TOJ

So is Roger Clemens guilty and, if so, of what? Is Clemens a national seurity threat? Why is there Congressional hearing on it?

Dragonfly

As best I can tell, yes, he's guilty.

But who cares? I'd bet at least 25% or more of pro athletes are guilty of using illegal substances.

But the fans don't care so why should anyone else.


As for why the government is involved? As best I can tell it's "for the kids".

If Junior sees Clemens is juicing, Junior will want to juice too.

That's about it. I don't care because I don't care about baseball in the slightest.

rhinefire

Bush will pardon Clemens so guilt and legality don't matter. Friends do.

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RightinNYC

Definitely guilty, as is probably at least 1/3 of baseball. It's idiotic for congress to waste their time on. MLB should just stop being such ****ing pussies and say "we're imposing these new strict testing procedures and if the players union doesn't like it, they can strike and explain to their kids that they wont play baseball because they want to keep using roids."

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TOJ

If he is guilty, shouldn't the teams he played for forfeit the games he pitched? Those teams are also guilty of cheating.

Tashah

Either Clemens or his trainer has perjured himself under oath, and one of them will almost certainly wind up playing stickball in a federal penitentiary.

The notion that fans just don't care is a broad generalization. I love baseball, and I do care. Unless the competitive field is level for everyone, the whole game is redacted to a shell game and a pointless sham.

I also agree that more important issues bedevil Congress. But it's an issue that is a cinch (pun intended) to garner precious face-time for our righteous (insert laugh track) legislators. It may very well be that constantly wallowing in the media mud will spur MLB and the player's union to cut the crap and unambiguously outlaw any form of performance enhancing pharmaceuticals.

I think that if a team knew that a player on their roster was cheating, some form of penalty should be levied. Perhaps those teams should be severely fined with the proceeds dedicated to financing all facets of a new MLB drug-use clause. Hit them where it hurts the worst, in their ledger book.

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RightinNYC

Should the A's, Rangers, Jays, Rays, White Sox, Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, Expos, and Dodgers all forfeit every game that Canseco played in for them? I don't think it's logistically possible, and given the prevalence of steroids, I'd be surprised if there's many games played in the past decade where nobody on either team was using.

TOJ

Ya think so? It appears to be a he said-he said kind of thing. IMO, the physical evidence I've heard about would be pretty shaky.

I doubt they would ever impose a fine high enough to make a difference. The value of winning is too high.

TOJ

I thought we were talking about Clemens, but if Canseco similarly cheated, I would think the same thing applies.


I had not heard that every team had this kind of cheaters and didn't think the Mitchell Report went near that far.

RightinNYC

There are approximately 100 players who have already admitted to or been implicated in using HGH or other steroids. All 30 teams had at least 4 people named. After random testing in 2003, 5-7% of players tested positive for roids that could be detected (which certainly underestimates the numbers because of HGH's undetectability).

I think that if we ever know the whole truth, there would be a lot of 0-162 seasons over the past 10 years. (And for that matter, back to the 1900's).