I spent a couple of hours watching Roger Clemens and trainer Brian McNamee testify before Congress yesterday. It was a circus of stupidity, disingenuous good ole boy talk and corruption.
Roger Clemens has ties to the Bush family and it was obvious that political influence had been used to skew the questioning and comments from some of the congressmen and women.
It's hard to figure out who's doing the most lying. McNamee has obviously done his share, for example this 2006 Sports Illustrated article where he denied any involvement in the use of steroids by baseball players.
McNamee is an ex-police officer which makes the whole thing even more sordid. We can't help but wonder if his ready-access to the drugs he gave players was a result of connections he made while working as an undercover policeman. His days on the police force may also explain why he has kept evidence (syringes he used to allegedly inject Clemens with steroids) for years.
Roger Clemens came across as someone with a huge ego and a short temper, willing to blame anyone and everyone rather than admit to any mistakes on his part.
Andy Pettitte, whom I admire, admitted he used performance enhancing drugs in early sworn testimony and that Roger Clemens had also used performance enhancing drugs.
Roger Clemens was right when he said, "No matter what we discuss here today, I am never going to have my name restored.''
He hit the nail on the head on that, but unlike Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch who admitted what they had done and can move on, Roger Clemens has to deal with the fact that his own, and other's, testimony points to him as being a liar.
If he is lying, and I doubt if we will ever know for sure, then shame on him and shame on the members of Congress who for political or partisan reasons played along with that sham yesterday.
I hope some good comes out of this whole messy affair. If nothing else I'd hope this would be a lesson that honesty is the best policy. We're all fallible humans and should refrain from passing judgement, but we only add to our misery when we refuse to be honest with ourselves and others.
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