On the same day Colorado Rockies’ first base coach Glenallen Hill and reliever Matt Herges apologized for their previous use of performance enhancing drugs, the Congressional hearings called to investigate the Mitchell Report were being held in the nation’s capitol.Roger Clemens could learn a lot from Hill and Herges, men who told the truth for no other reason than it was the right thing to do.If we are to place any legitimacy on to Clemens’ claims that he is completely innocent of all these charges, then we must assume that McNamee had such disdain for the 300 game-winner that the trainer would be willing to be sent to prison in order to bring him down. The central problem with this theory is that Clemens and McNamee were, by all accounts, friends all the way until days before the release of the Mitchell Report. The only way McNamee would have received jail time was if he lied about any of his statements made to George Mitchell.Although McNamee’s credibility has been constantly questioned, it has been confirmed that he was truthful in his allegations about the use of performance enhancing substances by former Clemens’ teammates Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte. McNamee had nothing to gain and everything to lose by making false statements about Clemens’ use of steroids and HGH, and I have a hard time believing that under these circumstances he decided to fabricate a series of stories anyway.Roger Clemens, on the other hand, has everything to lose by an admission of performance enhancing drug use, including his presumed place in the Hall of Fame and his place as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Clemens believes he should receive the benefit of the doubt on the basis that he has not been into any trouble before, along with his absurd contention that celebrities should have some sort of special treatment. The difficulty in this argument is that the public has been duped before by people with impeccable records, including Marion Jones and Rafael Palmeiro, who have proven to be hardened users of performance-enhancing drugs even after they testified under oath that this accusation was simply false. Clemens has stated that McNamee’s accusation that he used HGH and steroids is, in a way, questioning the arduous work ethic he maintained throughout his career. This is simply not the case. Just because someone takes these substances does not mean they do not work out hard. It simply indicates that they could have gotten more of an advantage out of these sessions, along with maintaining a high performance level long after they were scheduled to be going downhill.Many Clemens supporters have said that Brian McNamee is not a credible witness because of the constant lies he told federal investigators, and I agree he will not be up for Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” award any time soon. Nobody in a drug investigation is clean, but that does not mean he is lying entirely about Clemens. The one thing McNamee made clear in all of his statements is that he gave Roger Clemens shots of HGH and steroids.The most frustrating element of the hearings was listening to the flirtation between the congressmen on the House and Oversight Committee and Andy Pettitte through their belief that he was the one heroic figure within this entire story. Nobody that cheated the integrity of the game should be considered a hero. There are no heroes in this story. The reason for the constant lies Clemens has told the American people could simply be attributed to enormous arrogance on his part. This has been illustrated many times throughout his storied career, especially when he first hit Mike Piazza, who was probably laughing at home during the hearings, in the head, only to later throw a half broken bat at his leg simply because the catcher had hit well against him in the past. Clemens did not admit then to aiming at Piazza either time, even with the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Should we really be surprised that a man who did this in the past and recently threw his own wife under the bus is lying about steroids?
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