In The Twi(Lie)ght Of His Career.

It's been hard to ignore Roger Clemens' newest controversy in the past few days. After his sworn statement in federal court that he did not use steroids at any point in his career, crucial evidence has come to light, thanks to fellow teammate and fingered juicer Andy Pettitte's claiming that Clemens told him their trainer in common, Brian McNamee, had injected him with multiple drugs, that has caused Congress to issue an indictment against him, charging him with making false statements under oath, perjury, and an obstruction of justice.

Whew. Seems like a lot of legal junk to swallow for a sports-related matter. But this has done nothing positive for Clemens' already tarnished reputation. As I discussed in an earlier post, the usage of steroids is considered to be verboten in baseball, and is probably the worst thing a player can do (aside from Francisco Rodriguez's example of beating his in-laws). The fact of the matter is simple: if you're going to make a mockery of the game and basically spit in the face of your teammates, coaches and fans, at least own up to it. Clemens claimed his long career and improved performance later than normal was due to "hard work." That would be somewhat believable, if you were completely detached from reality. As plenty of players who didn't inject themselves during their career (or at least not enough to be caught) will show, you don't get better as your career lasts longer. Physically and mentally, human beings begin to slowly but surely degenerate, and this process is surely sped up if you're constantly keeping your body (especially an important limb like an arm) in rapid motion. That's nature, and any fool with some common sense could tell you that. Clemens' repeated lies, even in the face of evidence not only from unproven but not unfounded assumptions but eyewitness accounts from a former teammate, are an insult to the intelligence of baseball fans everywhere. Your name doesn't get mentioned over 80 times in the Mitchell report unless you've done steroids with a ferocity that shows by his gigantic stature. For me, it's not even the fact that he did do drugs that really upsets me, but purely the consistent lying despite the evidence. And sure, as a diehard Yankees fan, I should probably defend him, but my moral compass won't allow me to. Now, Clemens could always come out in a few years and pull a Mark McGwire to finally tell the truth that anyone with a brain already knew, but by then, saving face would be a moot point. It's possible he'll face jail time for his transgressions, and why shouldn't he? Just because he won 2 World Series, 6 Cy Young awards, and was an 11-time All-Star should not mean he deserves leniency. Even if he does get off with a light sentence or even none at all, his true punishment will be the slim likelihood that he'll ever make it into the Hall of Fame now. Hey, Roger, you should have seen the example Pete Rose set by doing something immoral and told the truth when you had the chance. The consequences would have still been bad, but probably not as bad as they will (or should) be now.