Rarely has there been so much athletic talent wasted on a person so totally unappreciative of its meaning. I won’t try much to explain why, since Bill Simmons has done a much better job already (start with this, though. Suffice it to say that he mailed it in his last 4 years in Boston, went to the highest bidder (a noncontender) after lying about it, then managed to force a trade to a team that was nearly guaranteed to get him a World Series ring that he could try to claim he had a part in earning. Even at this level, it’s a team sport, but he’s never understood that.
His attempt to win his 300th career game yesterday, an achievement that puts any major-league pitcher in the pantheon of greats, started this way:
That’s right. Before the game even started, he put on a glove with a patch signifying the historical importance it was going to have. Fortunately, there’s a rule requiring pitchers’ gloves to be of uniform color.
After all these years, he should know better than to take credit for something he hasn’t done. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t even know not to displease the Baseball Gods with excessive hubris. May he be eternally punished by being a career 299-game winner.
He’s so competetive that at his home when he was pitching to his wife, he’d throw inside at her to brush her back when he felt she was crowding the plate. Bad enough that he’d do that to his own wife but how about this happened WHEN SHE WAS FUCKING PREGNANT!
God, even though I haven’t followed baseball closely in several years, and haven’t really been a die-hard Yankee fan since the Eighties… it’s STILL loads of fun to watch embittered, pathetic Red Sox fans whine!
I beg to differ, Elvis. I’ve been a Yankee fan for 40 years and had to suffer during the days of Horace Clarke and Stan Bahnsen and Fritz Peterson and Tom Tresh, etc. I stuck with the team in those hard times, so there are indeed die hard Yankee fans. But I have to agree with you about Roger. The patch on the glove is an attempt to make yourself bigger than the game and to draw attention to yourself.
As a Yankee fan, I have mixed feelings for Clemens. On one hand, you know he has immense respect for the history of the franchise and understands what a privilege it is to wear the pinstripes. Getting 300 wins in the era of the five man rotation is no small feat. But the whole Piazza thing left a bad taste in a lot of peoples’ mouths and you don’t get the impression that his teammates would jump through a fire for him. So while I respect his talents as a pitcher, I’d still rather watch the Yankees lose without him than win with him.
You can have your stale, bitter Red Sox/Clemens fueled rant, but a line this stupid needs to be called out:
He will go to the HOF. He is probably in the top 10 of all time pitchers. He has individual and team honors out the wazoo.
Save the unappreciative athlete rant for people like Steve Howe, David Thompson, or Stanley Roberts; athletes with a world of potential wasted due to their own failings.
I said “rarely”, not “never”. The game has had dickheads before, still does, and always will, including quite a few with as little a concept of sportsmanship as Clemens does. It is not a compliment to him or to any of the rest that others like them exist. The people you listed all had drug addictions, and we really don’t know much about their attitudes to the concept of sport outside of that. But Clemens isn’t an addict, just an ass.
MSU, yes, I was using a figure of speech. But I couldn’t help noticing the several tens of thousands of “die-hard Yankees fans” who came to see a historical landmark occur yesterday, on a holiday afternoon, dressed as empty blue seats. So what if it was raining? You would never see that at Fenway or Wrigley.
Make no mistake about it; he’s a complete asshole. Great pitcher, but one of the few ballplayers I am absolutely confident to state is a jerk. How many current ballplayers have thrown bats at opposing players?
In defense of the Yankee fans, it sure didn’t seem like the game would be played earlier in the day and a 1:45 rain delay is a lot to ask anyone to sit through.
As for bat throwing, the only other instance I can recall is the Oakland-Detroit playoff game. Wasn’t it Campaneris throwing at LeGrow? Of course, you had Juan Marichal beating John Roseboro with a bat, which it seems to me to be worse than anything Clemens ever did.
Four-hour games are a lot to ask anyone to sit through, but that’s the norm. “Die-hard fans” wouldn’t have been bothered a bit.
Yes, it was Bert Campaneris throwing the bat at Lerrin LeGrow, and he got suspended for the rest of the postseason as I recall. Simple physical temper tantrums, like the Piazza incident, have occurred too many times in too many ways to count. Examples are batters charging the mound after getting hit almost every frickin’ time now. 'Roid rage, maybe?
Ahhhh, but watching him lose as a Yankee is priceless.
It’s funny how Joe Torre and Jeter changed their thoughts on Clemens after he became part of the Evil Empire. When he threw at Derek he was a headhunter but when he hit Piazza in the head he “lost control” on that pitch. Then when he threw the broken bat at Piazza he was just caught up in the moment. rolleyes:
Obviously they couldn’t say he is a dickhead and a disgrace to baseball but I bet they were thinking it (or something along those lines).
Best excuse to through a bat at a player: “I thought it was the ball”
So Roger, why didn’t you through it to first base?
4-hour games are the norm? Which games are you watching because it isn’t baseball. And I’m quite sure that even most “die hard fans” wouldn’t sit through the rain on an open-ended delay where the Yankees said the game could start as late as 7 pm.
I personally enjoyed the days the Yanks beat him when he was on the mound for the Bosox a whole helluva lot more then these days he throws another one up on the W column as a Yank.
Fave Clements moment: He beaned Nokes with a curve ball that somehow got wedged between Matt’s chest and bicep. Nokes was so pissed he threw the ball back right at Clemen’s face…too bad he was wearing his glove.
Everything I’ve heard and read about his competiveness amazes me. This guy works out like a fiend and jogs around the city at 6AM on Sunday mornings while other people (and teammates like Boomer) are just getting to sleep.
But I don’t like him & hate seeing him in pinstripes. The man has 190+ wins in Boston, 40 something in Toronto and will, if lucky, will have about a 100 with the Yanks before retiring.
Like Reggie, I don’t wanna see him go into the HoF as a Yankee, but I’ll wager George will buy him off in a similar fashion to guarantee that happens.
I also celebrated his loss yesterday. As a matter of fact I called my dad the moment Fat Roger walked off the field in shame to crow with him about it (he’s the one responsible for raising me as a Boston fan). MLS: John Rocker is a gigantic pinhead, but Fat Roger is evil.
Yeah that is a funny thing. The jerk works out all the time , but is a bit “large”. He should be lean and mean, not just mean. Sure is funny how he and Bonds had complete body changes in the last few years.
I predict in about ten years he will be at one of his son’s high school games and his son will take a ball to the head and go down in a heap. The kid will be ok but roger will freak and do a tearful press conference apologizing to everyone he ever threw at and will go on a crusade to stop pitchers from throwing at batters.
He is a great pitcher but I too hope he gets stuck on 299. What an asshole.
Wanna bet? He may want to go in as a Yankee. Steinbrenner may want him in with a Yankee. Red Sox might not want to be associated with him, but you know what? The HoF will see to it that there’s a B on his cap when his plaque goes up. Carter wanted to go in as a Met, but no dice. Team you spent the most time with is now the team you go in as.
