I think part of the reason we obsess over PEDs in baseball is because of the home run record. For whatever reason (Babe Ruth), we love that record and as thrilling as it is to see it challenged, we don’t actually want anyone to break it. There was controversy enough in the ’61 when Marris broke it, and he was perfectly clean then. Then players have the nerve to break the record twice in a few years span … of course we go crazy over it and we sink to any means necessary to explain it away. And since we’ve already obsessed over steroids with our sluggers, its only natural to carry over that obsession to the pitchers too.

Interesting that body language experts are apparently only right about “half of the time”… which would imply the profession is essentially useless!

This is great.

I just got out of planning meeting for our show this weekend, and we are going to be talking about Clemens as well. What I think is interesting is why do we care so much about this? Seriously? Nobody cared that drugs made the Beatles or Hendrix or Grateful Dead or Dave Matthews Band who they were (I am not even arguing it makes them better per se). So why do we seem to have an issue if athletes use drugs to make them stronger (i.e. better “artists”).

2. Clemens NEVER asks McNamee to come to the press conference to clear the air. Doesn’t even float the idea. Instead, he falls back on the “I’m feeling pretty bad” stuff.

3. Clemens only asks McNamee “Why did you do it?” That question, every time he says it, sounds like “Why did you tell?”

When I put myself in Clemens’ shoes (not that my scrawny butt would fit in them, I was an outfielder)…my lawyers have said I can talk to the guy AND their going to record it…I would think my first question would be worded somewhat like, “Why did you lie and tell them I did HGH when I didn’t?” Yet, Clemens doesn’t even come close to asking that. It is pretty obvious that McNamee has a tremendous amount of affection and respect for Clemens and it sounded like he wanted to help him. But Clemens never goes that far and it seems deliberate.

It kind of stinks.

They say that the best defense to defamation is the truth; if McNamee has proof, he’ll either cough it up, or lose the suit.

Unless there is a settlement, we’ll find out through transcripts just how far that particular hole goes.

Which is a pretty bad way to prove or disprove guilt or innocence. Usually the burden of proof is on the accuser… but when these things play out in public, instead of through due process, it gets turned around. Clemens is now in the unenviable position of having to prove that he *didn’t* use steroids. Which, how would you do that exactly?

Anyway, I think Jose has Tourette Syndrome. He’s always been “twitchy.” I say let them do all they steroids they want. I’m looking forward to seeing someone take a home-run swing and his arms land at 2nd base. Wouldn’t that be cool?!

If you do some googling, you find all sorts of shenanigans with Selig, Mitchell and the Red Sox when the team was sold to the current owners. You will also find that the sainted Mitchell (who constantly tells us we can trust him because he brokered peace in N. Ireland) is now a lobbyist for Big Tobacco and companies that exploit child labor. That, along with the fact that he is a Sox employee completely destroys his credibility IMO, because anyone who would accept a job with such clear conflict of interest has no integrity.

The real issue here is not Clemens (who is being is being tried in the public square on very flimsy evidence), or the trainers that turned over and talked, but Selig wanting to break the players’ union and how he used this costly investigation as a lever to do it–all the while avoiding tarnishing his own reputation.

It’s absolutely no accident that none of the most current championship teams have any key players in this report. This whole thing is a bag job of the first order.