Forgive me, I am about to wax poetic..............
America was build on many ideas, one of which is "Innocent until proven Guilty". When anyoen is arrested, it is up to the prosecutor to PROVE beyond the shadow of a doubt that you committed the crime. With the changes in America from about 1950, with Sen. McCarthy, IMO, that is when things changed.
In modern times, people are all but convicted in the arena of public opinion. Barry Bonds has never failed a drug test, yet he is Balco Barry. Steve Peterson has had 3 wives disappear/killed under strange circumstances, so when #4 has disappeared, we try and convict him. Same with Mike Tyson, and so on and so on. (Off of the chosen topic, but here is a bit of a defense of Iron Mike: Okay, you are a hot woman, dressed to the hilt, and looking for action. Iron Mike shows up in a limo...looking like the one time Baddest Man on the Planer, and ask you to join him. You agree. No offense, but what in the name of GOD do you think is gonna happen that night? A discussion of the Raging Bull? Playing the hottest Nintendo game? Renting Bambi and making microwave popcorn? This is NOT defending what he did, because he was convicted of rape...........but how about a sense of reality?)
Same goes with sexual harrassment. A woman can say that about a man, and next thing you know, security shows up, and your boss says "You have 15 minutes to clear out your desk before HE throws you out of this building. Understand?"
So, when the Mitchell report came out, and Roger Clemens name was listed, 3 camps were quickly formed: 1) Yankees and Clemens fans, dubbed The Defender of the Rocket. 2) Most other sports fans, dubbed Rocket is getting HGH caps in the ass. 3) The SMART sports fans: Whatever. When is spring training starting?
Everyone knows the Rocket's record: 6 or 7 Cy Young Awards, 300+ wins, strikeout records, and on and on and on. People know about his last year in Boston - fat, unmotivated, and pitched badly. Signs a FA contract with Toronto, and with the accused help of steroids/HGH, he regains his Cy Young form. Then, goes to Houston, to New York, pitches for half seasons, on the idea that "he wants to see his son pitch" (cough, cough, BULL-S. No offense, but I was talking about his suggested steroid/HGH use for years.......and always got shouted down by Rocket/Yankee fans. Why else would you avoid playing the whole season, and helping the team to make the post season???), then the Mitchell report.
His accuser is a HGH dealer, Brian Mcmanee(sp), who isn't that credible. But, his teammate and (assuming) former best friend Andy ettitte AND his wife, talked and backed up what McNamee said. Clemens says that we should believe him, and that his years and years of pitching have earned him that right.
Here is my take on this: Understand that I think that Clemens is a punk and a jerk, so my opinion is very biased. He deserves his day in court, that is his right. However, when your WIFE backs up your best friend who BACKS up the dealer................not to mention that the work of George Mitchell is beyond reproach (except to Yankee fans, who see that he is on the board for the BoSox, and that has him tainted forever), and I think that Roger's lawsuit in a bad idea.........since both sides get to present, and I think that a LOT of the material in that case is going to show up in Congressional hearings, and in another court of law........this one for violations of the law.
It is a shame that we, as a public, went so hard after this. It is hard for Joe or Jane America to get a mostly publicity free trial. Now, not only make this a superstar, but a man who is, IMO, justifiably hated by a lot of baseball and sports fans, and that is gonna go crazy.
His latest attempt to play Sean Penn didn't help matters at all...............
Personally, I do not know how I want a trial to go. One part of me wants to see him get slapped around like a ugly stepchild. One part of me wants to see him walk out of the courtroom triumphant, not on a lawyer's trick, but because he is innocent, and everyone, including his wife, is involved in a conspiracy theory to throw him in jail and to exclude him from the HOF....................Grassy Noll, anyone?
