When Roscoe P. Coltrane from Dukes of Hazzard said this line, we know he would never catch the Duke boys, but we'd be in for a lot of comedy.
The line is said by me, still with a laugh behind it, but a laugh complete with head shake & eye roll.
I only heard snippets on the news station about Roger Clemens' testimony on Capitol Hill today about his alleged HGH usage. The evidence is becoming damning.
Clemens' so-called "best friend", Andy Pettite, said Clemens did talk about using HGH and other steroids. That's more damning than what the ex-Mets clubhouse attendant, as well as Clemens' former personal trainer, have said.
The judge in the case actually may have caught Clemens red-handed as I listened to some of the exchange, which went something like this:
Judge: So you've never used steroids?
Clemens: No, I have not.
Judge: But Andy Pettite said you used steroids... awhile ago you said he was a very honest man.
Clemens: He (Pettite) is a very honest man.
Do you forsee a big "oopsie" on this one? We've heard of selective memory, or even selective hearing. Do we have a definition for selective truth-telling?
Somebody on that stand, like in Detroit's whistle-blower & text-message scandal, has lied under oath, deliberately I may add. In this case, it's hard to say who's wrong.
But Clemens is painting himself into a corner. I think all that jury on Capitol Hill needs is Exhibits A and B: Photos of Clemens in 1997 and in 2004, in-between the alleged use. You could have used the same for Barry Bonds; that fact was indeed mentioned in Bonds' case -- whether or not it was used during his time on the stand is unknown to me.
But wouldn't it be something: the most prolific home run hitter of all time, and the best pitcher of this generation getting nabbed by the law and doing time? And what if all their stats are rubbed out, like they should be if they're proven guilty?
A caller into a sportstalk radio show asked what the kids who look up to them would think. One wore an old Texas college baseball jersey during the '05 All-Star Game in Detroit. Clemens, in a parade, stopped so he could personally autograph the jersey of his old alma mater. What thoughts are going through this person's mind tonight as they hear the news? Will that autograph still bring back pleasant memories tomorrow?
One person complained that baseball is just rehashing the past by putting all this through trial. I believe baseball is not only cleansing itself of its past, but is trying to send a message to the new generation of stars.
It would personally be easy for me now to say that Greg Maddux & Tony Gwynn are the best pitcher and hitter, respectively, of their era. And they never made front-page headlines. Yet experts will still rank them among the best... and rightfully so.
Black eye or not... baseball needs this time now to hammer home a mighty important point.
