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The Spectacle Blog

Why Roger Clemens Will Be Acquitted

By Aaron Goldstein on 7.6.11 @ 12:40PM

The perjury trial of Roger Clemens is getting underway in Washington, D.C. and things have got off to an inauspicious start for the prosecution.

Judge Reggie Walton lambasted Congress for not turning over tapes of Clemens' February 2008 deposition before investigators for the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee.

I suspect that Clemens' former trainer, Brian MacNamee, is not going to be very helpful to the prosecution. In January 2008, MacNamee supplied the government with needles, gauze and vials which purportedly demonstrate that he injected Clemens with HGH. The problem is that MacNamee kept this material in his home since 2001. It's not like this was kept in an independent labratory operating under a set of evidentary protocols. MacNamee had the means, motive and opportunity to contaminate this "evidence."

As for his former Yankees & Astros teammate Andy Pettitte, sports talk radio host Steve Kallas argues that his testimony could very well end up helping Clemens rather than hurting him. Citing the deposition Pettitte gave to the same Congressional investigators, Pettitte states on more than one occasion he misunderstood Clemens telling him that he had used HGH when in fact it was his Clemens' wife, Debbie, who had used it. So perhaps Clemens was right to say that Pettitte "misremembered" their conversation after all.

Based on this information, I am inclined to believe that Clemens will be acquitted of all the charges.

I wish there were more people who hadn't accepted The Mitchell Report at face value or at the very least attempted to be skeptical about it like yours truly. If greater diligence had beene exercised perhaps the government would have stayed out of it and this sorry spectacle would not have come to pass. Unfortunately, even if Clemens is acquitted it might not matter. As Richard Justice of The Houston Chronicle wrote in December 2007:

No matter what happens now, Roger Clemens is forever tainted. Every accomplishment is diminished, and no amount of bluster by his attorney can change that basic fact. Even if Clemens can somehow refute the dozens of details and prove his innocence, the suspicion will linger. He will never be viewed the same way by many of the fans who once adored him.

And whose fault is that? The fault lies with George Mitchell, Henry Waxman (then Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee) as well as all the other politicians and journalists who sought glory by partaking in this witch-hunt.

View all comments (13) | Leave a comment

Red Phillips| 7.6.11 @ 1:52PM

Brian MacNamee is a rat. That said, Clemens should have pleaded the fifth.

JP| 7.6.11 @ 4:12PM

Let's face it, almost all of the big (and small names)in MLB baseball were juiced. Many, like Clemens and Bonds didn't need it. Bonds, would have gone down as one of the greats if he stayed off of steriods. And Clemens already had a HOF career before PEDs became the new norm. But, greed and ego trumps all.

The game is ruined, and as usual the federal government must get its pound of flesh.

Have you considered| 7.6.11 @ 5:08PM

Geeez, didn't Bill Clinton prove that perjury is not even a misdemeanor, let alone a high crime?

What exact Enumerated Power is being used to hold these hearings anyway? Is it Commerce because he traveled to different states to play?

Wayne | 7.6.11 @ 5:54PM

I don't care if Clemens gets convicted or not. As far as I am concerned finding out he also took steroids was the final straw for me. He did me a favor. After all these years, I am free of baseball. I don't miss it one bit. To me it is no more real than a computer game. The 75 home runs or whatever the record today is is just another meaningless stat by people I can not relate to.

Handy| 7.6.11 @ 9:36PM

Baseball lost me a long, long time ago before PEDs ever became an issue. Football lost me, not because of drugs, but because of the strike.

I look forward to a "Replacement Season," just to show that there isn't that much difference between the overpaid criminals and regular Joes. You know, the UPS delivery guy, the Mayflower mover, the Special Forces veteran, the fellow with fast feet and a good arm that plays tennis for fun.... You see them everyday.

NBA? That bunch of rapists? Puleeez.

The PGA? Soccer? Hockey? Good somnabulents.

Fact is, sports are really fun to play, but extremely boring to watch. I suspect that most avid fans and spectators never played at any serious level at all. It's why professional wrestling and all this ultimate fighting crap is so popular with guys who have never thrown a punch. Or why guys who never broke 100 are so enamored of The Masters.

I would rather take a walk or watch the LifeTime Channel than tune into ESPN.

Now, thoroughbred horsracing is a whole different matter entirely.

astorian| 7.6.11 @ 6:00PM

Not since Bill James proclaimed that Pete Rose was cmpletely innocent of betting on baseball have I seen a commentator strain so hard to ignore the obvious.

I happen to belive the feds had no real business investigating steroid use in baseball, and see no reason to prosecute Roger Clemens.

The fact remains, Clemens is guilty as hell, and it's as plain as the nose on a Picasso face.

It would be silly to put Clemens in jail, but it's even sillier to pretend there's any chance he's innocent.

astorian| 7.6.11 @ 6:00PM

Not since Bill James proclaimed that Pete Rose was cmpletely innocent of betting on baseball have I seen a commentator strain so hard to ignore the obvious.

I happen to belive the feds had no real business investigating steroid use in baseball, and see no reason to prosecute Roger Clemens.

The fact remains, Clemens is guilty as hell, and it's as plain as the nose on a Picasso face.

It would be silly to put Clemens in jail, but it's even sillier to pretend there's any chance he's innocent.

RJ| 7.6.11 @ 9:53PM

My objection is to the Congressional hearing itself. Steroids in baseball isn't a matter for the Federal government. The Congressmen and Senators have important Constitutional duties to perform (e.g. national defense & foreign policy). Interfering with Major League Baseball in order to get some free publicity simply distracts them from their real job and interferes with our free society, which is becoming less and less free by the day.

somnolence| 7.6.11 @ 11:25PM

My interest in major league baseball waned with the implementation of the DH, regular season interleague play, starting pitchers failing to go the distance and taking pride in CG, crybaby antics, and everybody having an agent. I remember Koufax and Drysdale holding out in spring 1966 for $125,000 and $100,000 respectively. And those two guys went the distance of the game they started more often than not. It is ridiculous that any player feels the need to enhance performance with steroids when improvements with Nautilus equipment alone work just fine with disciplined nutrition. Both sad and ridiculous

John| 7.6.11 @ 11:58PM

Did not realize so many Clinton apologists were on this site. Clemens lied; Petite told a damning truth; McGuire told his lawyer the truth. The consequences for each vary in proportion to their vanity. Personal responsibility; what a concept. He may be acquitted, but Clemens is as innocent of lying about his drug use as Casey Anthony and OJ are of their respective crimes.

Sean| 7.11.11 @ 3:43PM

Even if Clemens is acquitted, there is a good chance he'll never be picked for the Hall of Fame. Joe Jackson was acquitted too and he was banned from baseball and the Hall. Clemens has always been a jerk, notice how there hasn't exactly been a stampede of former teammates coming to his defense? It would be sweetly ironic if Mike Piazza gets into the Hall and Clemens doesn't.

ejp| 7.11.11 @ 9:47PM

The Mitchell Report was a joke from the beginning given that the author of it had a blatant conflict of interest given his role with the Red Sox, and my oh my how convenient it was that the two biggest stars of the 04 Red Sox, Manny and Big Phony, weren't outed as steroids users until AFTER the report came out.

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