Comments on: Roger Clemens Vis a Vis Brian Roberts

By: NHZ

NHZ — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:12:33 +0000

While I’m not condoning his steroid use, nor exonerating him for his admission of guilt when he could’ve let the matter rest, Roberts has been more of a man about this than Clemens. Well, that’s what Joey Harrington told me anyway.

But seriously, Roberts’ inclusion in the report was sketchy, and now that he’s admitted he used once in 2003…I mean, they are different degrees of guilt. I doubt the B-Rob you see today is still the benefactor of one steroid injection (back before there was a testing program, for what it’s worth). Suspend Roberts for 15 games like Jose Guillen was–another guy who I’m dubious on condemning–if you want to set an example. Otherwise, you’ve got virtually nothing on him compared to hard core PED users compared to Bonds or Clemens.

This would have been a lot easier if the Mitchell Report had, you know, been conducted with subpoena power. If there’s one thing idiot congressmen can agree on, it’s penalizing baseball players for ruining our national innocence. What a lovely fucking country.

By: Plattsmouthbandwagon

Plattsmouthbandwagon — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:32:44 +0000

I agree with Mag. Put something in the HOF where it talks about the steroid era and then vote on who we think were the best of the era.

irishmafia – I thought someone put out a fire on McGuire’s face with a pitch fork. Thats not how he got the crater face?

By: the_unreliable_narrator

the_unreliable_narrator — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:14:02 +0000

Marion Jones called. She wants her denial propaganda angle back.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:06:03 +0000

There are steroids in pro sports???

Yawn.

By: Lenn Sakatas Media Assassin

Lenn Sakatas Media Assassin — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:34:48 +0000

It doesn’t sound like The Goose is defending anyone. He’s just offering his opinion about how he thinks Clemens, et. al. will be viewed by fans and HOFers in the future. (I agree with him).

By the way, not saying any of the commenters here are guilty of this, but it will be funny to see the same good ol’ boys who wanted to deport Bonds to Sweden say “OK, fine. Clemens cheated. I don’t care. He’s confronted his demons. What more do you want from the poor guy???”

By: irishmafia

irishmafia — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:25:05 +0000

goose are you defending Mcgwire?
are you defending the steroid era?
maybe the players should acknowledge that they cheated to get ahead and to get bigger salaries. the only reason why McGwire doesnt get bashed that much, is because the STL fans, and they hae a huge fan base, love his crater face. He brought a lot to that city, but he brought negative news to “Americas Favorite Pastime”.Mark McGwire should be hung. He is a disgrace to the irishmafia.

By: TheGoose

TheGoose — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:13:23 +0000

@Magglio

I don’t think the absence of any allegations should or will make those guys even more likely to get in to the HOF.

Voters and the general public should just acknowledge that this was the steroid era, take that into consideration, and adjust their votes/fans perception of greatness accordingly. The rest of the clean guys should be held to the same historical standard. Not Pedro is even greater because he didn’t juice; just that Clemens isn’t AS great.

Re: HOF and fan perception: I think McGwire is a good example. Nobody is taking away his records, nobody is denying how great 1998 was and what it did to the sport, just that the steroid cloud hangs over his head and thus affects his HOF chances and “greatness.”

By: s1rweeze

s1rweeze — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:12:13 +0000

I agree with Fredo. Listening to the players about this is like listening to an NFL coach at a press conference… nothing but empty cliches, tons of promises and strong words that ultimately mean nothing, only once in a while, emotion (or conscious in baseball’s case) takes over and someone finally snaps and says the truth.

By: Plattsmouthbandwagon

Plattsmouthbandwagon — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:11:17 +0000

Why can’t we believe any of these guys? I really want to believe Clemens, but my instinct is to call BS. Why can’t we believe them when they say “I didn’t do this.”

By: BFFredo

BFFredo — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 18:07:06 +0000

Maybe it’s just me, but…I don’t care.

I had stopped believing what 95% of the MLBers were saying and doing years ago. The whole generation is under suspicion and will remain so because their union put an iron curtain in front of the weak-willed owners and commish over testing…which no one wanted as they kept getting richer and richer.

There’s this tinge of nostalgia and “innocence” over baseball that hasn’t been there in over thirty years, but it’s kept alive by old sports writers who refuse to believe that maybe…just maybe…baseball’s just another sport.