I had the opportunity to watch a good bit of the testimonials before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that took place last Wednesday. You should know the one I am referring to whether you are a baseball fan or not. This was aired on Fox News and ESPN and Lord knows where else. Anyway, this was the Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee freak show where they took center stage to address allegations about steroid and HGH (Human Growth Hormone) usage from the Mitchell Report findings.
Many people feel that Congress has better things to do with their time. Since Congress has gotten involved and lit a fire under baseball commissioner Bud Selig’s butt, however, the implications have been impressive. Major League Baseball (MLB) has some of the strictest punishments for players getting caught of all the professional sports.
Here’s a quick version: McNamee (also a former policeman) testified that he injected Clemens with performance enhancing substances. Clemens denies it all. To say that McNamee’s credibility was under fire would be an understatement. He has repeatedly added to his story. At first he lied to protect his friends (Clemens being one of them). Then he chose to divulge only certain things, later adding more to his story under pressure from the Feds. One Congressman flat-out told him during the hearings “I don’t know what to believe, but I don’t believe you,” and another called him a “drug-dealer.”McNamee tried to argue the semantics of what a drug dealer is. It didn’t go over well for him.
Also coming to light (at least for me) during Wednesday’s brouhaha was the fact that McNamee’s PhD was obtained from some
Take McNamee out of the equation and you have Rocket Roger Clemens, as marquis as you can get of a pitcher in our day, who under his own admission has been fingered by a standup guy and former teammate Andy Pettitte. Though Pettitte didn’t testify that day, his presence in the form of an affidavit was there and he claims Clemens admitted to using illegal substances.
Pettitte’s reputation is supposedly impeccable, he is a god-fearing man. Why would he lie, anyway? He lied about being juiced himself, but eventually did come clean. Pettitte’s wife also told the feds that Rocket admitted it to him.
The Rocket did steroids. Period!
NICE INSIGHTFUL ARTICLE.I THINK MOST PLAYERS USED DRUGS TO KEEP UP WITH EVERYONE ELSE.HITTERS WERE USEING SO PITCHERS HAD NO CHOICE IT HAS TO BE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
And owners turned a blind eye- as long as those seats were filled. That’s why the gov. had to get involved.
I’m curious to see if Rocket will get the same treatment as Bonds has? If we assume they both did it, then perjury is perjury.
The Clemens story is becoming less about PED’s and more about integrity.
If anyone thinks Pettite is an alter boy, then you haven’t been following closley. Pettite’s involvement with HGH changed twice from when the Mitchel report was released to Clemens hearing in DC. To me, it appears that Pettite had to tweak his story to be sure he had his facts straight.
Personally, I could care less if any took PED’s. The fact is, most drugs were not illegal in the late 90’s.
The true problem is, If anyone thinks steroids are a professional sport problem, then we have a lot of eye opening to start doing.
The drugs themselves were not illegal, but the means to obtain and distribute them may have been.
Believe me, I played with and against guys that took them and we all knew it.. As for performance benefits, I equate it a little bit to the recent technology gains in golf. In a few years, we went from small steal driver heads to huge titanium drivers. The newer drivers are much more forgiving, thus making your average drives longer and more playable. But the scoring average of joe schmoe golfer has not changed. You still have to be pretty damn good to be an elite player.
Steve-
You are correct with the Golf example. However, the facts are you had certain performance enhancers available to everyone in the late 90’s that you could get over the counter at your local GNC. Steve Bechler died from Ma Huang. At the time of his death it was not or just about to become illegal.
NOW we have a distribution problem with designer steroids. Oh yeah… and the little steroid issue with the youth of America.
The problem is not with Baseball Players. It is the kids looking up to them.
Bill,
I respectfully disagree with you saying the problem is the kids looking up to the players. It was absolutely about the owners and players. They were riding the wave, making more money than before.
We were tested throughout college. The minor leagues have had testing for a little while. Olympians, Tour de France, the list goes on. But MLB owners didn’t want to do it. The players union didn’t either.
It’s the chicken/egg argument. If the players didn’t take them, and the owner didn’t let them, the kids wouldn’t use them.
The real sticker here is that MLB has been soooo slow to get this stuff banned, and sooo reticent to initiate testing. WADA has been around forever. They’ve had the means, just not the will, and it comes down to putting butts in the seats.
Ever since the strike, owners have looked for anything that will keep the turnstiles humming.
Popular wisdom is that McGuire-Sosa chasing Maris’ record saved the game. Where would MLB be without that season? I dare say they’d be chasing the NHL down the rabbit hole of obscurity.
Steve-
The players are grown adults that are allowed to make their own decisions. I would have to estimate that there are more kids in high school using than major leaguers. I think you have a legit point with the MLBPA being a huge problem in testing players. Hopefully if anything comes out of this, it will be the game will be cleaner and the MLBPA will have less power.
Lets keep this simple. You are right when saying the Owners are at fault. One can also argue the players, Selig, Fehr and greed are just as much to blame. No need to figure out who is more to blame.
I’m sure you will agree with me here… The greed and dirt of the game sickens me to no end.
Peace.
Other conventional wisdom would say that our local Aberdeen boy Cal Ripken helped to resurrect the game with his record-breaking year-not slammin, cork-batted hurler Sammy or the chiseled and oh-so teary-eyed Big Mac.
Just a little food for thought…
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2007-07-07-1692937663_x.htm
Surprised we don’t have it in MD yet. I remember a teammate getting caught in college. He wasn’t a teammate for much longer. Of course, he couldn’t get around on an inside fastball either…
I know. It is scary that any current Maryland high school senior who is being recruited at by a division one program can “step up” their game with no real worry until they get to a suspect (yet better) drug testing NCAA program.
Thanks for the link, Bill. I have to say that I am flabbergasted that this is not mandated in all states. Really, if it is so systemic then why aren’t we doing anything about it at the local level or even from the federal level?
I have a hard time believing that any of the high school athletes I have covered in the past have been on the juice. Perhaps I am naive? I’d like to think not. But if the pressure is so enormous to compete, then the need for it should be curtailed. And at that age, kids don’t think about consequences like an adult. Their brains cannot.
I am really stunned.
That is the crazy thing about all the PED’s out there. They all do something a little different and results are not the same.
How many people were shocked to see Palmerio get busted? How many times did you hear “He wasn’t that big”. Different drugs do different things.
The good thing is, knowledge and awareness of this subject will be the biggest tool in saving a few young lives.
Here is a good example: Tyler Hibbs an Arundel High School senior who helped bring in a Class 4A Baseball state title two years ago was arrested for possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute. According to Pat O’Malley of the Sun, Hibbs lost his baseball scholarship to Florida State. He was pinched with a 30-gram bag and eight 2-gram bags, a scale and over $550 in cash.
Now this isn’t about steroids, but it is about the age, the choices and not understanding consequences.
I saw Hibbs and company defeat the C. Milton Wright Mustangs at Ripken Stadium in 06, and he had some raw talent. It is sad.
O’Malley reports that in the statement written from the Seminoles coach Mike Martin said that “if the situation changes, we will revisit the scholarship offer…”
From MSNBC-
Texas law prohibits the use of anabolic steroids without supervision by a doctor. The high school governing body in Texas does not ban steroids or dole out punishment, leaving that to the individual school districts.
Nine students at a high school in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, admitted using muscle building drugs in spring 2004, making it one of the largest cases of confirmed steroid use at a U.S. high school. They weren’t disciplined because none of the violations occurred on school property.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7628183/
What is crazy about this is Texas has been one of the tougher states when pertaining to steroids.
Drug testing manadatory for men who make too much money for playing a game???
True athletes DO NOT USE , their bodies are their temples, they train hard to play well, better then most.
Last night Jose Canseco appeared on Nightline to strum up press for his new book Vindicated. Canseco’s first book, if you recall, put steroids and named baseball players together and then the fun began. Canseco is calling out A-Rod in this new book, he’s also calling out Maglio Ordonez. But, based on the evidence of Rocketman, he doesn’t think Clemens used steroids. However, he has always suspected that Clemens did.
Canseco claims this book is not about money. He offers no evidence with A-Rod, except to say that A-Rod was hot for his then wife and was making calls to her.
Canseco admits, almost gleefully that he used the juice.
Of COURSE it’s about money. AND it’s about A-Rod trying to bone his wife…
I will not buy this book. My guess is that it won’t break any new ground, or tell anyone anything that isn’t already “out” in the Mitchell Report.
Canseco can do nothing from this point to repair his image, so he relishes it?
BULLOCKS
Dell, check this out, in a radio interview with Boomer and some other cat, Canseco hangs up when he gets asked some tough questions. This is pretty funny. Here is the link:
http://www.wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=1738204
This story just keeps on getting more and more rediculous.
This will come down to the two “powers” in the game. The Players Union and the Owners. They can come out smelling like roses if they just do the right thing.
If you knew the game was clean, how much would it matter to you?
I’m not following you Bill, did I miss something?
If the game was clean and the “powers that be” were accustomed to doing the right thing for the game (and not their own interests) then we wouldn’t be here.
If the game was clean then it’d be a moot point.
I was responding to the link.
Roger can’t seem to stay out of the news. Now this Mindy McCready thing…
“If true, it’s just another example of Roger’s pervasive prevarications which will be at the core of any defamation case,” said McNamee’s attorney, Richard Emery, in an e-mail to the Associated Press.- I had to look up “prevarications.”
“to avoid giving a direct and honest answer or opinion, or a clear and truthful account of a situation, especially by quibbling or being deliberately ambiguous or misleading.”
Way to go, Rocket! Maybe he should have gone down to that polygamist FLDS ranch. Fifteen is okey-dokey down there…