Clemens, Those Dangerous Eyes, and the Most Overhyped Phone Call in Sports History
Baseball, Courts, Legal, Drugs, Mitchell Report, Video January 8th. 2008, 12:01pm
You could almost see the maniacal “We got him!” glee in Roger Clemens’ eyes as the tape rolled. We listened intently, waiting … waiting … and then it was over. We didn’t need body language experts (three!) to tell us that Clemens was withholding something – as a reader noted, “Why did Clemens never ask the only question that any innocent person would ask: Brian, why did you lie about me?†Even though Buster Olney seemed to waver on his thoughts, we’re still firmly in the “Clemens took it in the butt†camp, but after reading this interview SI had with the trainer, we’re slightly concerned about how he’ll do in court. We can see McNamee getting grilled on the stand: “You repeatedly denied any involvement with steroids for years, why change your tune now?â€
The problem here is that McNamee enjoyed being friends with one of the most famous pitchers in baseball history. He’d do anything to be boys with Rocket again, and you can hear it in his voice. Meanwhile, Rocket’s reading from a script, trying to coax an answer out of the guy. Bastard.
Just for kicks, a reader advised us to check out Juiced, Jose Canseco’s book which was slaughtered when it first came out, but of course, mostly turned out to be true. We looked up Page 211 where Canseco wrote he never saw Roger Clemens use steroids, but also says “trainers would joking calling steroid injections b12 shots.€ You know what else Canseco claimed? “But we’ve talked about what steroids could do for you, in which combinations, and I’ve heard him use the phrase “b12″ shot with respect to others.€ Then the page ends. Page 212 is not available on google books. Anyone have a copy handy?
Was Brian McNamee asking Clemens for Money? (Houston Chronicle)
Roger Clemens’ attitude is not helping matters (Fanhouse)
Trainer sticks to his story (NY Post)
Lastly – someone sent us Jemele Hill’s column, and noted that the 10th and 12th paragraphs are strikingly similar, as if perhaps there was a copy editing miscue.
25 Responses to “Clemens, Those Dangerous Eyes, and the Most Overhyped Phone Call in Sports History”
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January 8th, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Glad to see you came to a settlement with Clemens lawyers
January 8th, 2008 at 12:04 PM
Roger is fucked. Couldn’t happen to a better guy.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:06 PM
Wake me up when it can be proved that he did or didn’t do it. The rest of this is just bullshit posturing. And shame on ESPN for letting this non-news story share the spotlight with the national championship. It reminds me of the times during the season where ESPN’s top story was “Roger Clemens still hasn’t made a decision to come out of retirement.” If nothing new has happened, it’s not news. Period.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:09 PM
The only time Clemens was anywhere near emotional on the tape was when McNamee was telling him how he told Jim Murray from the Hendricks Bros. office about Radomski and Clemens said he did not know about it and how come he didn’t tell him personally…he yelled about doing ab work a foot in front of him. To me, it shows that McNamee wasn’t honest with Clemens about his steroid involvement. I think Clemens got his own steroids and most likely didn’t know Radomski. It was almost like he was more pissed about the one base he didn’t cover in his steroid use was that. Clemens is almost meticulous in covering himself and probably didn’t expect McNamee to go out and do things on his own.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:12 PM
jgp3553- Thank god some one calls out this charade! “Posturing,” is exactly what Clemens and MLB are doing.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:14 PM
no shit, that’s been obvious for awhile.
selig is a punk, i blame him for all of this.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:15 PM
two things:
I believe that McNamee has been given immunity from charges in connection to this, so long as prosecutors believe he is telling the truth. He has zero incentive to lie.
I don’t think it will answer any questions, but why has no one asked Pettite about Clemens and steroids. They’re close freinds, work-out partners, employed McNamee. Since he admitted taking HGH (like McNamee said), he could probably shed light on what knowledge McNamee would have of Clemens steroid use.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
right, but didn’t pettitte claim that his HGH use was under doctor’s supervision? am i way off here?
eventually this has to be sorted out, and whoever is lying is going to be up shit’s creek.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:23 PM
What about the other 58 names in the Mitchell Report? Sure would be sweet to be those guys.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
My fourth grade MILF of a teacher Ms. Stewart would put this story best:
Roger, you’re such a phoney baloney.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:25 PM
It’s all a show from the Clemens camp, especially since they are unwilling to release tapes the Private Investigators have when they interviewed McNamee last week. It sounds like both people were recording this conversation without the other’s knowledge and was trying to get them to say something incriminating.
I read and heard the most interesting line that no reporter is talking about, “The Truth is the Truth”. McNamee saying that and Roger ignoring it is more interesting and compelling than how many times McNamee asked what he should do.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:27 PM
@jgp3553
Yeah! This totally invented for the good of sponsorship pretend national championship game is way more important.
For the life of me, I can’t figure what incentive McNamee has to lie. Though I think Clemens’ lawyers see a guy who is unstable (McNamee, not Clemens), and intend to go for the throat. It’s not going to prove anything. And I think most people will still believe he used. The collateral damage of this case, and what it would say about the Mitchell Report, not to mention the Federal investigation… now that’s interesting.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
Whine about the BCS all you want. At least something newsworthy happened in that game.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:29 PM
i wish a reporter would have asked Clemens if it’s possible McNamee substitued steriods for the B12 and Lidocane shots. Then follow up by asking him if he feels it’s not his responsibility to know what goes into his body.
also, he dodged the question about defining a cheater, but in his rant at the end, used cheater to define a steroid user.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Clemens is going the George Constanza way of lying; “Its not a lie, if you believe it”
January 8th, 2008 at 12:49 PM
McNamee has already lied. Not defending Clemens but I just dont see how or why McNamee has so much credibility.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:50 PM
clemens so watches melrose place.
i just read jemele hill’s thing on espn. man, she’s brutal. i love her argument of, “if clemens didn’t use curse words when talkin gto mcnamee, he must be guilty.” ugh.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:56 PM
The worst part is that McNamee texted Roger to have him call his son who is pretty sick. And Roger spins this into trying to bait McNamee. This is all guesswork, but from the tape it really sounds like McNamee is a guy who still sees Roger as a buddy but know that Roger won’t ever let his reputation be damaged. That’s why McNamee never really reacts when Roger says, “Tell the truth, Mac.” He knows that Roger wants him to take the fall, but McNamee has a family and is so far into this that he can’t change his story without losing his immunity or deals and that would put him in jail for a long time.
But the best logic of it all is why would McNamee lie about Roger and not Pettitte and how can a power pitcher get more powerful into his forties?
January 8th, 2008 at 1:00 PM
The credibility of McNamee comes with the fact he was asked to give a truthful statement by the feds regarding his involvement in the distribution of steroids. By doing so, he was given leniency or immunity from certain charges. However, if he lied and was found out, he’d be thrown in jail.
It’s not so much that he’s an upstanding member of the community, but he has been given no incentive to lie, only to tell the truth.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:24 PM
Regarding McNamee’s incentive to lie, at least the way I’ve heard the Clemens camp explain it, is that McNamee was pressured to give up Clemens by the feds, namely the Novitzky fellow from the Bonds case. The Clemens camp’s explanation is that McNamee didn’t have anything on Clemens for the feds, but the feds said that he didn’t get a deal unless he gave up Clemens, with “give up” meaning “invent something”. Obviously we have no idea how true or false this is, but it’s somewhat plausible to think that McNamee panics that he’s going to jail so under pressure he falsely claims that Clemens did steroids, in order for McNamee to satisfy the feds. Regardless, this whole thing has just gotten ridiculous. Doesn’t Congress and the FBI have more important matters?
January 8th, 2008 at 1:30 PM
ESPN radio needs to provide more coverage of the Clemens story.
Yikes.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:32 PM
if you have XM, listen to channel 175, at least they are impartial and even tempered about the Clemens saga. they were this morning anyway.
January 8th, 2008 at 1:34 PM
if the Feds did that, his testimony, or affidavit, or whatever he signed, can be, and most likely will be, thrown out (i think).
January 8th, 2008 at 4:01 PM
so your telling me congress has nothin better to do than chase down a bunch of steroid bloated baseball players? ….really? i bet american gladiators is next…and how come no one goes after the nfl . you have guys 6′4″ 250 who run a 4.6 40 and have 30 inch waist lines…if you go after one sport go after them all.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:22 PM
Pretty much. I really wish they’d spend more time focusing on our fiat monetary system and the wars we’re fighting. Instead, they’d rather print money and set up shop in Iraq for the next century while focusing their efforts on looking pretty while grilling baseball players so they can win re-election.