Roger Clemens; Queen of Denial

[Frayed Knot]

Via a lawyer:

Roger Clemens vehemently denies allegations in the Mitchell Report that he used performance-enhancing steroids, and is outraged that his name is included in the report based on the uncorroborated allegations of a troubled man threatened with federal criminal prosecution," Hardin said in a release sent to reporters late Thursday afternoon.

"Roger has been repeatedly tested for these substances and he has never tested positive," Hardin continued. "There has never been one shred of tangible evidence that he ever used these substances, and yet he is being slandered today."

Be interesting to see how far he wants to take this.
There was no specific paper trail linking Roger to roids, just the words of the trainer (MacNamee) who followed him from Toronto to New York and, while he never admits to selling him the dope, claims to have both given RC advice to as to which to use and also to administering the stuff; ie, shootin him up.

MLB, meanwhile, claims they are prepared to back anything in the Mitchell report and supposedly Mitchell only took this if there were assurances that HE could not personally be held liable.



My reaction:
OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS, ROGER CLEMENS IN ON GEORGE MITCHELL'S STEROID LIST!!! OF ALL THE MIRACULOUS THINGS I'VE EVER SEEN ...


Also:
I guess taking 'Winstrol' and those other equine injectables meant that Roger took the phrase 'being the workhorse of the pitching staff' a bit too literally.



David Justice is apparently also ready to publicly deny ever using.

[Guest themetfairy]

His balls have shrunk to the extent that he won't even face the press himself to deny the charges.

[metirish]

I suppose now there will be no need to argue over what cap he wears into the HOF, for what this is worth Jon Heyman who has a HOF vote says Clemens is now not a first ballot entry,but like Bonds he probably will vote for him to get in.


My opinion is that Clemens should be treated no different than Bonds as far as the HOF goes.

[Frayed Knot]

Irony is so ironic

Andy Pettitte: Living a Pure Life

[nymr83]

Clemens is full of shit (and steroids.) If he really hasn't done anything lets see him file a libel suit.
question(s): he's alleged to have used in Canada, would a canadian court have jurisdiction of his libel suit? i havent the slightest clue what canadian law says as to jurisdiction.
do canadian libel laws mirror those of the united states or those of england? (who has to prove the truth of the allegations?)

[Frayed Knot]

IF he filed a suit it would be in the U.S. since he's going to be suing MLB for spreading false info about him. That part of the story originated in Canada would have nothing to do with it.
Besides, the trainer followed him to NYC (he was put on the NYY staff via Rajah's request) and continued working with both him and Andy P there.

[Guest cooby]

Kudos to Frayed Knot for this thread title

My friend May at work is a Yankees fan and she will be disappointed to see Pettite's name there; she named her son after him.

When I got to work this morning, she had already emailed me saying "do you think any of your boys will be there today?" and I honestly couldn't think of one Met that I was worried about.

[metirish]

I can't wait to hear what Hank has to say, if the Astros had waited would they have got Tejada for less?

[Willets Point]

cooby wrote: My friend May at work is a Yankees fan and she will be disappointed to see Pettite's name there; she named her son after him.

A child named Rat Faced Boy probably gets made fun of a lot at school.

[Guest cooby]

He does.

Poor kid's a Red Sox fan too

[seawolf17]

I'm stealing OO's Trentonian image from the other thread and posting it here, just because it's that funny.



In fact, this image might just be funnier than John Rocker and the kitten.

[Guest themetfairy]

As much as I love the Trentonian front page, absolutely NOTHING is as funny as Rocker and the kitten -

[Fman99]

I always assumed that it was Jeet that was getting male hormones injected forcefully into his rear end.

[Frayed Knot]

Pettitte fesses up to HGH use.

Now the fun part will be to see if Rajah continues to try to make the case that the trainer McNamee was lying about his 'roid use (as his lawyer claimed immediately) even while the very same source was apparently telling the truth about AP.

[Guest Kid Carsey]

I knew he wouldn't ultimately lie about it when the 'no comment' thing
came out of his camp vs. Clemens' hollow lawyer bullcrap statement.

Kudos to him for saying he did it.

Move on.

Next ....

[metirish]

Jeez Andy is a great guy because he took HGH to get back from injury quickly to help his team, so did a Doctor prescribe it for him?, no I don't think so. Bullshit Andy.

[Guest Kid Carsey]

I didn't say he was a great guy (if you're answering me), I'm applauding
his admitting it and not commenting on what he said in his admission.

[metirish]

Not intended towards you at all , I just think Petitte is full of shit.

[Guest themetfairy]

metirish wrote: Not intended towards you at all , I just think Petitte is full of shit.

Lupica shares your view.

[Guest Kid Carsey]

I ain't clicking on any Lupica link right now, but if there's anyone who's full
of shit it's Roger and not Andy.

[Guest themetfairy]

It's not an either/or kind of thing. They're both full of shit.

[Guest Kid Carsey]

Whatever, have a nice day.

[metirish]

Well I was talking about Andy, but yes Clemens is full of shit too.

[Valadius]

Clemens took it in the butt. That's the big distinction between them, I think.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Pettite:

]"Everything else written or said about me knowingly using illegal drugs is nonsense, wrong and hurtful. I have the utmost respect for baseball and have always tried to live my life in a way that would be honorable. I wasn't looking for an edge; I was looking to heal."

Except being able to heal faster DOES give you an edge, douchebag.

I'm glad he came clean, but I suspect it's because he didn't think denying it would be a winning argument, rather than because it was the "right thing to do." They had the goods on him and he knew it, so he decided to spin his HGH use in the best possible light rather than deny now, and have still more evidence come out against him later.

Roger, on the other hand, has more at stake--namely, the HOF--and his purported use is much greater AND includes steroids.

None of them give a shit about the game, so far as I can tell, and are only looking out for their own self-interest. Which is fine and all, but I wish they'd stop pretending to be altruistic or whatever bullshit they're spinning. At least Bonds is upfront about being selfish.

[Guest Edgy DC]

What would put Clemens in his own group, after his categorical denial (is he the only one?), would be if some corrobaraton surfaced.

Heck, maybe they can find a trail of pills, injections, and erotic steroid-cream rubdowns going back to the day after he failed his Mets audition in Houston in front of Bob Gibson.

You know, in a perfect world.

[Vic Sage]

everybody is a hero in their own story. Or, as Jeff Goldblum says in THE BIG CHILL: "Don't knock rationalization. Its more important than sex. Did you ever try and go a week without a good rationalization?"

As cynical as i am, i'm willing to give Andy the benefit of the doubt in saying that he may truly believe he was "doing it for the team". He seems that sort of fellow to me.

Regardless, HGH is not legally prescribed for healing, so Andy went thru the black market. In so doing, he had to know he was doing something wrong at the time, and he should be held accountable. And quick healing, as Rotty points out, IS a competitive advantage.

So shut up already, Mr. Pettitte.

[Valadius]

I'm disappointed that amphetamines were ignored by the Mitchell Report. Of course, that's due to lack of evidence, but still.

[nymr83]

like everyone else he claims to have "used" the exact number of times that he was caught. i find that hard to believe and he's got no credibility given his previous denials.
come clean for real or don't bother.

[Fman99]

The denial is now official. Highly enjoyable reading.

Clemens fires back, denies taking steroids or HGH
Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Roger Clemens denied allegations by his former trainer that he took performance-enhancing drugs, calling them "a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.''

The accusations against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner from his former trainer, Brian McNamee, were contained in last week's Mitchell report. Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell said McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998 while with the Toronto Blue Jays, and steroids and human growth hormone in 2000 and 2001, while with the New York Yankees.

"I want to state clearly and without qualification: I did not take steroids, human growth hormone or any other banned substances at any time in my baseball career or, in fact, my entire life,'' Clemens said Tuesday in a statement issued through his agent, Randy Hendricks. "Those substances represent a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.

"I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt, but I understand that Senator Mitchell's report has raised many serious questions. I plan to publicly answer all of those questions at the appropriate time in the appropriate way. I only ask that in the meantime people not rush to judgment.''

Another McNamee client, Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, said last weekend that he took HGH twice while rehabbing from an injury in 2002. Mitchell said McNamee told him he injected Pettitte with HGH two-to-four times that year.

Baseball players and owners didn't have an agreement banning steroids until September 2002. They banned HGH in January 2005.