Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Truth lies elsewhere

The Congressional hearing that brought Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee together was a goldbrick. Its appearance had some rudimentary value, but the proceeding was actually worthless.

The two men stuck with their respective stories and the heart of the issue remains; who is telling the truth? Also, did the affidavits taken from witnesses before the hearing yield the evidence the committee needs? And did Congress learn anything new today?

During the hearing, McNamee recognized he lied. And Clemens did not provide an adequate defense to prove his innocence. That leads me to believe the truth is somewhere in a muddied middle.

Clemens is obviously clinging onto his story to attempt save his reputation as one of baseball greats; he has a pure motive to lie. McNamee's motive on the other hand is harder to read, but I find it difficult to believe his acting out of the goodness of his heart. After many years of injections why did he suddenly have a crisis of conscious? Seems a touch suspicious.

So what did Congress gain from the day’s testimony? Really, only a day off from dealing with other legislative issues. Congress cannot do anything to replay the games. The “Steroids Era” happened and baseball, not Congress, must figure out how to move forward.

The shroud of mystery continues and one thing is certain, we haven’t heard the last of Roger.

Other opinions on the Clemen's Hearing

Congress spend a day going nowhere fast Scott Miller, CBS Sportsline.com
That members of Congress spent nearly five hours Wednesday impersonating dogs sniffing out steroids at some airport baggage claim rather than fixing the economy or the war in Iraq is bad enough. (Read more)

Round 2: Clemens vs. McNamee Jayson Stark, ESPN.com
After five hours of questions, five hours of answers, five hours of this particular unofficial juror furiously trying to type and listen at the same time, what have we learned? (Read more)

Clemens' charm won't work with Congress Mike Celizic, NBC Sports
Roger Clemens can’t possibly know about the world he’s stepped into. He’s spent the last 30 years living in the fantasy world inhabited only by great athletes, and it’s a world in which the everyday laws of behavior don’t apply. (Read more)

No end of the inglorious ordeal Tom Verducci, SI.Com
Today is no different than Dec. 13, the day the Mitchell Report was released. Two months later and even after nearly five hours of testimony Wednesday in front of Congress, the issue of whether or not Roger Clemens used steroids is left in a suspended state of dilemma: it's Clemens' word vs. Brian McNamee's word. Still. (Read more)

Clemens shelled by Congress Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
Question by question, disputed answer by disputed answer, Roger Clemens' house of lies came tumbling down upon him Wednesday. (Read more)

1 comment:

Jessica Davis said...

You are right. This is a baseball issue to some extent. However, little boys and girls look up to these players. They should be held accountable in a very public way to a higher authority. Maybe that will be enough to shock this stuff out of baseball.