Roger Clemens says McNamee injected him with lidocaine and B-12

here's another thought provoking story. Its seems like Fraud-ger has some stock in a tape recording company or something.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3187302

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Originally Posted by Alloutwar

I want to believe Roger is just a true hero of an athlete...and that somehow, his name is the one name that isn't true on the Mitchell report...but that's a hard idea to swallow. I can't see prosecutors threatening Macnamee with jail time, unless he points to Clemens. What's the incentive to bring Clemens down?

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See though, that's the real problem with this sort of thing. It's guilt by association. No one really has to prove anything aginst Clemens. He's simply "one of the gang" and therefore is guilty beyond doubt.

That sort of thinking is just wrong. I'm pretty much backing Clemens based on going against that sort of thinking all by itself.

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Originally Posted by ohms_law

He's simply "one of the gang" and therefore is guilty beyond doubt.

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I'm not saying he's definitely guilty; heck, he is the only one who has stepped forward and defended himself so adamantly, which he really has no need to do. It's like an honor thing - he doesn't want to be the Barry Bonds type, and that's all good.

I am just asking a legitimate question, which is my one barrier to being swayed to Roger's side on this; why him? If everyone else on that list has either admitted use or remained silent and out of the spotlight, why is he the one name that MacNamee made up? Was it pressure from the feds ("Jeez, I really hate my childhood hero Clemens; let's see if this guy will cough up his name!")? Was he throwing out a big name to save himself, because Pettite and the others weren't big enough? Who was pushing it, and what on earth did they have to gain? I need some sort of vague, coherent reason to see why McNamee might have lied about this one guy; otherwise, I'm just on the fence for now. Just because I haven't sided with Roger, (or decided to simply oppose public opinion, however it may go) doesn't mean I have decided he is guilty beyond doubt.

I know the Mitchell report only got a fraction of the players that ever took steroids - and if the names on the list are to be suspect, then heck, 90% of players should be suspect. It's just hard to ignore the players that have all come forward since being named; it doesn't indict Clemens, but it actually gives MacNamee corroboration. As a kid who grew up loving Clemens and Hurst in my BoSox rotation, I want to give Clemens the benefit of the doubt and any possible leeway I can, believe me.

Clemens' name has been floated for years and years. He had that reputation for having such a "brutal" workout (which isn't really saying much, since we're talking about baseball players here), so that's naturally dovetailed into suspicion. While I don't take his word unquestioningly that his name may have been added at the behest of someone or other, the possibility is hardly beyond belief either. And, with all of the other players whom they most likely knew were users, throwing his name in there makes for easy cover. They wanted, perhaps even needed, a blockbuster name for the report, and Clemens fits the bill.

Most likely there are extremely few "superstar" level players who do or have used actual PED's anyway (although, I wouldn't doubt that many, or even most, have tried them for a short period of time). They are more likely to have a worthwhile cost/benefit ratio to the slightly below average player anyway, as that little bit extra puts them into the average or even slightly above average group, allowing them their shot at the bigs.

This whole Clemens/McNamee thing reminds me of a presidential election. Clemens is relying on attacking McNamee's credibility much like a candidate will spend the majority of his/her time attacking his rival's credibility instead of actually talking about why voters should vote for him. To me, all Clemens is doing is trying to smokescreen the public by attacking McNamee and saying very little about himself other than the "I never used PEDS" line that EVERYONE has said in the past (Marion Jones, Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, Andy Pettitte, etc.) It's also not McNamee's fault that Clemens can afford a high powered legal and public relations outfit that is working full bore in an attempt to clear his name and smear McNamee's.

For me, one of the most damning things for Clemens is that his butt buddy Andy Pettitte admitted to HGH use. The same best friend that has trained with Clemens for the past several years in his "legendary" offseason workouts. I don't know about you guys, but if my best friend who I spend nearly 24 hours a day with for nearly 8 months out of the year during the season, and then work out with for hours at a time during the offseason started doing something shady, I'd have some sort of knowledge about it. Clemens was apparently "shocked" to learn of Pettitte's HGH use. And why hasn't Pettitte said anything about Clemens? How come there haven't been any kind of impassioned defense of Clemens from his best friend Pettitte if Clemens was really totally innocent?