbing 35 homers at age 34 something is fishy. When Gonzo hits 57 homers at age 33 when his previous high was 31, something is fishy.[/b]

[Kiwon]

TB, all valid points.

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Wait a second, hold the phone (or tape a phone call)! Clemens did a "Linda Tripp" on his former trainer.

There were no bombshells disclosed but apparently the trainer never contradicted Clemens denials. That said, the public needs to read the whole transcript to understand the context.

On tape, McNamee says he'd go to jail for Clemens

HOUSTON (AP) — Roger Clemens' former trainer said he was willing to go to jail and repeatedly asked the pitcher "what do you want me to do?" during a 17-minute telephone conversation last week.

A recording of last Friday's conversation between Clemens and Brian McNamee was played Monday at the start of Clemens' news conference. Clemens' lawyers said that because McNamee didn't deny Clemens' claims that he never used steroids, it amounted to proof that Clemens was telling the truth.

"I'll go to jail, I'll do whatever you want," McNamee said during the conversation.

"I need somebody to tell the truth," Clemens said.

During the tape, McNamee never said he lied when he told baseball investigator George Mitchell last year that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone in 1998, 2000 and 2001.

"I'm in your corner," McNamee said. "I'd also like not to go to jail, too."

Late Sunday, Clemens filed a defamation suit against McNamee in Texas state court.

Clemens was mostly expressionless while the tape played, even when McNamee said, "You treated me like family."

Clemens said McNamee initiated the conversation, which was laced with emotion and profanity. McNamee, a former strength coach for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees, sounded as if he were a desperate man.

"I'm firing my lawyers. I'm getting rid of everybody," McNamee said. "My wife is gone. My kids are gone."

After the tape was played, Hardin said Clemens was willing to testify Jan. 16 to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Clemens and McNamee were invited to Washington along with Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Kirk Radomski, the former Mets' clubhouse attendant alleged to have provided McNamee with performance-enhancing drugs.

"I'm going to Congress and I'm going to tell the truth," Clemens said.

On Sunday, CBS's 60 Minutes aired a Dec. 28 interview with Clemens, the first time he answered questions since the Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball was released Dec. 13. Monday was the first time Clemens answered questions from a group of reporters.

His anger at reporters for the way he has been portrayed was clear when he mentioned the Hall of Fame. There has speculation that the allegations in the Mitchell Report would hurt his chances for induction.

"Do you think I played my career because I care about the Hall of Fame? ... If you have a vote ... you keep your vote," he said and walked off shortly afterward.