Jesus, everyone named in the steriod report has by now come out an admitted to at least one shot of HGH or steriods, but not our Roger. He’s apparently going to hold on to his innocence no matter what evidence piles up. Unless a video of him with a needle in his ass surfaces, he’s going to stand by the “never failed a drug test” defense that worked so well for Marion Jones and Barry Bonds.
He just made a statement that he has never taken any illegal substance, and is pissed that 25 years in the public eye has not warranted him the benefit of the doubt- surely suing Mitchell for slander is the next step, right? Obviously Rog has more to lose than the all of the others named in the report combined- but come on! Why would your good friend trainer lie on you for no reason? He already had Pettitte and many others he could name, why is he dragging an innocent throught the mire? Oh yeah, I forgot, John Kruk says he’s “disgruntled”.
All I can say is I hope he plays again in 2008 drug free and shows everyone how good he is. I honestly don’t give two shits about baseball, but the balls on this guy to come out now declaring his innocence in the face of mountains of evidence is chutzpah at its most annoying. And it sucks that the true best pitcher of his generation and all around good guy Greg Maddux has been taking a backseat to this cheating asshole all these years. A big heartfelt fuck you to you Raj.
Not banned by the league, but still illegal in the sense of taking unprescribed medication, no?
And that’s a serious question, not a snark. I’ve been under the impression throughout all this hysteria that even before certain substances were banned by MLB, you’re still technically breaking the law by taking the substances without a prescription (not that I expect any of these guys would be prosecuted for it).
Some players are claiming they took drugs to recover from injuries, under prescription. Steroids are actually prescribed for that, sometimes, so how do you deal with such a claim? What if his doctor says, “Sure, I prescribed that. So what?”
I’m not really defending the players. I’m just having trouble finding the edges of the grey areas. When do you say, “Forget it, you’re dirty,” and when do you say, “Well, okay, but don’t do it again”? I don’t have the answers.
Ok, now, with respect to Roger Clemens, so far as I know, there is only one person who stated during the investigation that Clemens took a substance now banned. That’s not exactly mounds of evidence piling up against him. Let’s keep an open mind.
If a steroid treatment was a generally accepted practice for treating the injury, then I’d accept that. If not, then just being able to find a doctor willing to sign a prescription for you doesn’t mean much to me.
Even if we acknowledge that HGH and steroids can be prescribed by legitimate doctors for perfectly valid reasons (my mother-in-law was given steroids as part of her treatment in recuperating from cancer), we still have to wonder
Why are so many players getting the stuff from dentists and shady operators, rather than from doctors?
Why didn’t the guys with valid medical excuses come forward a long time ago, with their doctors by their side, and say, “Yes, I took steroids for this-or-that reason, and here’s Dr. So-and-so who prescribed them. He can explain why they were necessary.”
IF Andy Pettitte really had a valid medical reason for using HGH, he could have acknowledged it publicly ages ago, and most fans would have been VERY (perhaps TOO) quick to forgive and forget. Instead, by waiting until after the Mitchell Report, Pettitte has made it impossible for anyone to believe anything he says.
I would just hate for baseball to turn into my insurance company, with Pre-Authorizations required for certain treatments and a bureaucrat in every bedpan.
Well, Bud Selig in a bedpan sounds pretty darn fitting, but I digress.
A lot of the players seem to be doing the old ruse of admitting to the small stuff (growth hormone for injuries) so that they look more honest when they deny the big stuff.
I am, but it seems odd this one person would be honest and upfront with regard to everyone else, but for some reason lie on his good friend Roger. Roger kept this guy around even when the team wouldn’t pay him anymore, much like Bonds kept his own trainer (read: steriod supplier) around when it was obvious to all he was shady. And his other client Pettitte, has admitted guilt. And odd that none of the others named has claimed innocence.
It just seems odd he would lie on Clemens for no reason, and a 80 million study mentions him more than anyone except Bonds. It will be intersting though, if I heard correctly that Congress will have another hearing like the infamous Palmerio/Sosa/Mcgwire one in early 2008- if Clemens doesn’t go if asked, he’ll look guilty, and if he pulls a Palmerio and they think he’s lying, he’ll probably get hunted down like Bonds. I think he knows he was at least smart enough if he did anything to not pay by check or have anyone but the one trainer know about it, so it would come down to a my word against his thing, unless there’s other evidence. Should be interesting.
It would be ridiculousy stupid for the trainer to lie about Roger taking steroids- because if he did lie, he can surely expect to be sued for slander, which would really be a costly hassle, and he has nothing to gain. Roger’s got to sue him, right? Right? Why wouldnt he sue? (other than the risk of facing jail time for perjury, if he, you know, actually did steroids…why do i get the feeling he’s not going to sue)
Another reason not to believe anything Pettite says:
"Last year, the Los Angeles Times reported that former Yankee Jason Grimsley told the feds Pettitte was one of the players who used performance-enhancing drugs. This is how Pettitte responded to that allegation at the time: “I haven’t done anything,” he said. “I guess reports are saying I’ve used performance-enhancing drugs. I’ve never used any drugs to enhance my performance in baseball before. I don’t know what else to say except it’s embarrassing my name would be out there.”
Um, it would be almost impossible for Roger to win such a suit. To prove you didn’t do anything, which is what he’d have to do, is darn near impossible. And lots of people turning state’s evidence, as it were, aren’t exactly completely honest about what they say.
I’m not saying I believe Clemens, I’m just saying that, in the absence of more evidence (like, for example, the somewhat more substantial evidence already in place regarding Bonds), we should be careful to rush to the judgment that Clemens is lying to us.
And Sen Mitchell even said on an NPR interview that the individuals will not be prosecuted. It is, he said, something of a policy that law enforcement agencies around the country follow in not pressing these charges against individual sports figures, and he doesn’t recommend that the MLB do things differently.
Of course, Selig has already gone against Mitchell’s recommendations on retribution against the named players, so who knows what he’ll do next.
Agree with you on the second point, but you’re wrong on the first I know many people feel that the MLB is the law of the land, but there is this little wrinkle in federal and state laws which says that steroids are controlled substances and need to be prescribed by a physician for legit medical conditions. The fact that Bud Sellout and Don Fear-me did not “get around” to banning these substances is immaterial. If players used steroids, they broke the law. Period.
While I do think Clemens did what he’s accused of doing…
That’s not even close to being remotely true. A few players have admitted something, about the same number have denied it.
He’s not “disgruntled,” he’s cooperating with a federal investigation to try to avoid being charged with selling drugs. He does have some motivation to name names here.
He wasn’t playing next year anyway; 2007 showed that even with HGH and steroids, he couldn’t do it anymore.