Personally, I don’t trust any of them when they say they haven’t used. We simply don’t know. Just because the 2 or 3 trainers whose names have come out haven’t worked with Johnson, Martinez, or Maddux doesn’t mean some other trainer hasn’t injected them. For all we know, they all might have taken for the same reason Pettitte copped to - injury recovery (that is, if you want to believe Pettitte’s story).
All professional sports have this problem. The only real question is just how big it is. Is it 25%, 50% or 75% of professional athletes?
Martinez had the same reputation when he pitched for Los Angeles (briefly) and Montreal (for many years), where he did have to bat. Likeable or not, he is no coward.
Well, it helps, too, that the guy was about 170 pounds soaking wet during his prime. If he took steroids he should get a refund.
Clemens dominated baseball before he took PEDs, too. There is no indication he took them prior to the mid-to-late 1990s, by which time he had already had many great seasons. In a lot of these cases we have a great player who was great without PEDs who took the roids to recover from injury or stay productive late in their career.
Whatever reason they took steroids or HGh ,it was wrong. Since they refuse to tell the truth ,we can not guess which records are clean and which are dirty. That means when we find a user ,we have to be suspicious of his whole career.
Isn’t part of McNamee’s story that he introduced Clemens to PEDs while starting in Toronto? If you believe one aspect of his story, aren’t you kind of obligated to believe he was clean before that?
Rocket is an arrogant nutcase. Beanballing Piazza and knocking him out, tossing the broken bat at him afterwards, spitting on someone at his son’s baseball game, taking steroids, perjuring himself in front of a federal investigative panel…
I wonder how much of the drug use is directly related to maintaining large salaries to support a lifestyle they otherwise would not be able to afford if they suddenly were out of pro sports, versus wanting to play longer/better for “sheer love of the game” or for the purpose (Bonds) of setting a record.
Perhaps all of the above, but it’s likely mostly the money. Otherwise, why risk the legacy if you truly cared about the game and how your legacy would be perceived after your playing days were over?
Just to play Devil’s Advocate, you could probably argue that McNamee introduced Clemens to these specific, hard to test for, performance enhancers. Nothing says he never used any more mainstream substances in his younger days when there was no talk about it and no testing.
Huh, well that makes twice. I first came to despise Roger when he threw at his son… when he was still in the womb. When his wife was pregnant he was pitching to her and threw freakin inside to back her off the plate. Regardless of one’s control, how could you do that? Juicin’ aside, that’s just a bullshit thing for anyone to do.
I was on Clemens’ side at first. I saw his 60 Minutes interview, and the charge that his wife had used seemed too absurd to take seriously. The fact that he was so aggressive in his denials, that he went and sought out a chance to perjure himself really aggravates me.
Exactly- they were going to cancel the hearings but Clemens insisted on them- he thought he was so suave he could sway the public with his consistent denials in the face of piles of evidence? What a tool.
I’m of the opinion that these athletes, who have acheived the pinnacle of success at a very strenuous profession, have a blind ambition that drives them far more than material things. I’m sure Clemens (and other superstar athletes) have so much money that it isn’t even a thought anymore. And, at these late stages of their career (I’m one who believes Clemen’s use probably came towards the end of his playing days), they already have the stats and the reputation for greatness.
Instead, they are just so driven by the need to perform, above and beyond the average, that they can’t apply rational logic to their competiveness. Remember Michael Jordan’s gambling issues? This wasn’t somebody who needed to win to make money. Rather, it was someone who was so hyper-competitive that he just needed to win. I believe that the mentality of a player using PED falls along similar lines: an irrational competitive streak.
Roger had a long career and made a shit house full of money. He hung on for ego and glory. And now claims the HOF doesn’t mean anything to him. Another lie.
I guess what I should have made clearer in my previous post was that most of the players getting nailed for roids, at least in baseball, are marginal players that likely “need” the money.
Oh, and I agree on Roger. Ego and glory. Hopefully he never gets the latter.
With this stuff about Debbie Clemens and Jessica Canseco comparing their boob jobs at the party, I’m a little concerned. If this story gets any more ridiculous, it might cross over into legitimate tragedy, and that would suck.
