Josh Green reports from the Roger Clemens hearings.
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Roid Rage
15 Feb 2008 12:14 pm
Comments (19)
I think in the long run Clemens will have won the PR battle here, simply because these pols looked so frigging ridiculous during the hearing. As for the "mountain of evidence," it doesn't amount to shit so far - it's hearsay and coerced snitching. Sure, Clemens was most likely on the juice, but I really don't give a damn and I'm not sure why anyone else does at this point.
Of course, the jokers on ESPN basically said that congress did nothing but ask him what he was going to wear to the Hall of Fame.
This whole steroid episode has really buried any notion that sportscasters make the best journalists. It's pretty obvious that they NEVER want the public to know ANYTHING that might reflect badly on the sports leagues.
Moe, most of the people who aren't sycophantic baseball fans actually do care to some extent. We don't like the fact that some rich white asshole gets rewarded for what thousands of poor folk get sent to prison for every day.
That's what you Yankee's fans don't get. We don't care if you don't care about steroids. YOU aren't the ones in charge.
soullite,
I've noticed that as well. The livelihoods of these sports journalists depend on the game that they follow. So they have a vested interest in making sure these games maintain their integrity and popularity in the eyes of the public.
I think in the long run Clemens will have won the PR battle here, simply because these pols looked so frigging ridiculous during the hearing.
Bizarre. Clemens reputation, such as it was, has been hurt. I haven't heard anyone say that they believe Clemens' protestations of innocence.
They made Clemens look like a fool on The Daily Show last night, I think that is a pretty fair indicator of how the general public opinion will be, once he is the butt of a an SNL skit the way McGwire and Sosa were it is sealed.
Two comments here:
1. Clemens obviously lost the PR battle, whatever the dingbats at ESPN and deranged Republican Congressman happen to believe. Andy Pettite's written testimony effectively shows Clemens to be an ego-maniacal liar.
2. I am no fan of playing the race-card, but it does seem to me that members of the national sports media have been awfully willing to give Clemens the benefit of the doubt in circumstances that are actually far more damning of him than anything that has concretely been produced regarding Barry Bonds. This may simply be because Clemens is an easier person to get along with than Bonds, but when you contrast the vilification to which Bonds was subjected to the hemming and hawing over Clemens, it does appear ludicrous.
I give a damn because I'm a huge baseball fan.
Naturally, I think that there are bigger and more important issues that I wish Congress would focus on, but I'd be disingenuous to say that I don't care about this particular issue.
Those Democrats are bunch of pussies. They act all tough and sanctimonious when they've got some fucking baseball player in front of them, but piss their pants every time they get in a confrontation with the Bush adminstration. Oh, so they humiliated some cheating blowhard ballplayer. Great, the country is still going down the toilet. Thanks for caring so much assholes!
"I think that there are bigger and more important issues that I wish Congress would focus on, but I'd be disingenuous to say that I don't care about this particular issue."
Hear, hear. I had to watch the hearing in the waiting room while my wife was having an outpatient procedure. I was sitting there thinking about all of the issues and scandals that require investigation and testimony (e.g., no-bid contracts, 'lost' money, pre-war intelligence, Attorneys General, the list goes on and on), and kept wondering why the hell this drivel was taking place, wasting everyone's time. There are a hell of a lot of substantive issues that need to be scrutizined, and this is what Waxman decides to do with the Committee's time?
Actually, I think sports journalists, and ESPN in particular, are quite negative about the sports they cover, and are always eager to create controversy about those sports. On most such issues, including steroids, I think the public cares far less than do the journalists.
Maybe Clemens comes out looking bad, but the congresscritters come out looking worse. I haven't talked to a single person, baseball fan or not, who thinks this is a proper use of Congress's time, money, or effort. Thing is, Clemens had a reputation to protect; Congress, not so much.
soullite writes: "We don't like the fact that some rich white asshole gets rewarded for what thousands of poor folk get sent to prison for every day.
That's what you Yankee's fans don't get. We don't care if you don't care about steroids. YOU aren't the ones in charge."
I'm a Red Sox fan and I despise Clemens. I don't care about steroids because I'm an adult and there are much more important issues to think about. These hearings are show biz and nothing more.
And where are the "thousands of poor folk" getting sent up for steroids? It's not happening. If you're talking about the Completely Insane War On Drugs, I'm with you. I'd abandon it tomorrow and let non-violent drug offenders walk. Even Rush Limbaugh doesn't deserve to do time for drugs, though if he were sold to a prison gang for 3 packs of cigarettes it could be very amusing.
Andruw writes: "Actually, I think sports journalists, and ESPN in particular, are quite negative about the sports they cover, and are always eager to create controversy about those sports. On most such issues, including steroids, I think the public cares far less than do the journalists."
Yup. I completely agree.
I'm an NFL fan and I assume that most of the league is using HGH. And I don't give a damn on any level. These guys are adults in a highly competitive and dangerous business - HGH lets them train harder and recuperate faster. If the league really gave a damn they would have outlawed it and insisted on testing years ago.
This hoo-haw is a bunch of bullshit - lifelong Hall Monitors pulling "for the children" crap. Get over it.
The problem with sports journalism is the same as the problem with political journalism: if the sports (political) writer finds out something negative, they can't write about it without being shut out of the inside game, which they can't write about.
Every baseball beat writer, every GM, every team owner, coach, manager, trainer, player and broadcaster knew that there were steroids in baseball. They are all contaminated because they knew and did nothing. They are complicit while the politicians (for once) were not. This is why the sportswriter/broadcaster types mocked the politicians. They weren't on the inside. Its why political journalists mock bloggers. After all, who ya gonna believe them or your lyin' eyes?
Peter Driscoll says: "Every baseball beat writer, every GM, every team owner, coach, manager, trainer, player and broadcaster knew that there were steroids in baseball."
Anyone who ever spent much time in a gym knew it, too. I made and heard plenty of "tiny balls, back zits, chrome dome" jokes about some of these guys going back to the 80s. There was no mystery here at all. Didn't care then, don't care now. When Brady Anderson hit 50 home runs and gave the credit to protein shakes or whatever it was it was FUNNY.
Baseball didn't care then, and it's only pretending to care now because some heat is on.
MoeLarryAndJesus, I find your take barbaric. Since the roid-heads are just there for your entertainment, which apparently is more closely linked to gossip-column-style histrionics than to the honest competition of athletics, you're cool with all of them being cheaters and druggies?
When Congress grants these leagues an anti-trust exemption, it has the right to expect that the commissioners safeguard the basic integrity of the games - in other words, the sports should be as advertised. That is not an unreasonable ask.
According to your logic, however, it's alright if generations of kids seek out the needle and crowd out honest competitors at the highest levels of sport, because in the end it just puts more amusing gladiators in the ring for you to giggle at.
That's bullshit. Good on Congress for calling it.
T.K. writes: "MoeLarryAndJesus, I find your take barbaric."
That's okay. I find yours to be remarkably naive. Athletes have been using performance-enhancing drugs and other shady techniques for decades now. Do you actually believe Lance Armstrong when he says he's totally clean? I don't. I don't care, either.
Ever read Jim Bouton's book "Ball Four"? Back then it was amphetamines. If Pete Rose had stayed with the "greenies" and skipped gambling, he'd be in the Hall of Fame today and no one would care.
You and all of the do-gooder types can keep cracking down on the old drugs and UNCLEAN things if you want. Kids in search of glory and achievement will keep on finding the new ways around your silly-ass crackdowns. You think some kid from the Dominican who grew up playing with gloves made from shoeboxes is going to pass on a chance at the big leagues because T.K. and His Merry Band of Hall Monitors says HGH is "naughty"? Yeah, sure.
Comments closed February 29, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Oh, that's a load of crap. I don't see where Green gets off feeling an ounce of sympathy for a guy like Clemens.
Rep. Waxman stated that he was going to cancel the hearings, but that Clemens insisted on having his say, to try and "clear his name." I'm sorry, but the mountain of evidence says that Clemens is guilty as sin, but heaven forbid he let his Hall of Fame hopes be dashed by the Mitchell Report.
If Clemens didn't know what he was walking into, it's his own damn fault.
Posted by Trigger | February 15, 2008 12:30 PM