Reaping what they sow

The house of cards that Roger Clemens has built is crumbling. Quickly.

Consider - Sure, his accuser is about as shady as back alley with a roof covering, but Brian McNamee has had his story corroborated by multiple sources, including by Clemens' buddy Andy Pettitte, fellow steroid distributor Kirk Radomski, and even to some extent, by Clemens himself (way to throw your wife under the bus, Roger).

Clemens has a baby sitter who appears to have been tampered with and a Jose Canseco testimony that appears to have been contradicted by photographic evidence.

To put it plainly, if you're going to do something illegal, don't leave a paper trail. It will come back to feast on your ass like a rabid hyena on a slow, fat kid.

As far as one's arrogance leading to digging a hole for one's self, Brett Favre is quickly making himself into the second coming of Terrell Owens.

Evidently he spoke in vague generalities while accusing Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy of not being honest with him. The Packers GM and Coach responded with specifics as to repeatedly asking Favre back.

As near as I can tell, Favre was upset that Thompson a) failed to re-sign two of Favre long-time protectors along the line, opting instead for youth along the O-line, b) failed to land Randy Moss in a trade, refusing to mortgage the future of the team in so doing. In essence, Favre doesn't trust Thompson because Thompson wants Favre to be a quarterback, and not do his general managing job for him. Go figure.

Now, Favre is "tempted to call their bluff," but is unwilling to file the paperwork for reinstatement until it wouldn't cost him any money to avoid mandatory minicamps and to just come into training camp - where he could, effectively, be disruptive.

The funny thing, in his effort to create public support, all he has done is alienate even the majority of Packer fans. A recent show of support for the NFL's least wanted man outside of Lambeau drew fewer than 200 fans.

And, often times, those who are supporting Favre are not only blinded by their hero-worship, but evidently aren't as knowledgeable as people like to say Packers fans are supposed to be - as demonstrated by this recent letter to Mike Silver -

“Your article about making the hard call in Green Bay shows why you write for a living and are not in football operations. If Green Bay’s GM dumps a proven Pro Bowl QB over QB who hasn’t proven anything he won’t be a GM for long.”

Ken Biddle
Philadelphia

Let's see -

Daryle Lamonica was replaced by Kenny Stabler, and he was replaced by Jim Plunkett. Nobody was complaining about Al Davis' personnel moves in the early 1980's

Joe Montana was traded in favor of Steve Young who wasn't showing a whole lot in Tampa. Sure, the 49ers brain-trust caught some flak when they traded Montana, but three Super Bowl trophies later, no San Fran fan is saying that it was the wrong move.

And, of course, within the last decade the Patriots dropped pro-bowler Drew Bledsoe for an unproven sixth round draft pick. Three Super Bowls (two trophies later), none of the Pats fans are calling for Scott Pioli's head.

Bible Stories it ain't

I don't know what Roger Clemens was thinking.

He had a choice about yesterday. He chose to go forward with the hearing when chairman Henry Waxman was ready to call it off.

I'm not what one would call a religious person...in any way, shape, or form...but I'm about to make a correlation here...

It was like he thought the result of yesterday would be that he were Abraham's son, saved from the knife on the sacrificial altar at the last minute. It didn't happen yesterday.

What happened yesterday -

• Clemens appeared to have engaged in perjury, trying desperately to contradict the stories of Brian McNamee, Andy Pettitte, Pettitte's wife, his own nanny, and even his own story at times - while successfully discrediting his alibi - Jose Canseco - by admitting that he did spend some time at the party at Canseco's, in spite of Canseco's sworn affidavit to the contrary.
• Clemens might have engaged in witness tampering, and, when called on it, had the arrogance to tell the committee that he had done them a favor.
  
• McNamee was revealed to be nothing more than what he is - a liar and a drug distributor. No more so than what anyone already knew - but no one was able to determine what McNamee would have to gain out of an action that has effectively ruined his professional career? Everyone knew going in and coming out what Clemens had to gain.
• We learned that Clemens, in his desperation, would throw everybody - including his wife, legal representation, and agents - under the bus in order to avoid culpability for his mistakes.
• We found out that Clemens wouldn't fire his agents in the face of what would have to be gross incompetence and negligence, if what he claims about notification of George Mitchell's investigation is true, and he wasn't notified.
• We now know that, if what the Rocket says is true about not knowing that Debbie Clemens dropped trou in her bedroom for McNamee, a man once accused of rape, that her judgment is as questionable as her husband's. I, for one, know no women who would be caught alone in a room with someone even suspected of that crime, if they could help it.
• We found that the republican contingent of the contingent seemed more interested in pontificating about how untrustworthy McNamee was while engaging in blatant hero worship in the direction of Clemens.

What we found out today, is why Clemens and his lawyers...and the Republicans on the committee...would engage in this farce. For those who have forgotten - the Rocket is a friend of the Bush family.

McNamee's lawyer believes that Clemens' handlers allowed him to participate in this farce because the Rocket could get a pardon from W. Unfortunately, it's not that far fetched an idea.

I, for one, am hoping that if this does end up in front of the judiciary, it extends into next year, and beyond the reach of Bush.

That might seem harsh to some, but this is, as I said before, someone who hasn't been able to explain why his former trainer would do this beyond "a cheap stunt," and "the feds were targeting me." This is in spite of the fact that McNamee's lawyer has noted that the feds never mentioned Clemens and were perfectly professional, and that if McNamee has lied then he goes to jail, and if he hasn't, his professional career is shot to hell. Hardly cheap.

This is also someone who, as I also noted, has demonstrated nothing but arrogance and a sense of entitlement somehow believing, through the whole process that he's above reproach - trying to convince everybody that he is more reliable than George Mitchell, the man who put together the Northern Ireland Peace Accord. The man who repeatedly tried to contact Clemens before the report came out.

It is looking more and more like there is no doubt that Clemens did indeed do something illegal, and that he cheated...and he needs to be held accountable.

No new contracts, pro-rated, or otherwise.

No Hall.

No freedom.

At this point, in my opinion, the man is a cheat and a criminal and should be treated as such.

And on a final note - I think I'm going to miss this when it all goes away...and it will. I mean, really, this has been the best soap opera on television in recent times.

Select fraternities no one wishes to be in...

There are several select and growing fraternities among the professional athlete set.

None of which are ones you want to pledge if you are an athlete.

Okay, the first is one no one wants to be a part of and it has a new pledge.

It's the one with a membership that includes Lance Armstrong, Jon Lester, and Joe Andruzzi now includes Vikings defensive end Kenechi Udeze. According to a report in the Mineapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune that hit the Internet at about midnight, Udeze has been diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer of the blood that originates in the bone marrow.

According to reports, Udeze spent time at the Mayo Clinic last week.

Currently, Udeze is undergoing tests at Fairview Southdale Hospital to determine the grade/severity of the particular type of leukemia with which he is afflicted. For more information on leukemia, and its four different varieties, visit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Web site.

Kenechi, Joe...get better soon guys.

The other fraternity...

Pi Epsilon Delta...PED, the performance enhancing drug users.

As much as Roger Clemens is desperately trying to make it look like he hasn't already pledged this group with a defense that pretty much amounts to, at this point, "what I say is right, what everybody else says is wrong."

His agents want to compare him to other pitchers, but when Ivy League statistics professors point out the errors in the methodology of the Clemens camp, and present their own report, they're wrong and "The professors make the mistake of thinking that his career arc should look like the arc of every other pitcher in their selected group," Hendricks said in a statement. the professors, of course, didn't use a small cross section, and they likely got the age ranges of their pitchers right. But no, according to the Clemens camp, the statisticians are wrong.

Now it's beginning to come out that Andy Pettitte's version of events appears to back Brian McNamee's story (never mind the fact that the Clemens camp still has failed to explain why McNamee would be telling the truth about both Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch).

Even more amazing - why wasn't there an immediate denial from Clemens and his people in regards to his wife getting shot up before an SI shoot? Is it because of the physical evidence that has surfaced? Are they now concerned that they've backed themselves into a corner over the Rocket, and are worried about painting the corner smaller?

He may be fighting tooth and nail to not be a member of Pi Epsilon, but, by all appearances, he's already a member - along with the likes of Marion Jones, Barry Bonds, and the whistle-blower - Jose Canseco.

Fuzzy Logic

Fuzzy logic seems to be in abundance these days.

Fuzzy logic comes from fuzzy math...let's start with some fuzzy math - the kind that doesn't add up.

Yesterday Roger Clemens continued his farce with a 17-minute tape of a phone conversation with trainer-turned-informant Brian McNammee. The tape told us absolutely diddly-squat.

Here's the math on this subject -

Clemens' initial denial issued by his lawyer and reported by CNN on December 14...

"Roger Clemens adamantly, vehemently, and whatever other adjectives can be used, denies that he has ever used steroids or ... improper substances," Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, said Thursday.
"He is really, really concerned and upset that he has been named in this report. It's based on the allegations, apparently, of a trainer that he's had in the past. ... That's not a standard someone should be held out in public to have done something as serious as using steroids in baseball."

...

"Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive," Hardin said in a statement. "There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances and yet he is being slandered today."
Hardin told reporters that Clemens had not been given the opportunity to defend himself.

Let's start with the last point Hardin makes. Clemens had plenty of opportunity to defend himself when invited to talk to George Mitchell. He chose not to do so. Let's be realistic about this as well - it's not as though Clemens was going to assume Mitchell just wanted to hang out and talk about baseball. He knew what Mitchell was doing, he had to know that Mitchell called him because he had been named. Issue one that doesn't pass the smell test.

Lidocaine is a class VI drug. Class VI drugs require a prescription for use and is administered by a physician - not a physical trainer. Issue two.

Vitam B12 is a professional sports euphemism for the steroid Winstrol, which is what McNamee claims to have injected Clemens with. Don't believe it, just ask Rafael Palmeiro. Issue three.

Here's my favorite, and it comes from an interview with Steve Phillips on ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning - Phillips, for those of you who don't know, played baseball and was at one time the general manager of the New York Mets - "We're talking a strength and conditioning coach. In my twenty years within a major league organization, seven as a player, thirteen in a front office, I have never heard of a strength and conditioning coach giving any legitimate injection to a player. In fact, trainers do not give injections, only physicians give injections."

This was followed up by the former NFL defensive tackle Mike Golic's agreement, "I will say, I was never injected by a trainer...I have never heard of that before." And Buster Olney's statement, "I completely concur with what Steve said. In talking with people around baseball last night, they said they cannot see a situation in which a trainer would be giving injections to players as a matter of routine." Issue four.

From an ESPN.com report -

Asked why McNamee would tell the truth about Pettitte and lie about Clemens,
Clemens said Pettitte's case was "totally separate."

How is it that Mike Wallace didn't follow up on this? How are the cases totally separate? From all accounts, Clemens introduced Pettitte to McNamee. Pettitte confirmed that McNamee was telling the truth in regards to him - why would he then be lying about Clemens? Both sloppy reporting and issue five. He offered no explanation in regards to how Pettitte's case is "totally separate."

I don't buy that the timing of when his lawyers (finally) filed the suit against McNamee as a coincidence either. It came two days after Clemens was asked to appear before Congress along with Pettitte and McNamee. The allows Clemens to, in effect, go in front of the Congressional committee and claim that he can't answer certain questions due to the pending litigation without ever having to take the Fifth. Issue six.

Right now it looks like Clemens is trying to convince the court of public opinion that by adding five and five, you get six.

Fuzzy math part two -

The closer it gets, the funnier the math gets. Somehow, Mercury Morris and his 1972 Dolphin compatriots would have us believe that 17=19. Neat trick, but wrong.

Yes, it would be only the second team in the NFL to go undefeated during a season, but what does that really mean? It means that they had a streak that ran during one season, rather than over the course of two.

The whole discussion always comes back to how hard it is to win 16 in a row. The Tom Brady/Bill Belichick Patriots have done it twice.

Those 17 Dolphin wins included the postseason. The Patriots already have one streak that exceeds that at 21.

The longest regular season winning streak the 'Phins even had was 15 games. The Patriots are owners of both an 18-game and now 19-game regular season winning streaks.

None of this takes into account the fact that the Patriots deal with free-agency, the salary cap, and weighted schedules - all elements of today's game designed to keep the sort of dominance the Patriots have shown from happening.

Sure, the Patriots haven't gone 19-0, and might not, but the self-appointed greatest team to ever play the game would have you believe that 17=19, and that the best the Pats could do is "join us on the mountain top."

Sorry guys. They do it, then they're the king of the mountain.

The slow pitch softball player and the high heater

There are two very different games being played by two central parties involved in the Mitchell Report.

Roger Clemens is playing beer-league softball while Brian McNamee and his lawyers are coming inside on Clemens with some chin music with the high heat.

Clemens, in light of McNamee's claims that he injected Clemens with a pharmacopoeia of performance enhancers, thus far has elected to avoid any lawsuits, choosing instead to fight his case in the court of public opinion. His agents the Hendricks brothers and Rusty Hardin have scripted a series of denials and arranged for an interview with Mike Wallace, an admitted Yankees fan, and friend of both Roger Clemens and George Steinbrenner. No one expects this to be vintage Mike Wallace.

The denials scripted by Clemens' handlers have attacked McNamee, previously called a friend by Clemens, now referred to as "a troubled man," by his handlers. Those denials, of course, have rung hollow in light of Andy Pettitte giving McNamee's claims credence.

Clemens claimed that he would speak at the appropriate time. Evidently the appropriate time, in his head, wasn't when he was initially given the chance by George Mitchell to respond to the allegations in private during the investigation. No. In his head the appropriate time, evidently, was to wait until his use was made public, and then to arrange for an interview with the interviewer of his choice. Really credible set up there

The interesting fact - McNamee was, in essence, under oath while making his highly detailed claims. Clemens, of course, won't be on 60 Minutes, and has failed to initiate any sort of legal action as we close in on a month after the report hit. McNamee's handler's, on the other hand, are coming with the high heat, threatening to sue Clemens for defamation if the 60 Minutes piece airs.

Everything in this smacks of the quintessential flame thrower for the last 20+ years in MLB being nothing more than a glorified softballer when it comes to protecting his legacy.