Breaking the back of steroids

For those of you who live in a cave, but, oddly, have an internet connection that allows you to view this blog exclusively, earlier this week surefire Hall of Famer Roger Clemens appeared before a Congressional hearing investigating the Mitchell Report and his claims that he did not, in fact, use Human Growth Hormones or any other banned substances.

I think we can now call him simply "Roger Clemens" and drop the "surefire Hall of Famer" bit.

Mr. Clemens, as the Congressmen who were questioning him called him, has made himself look very very bad. So bad that I think he's done playing baseball and has hurt his chances at entering the Hall of Fame.

His former trainer, Brian McNamee, was the main source of the controversial Mitchell Report's list of steroid users. Of those accused in the Report, most admitted that they had, indeed, used steroids, HGH, or other performance enhancing drugs. Although many relied on the "I only tried it once" line of defense, practically everyone acknowledged that yes, they took drugs.

Andy Pettitte was one such player who owned up (manned up?) and admitted to his steroid use. So did Chuck Knoblauch. Both men have much in common. Both were former teammates of Roger Clemens. Both testified against him in sworn affadavits last Wednesday.

As Tom Verducci said shortly after Wednesday's hearing: "Two months later and even after nearly five hours of testimony Wednesday in front of Congress, the issue of whether or not Roger Clemens used steroids is left in a suspended state of dilemma: it's Clemens' word vs. Brian McNamee's word. Still."

I agree, by and large. But there is growing circumstantial evidence building against Clemens. McNamee was right in over fifty other cases. Two of the men who have admitted to steroid use have also backed up McNamee. This isn't hard evidence, but there's no evidence to support Clemens' claim of innocence.

I'll say this. I do think that Major League Baseball and its comissioner Bud Selig have turned a corner: I think they're now ready to really start laying some heavy lumber on the issue of steroids in baseball, and I think that starting with the 2008 season they'll be able to start re-building the public's trust.

Weekend Wrap-Up: 2008-01-07

For sports fans everywhere, this was a great weekend. The IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship wrapped up with a Canadian gold for the fourth time in as many years. The National Football League's playoffs kicked off. The National Lacrosse League's regular season began. Perhaps most importantly, the ramifications of the Mitchell Report continued to be felt as Roger Clemens was besieged with mainstream press coverage demanding answers.

I'll touch on all these topics, but I need to talk about my road-trip to Pittsburgh, since it was so very sports-centric.



Pittsburgh is undoubtedly a sports town. In every window was a flag, a sticker, something supporting the Steelers, the UPitt Panthers, or the Penguins. Everywhere I went, someone had something to say about one of their teams, or about sports in general. People weren't just willing to talk about sports either. They were willing to listen as well. I had great conversations about the difference between the Pittsburgh market and the Toronto market, as well as different styles of play. I met one guy who loathed Vincent Lecavalier with a fiery passion. It was fantastic.

The thing that struck me most about Pittsburgh was just how different a market it was compared to my hometown Toronto. With the Steelers hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars for a play-off game, there was a strong football focus. But that focus wasn't just because of the playoffs. Pittsburgh loves its football, whether it be college or NFL. In my quest to catch the World Junior semi-finals, my friends and I went to six different bars, and only after we found the Prumanti Bros. in Southside could we find anywhere that carried the NHL Network.

This is what worries me. The good people of Pittsburgh love sports. It's a blue-collar town that will support any team bearing its colours. It's in the northern United States and there were hockey rinks everywhere. But no one had heard of the World Junior Hockey Championships. Worse yet, most bars were not carrying the NHL Network. This is a problem.

Most Canadians and true hockey fans talk about how lethal Gary Bettman's Sun Belt Expansion has been for the NHL. But for the NHL Network to be a non-entity in an ideal location like Pittsburgh? That means the NHL is in bigger trouble then we thought. After all, the Penguins have NHL poster boy Sidney Crosby and top picks Marc-Andre Fleury, Evengi Malkin and Jordan Staal. This should be the hottest NHL market in all the land. But it's not.

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Anyway, here are some of my point form thoughts from this weekend:

- Darcy Tucker and Jarkko Ruutu had a hell of a tilt on Thursday night at Mellon Arena. The crowd went absolutely wild for the fight, and IO have to admit I was pretty happy that the refs let the fight last as long as it did. I didn't see Tucker after the fight, but Ruutu is an absolute mess right now. It was maybe a draw, or maybe a win of Ruutu. I love Tucker, but I also think age is catching up with his hard style of play and I've got a sneaking suspicion he is playing hurt.


- Roger Clemens should re-consider his current claims of innocence in relation to the Mitchell Report. There's an awful lot of evidence piling up against him, and in this current baseball climate your word is no longer good enough. If you're clean, only the hardest of evidence is going to be enough to keep your name clear. Unfortunately, baseball fans have become so jaded and cynical that you're now guilty until proven innocent.

- Mark the time: The Toronto Maple Leafs are not going to make the playoffs.

- I love the Pittsburgh Steelers' style of play. Smash-mouth football with a focus on running and defense. I was sorry to see them get knocked out of the playoffs so quickly, since I thought they had a good shot at knocking off the dreaded New England Patriots. Wait a second. The Jacksonville Jaguars have a strong running game and solid defense.


- The National Lacrosse League kicked off its season this weekend with the Colorado Mammoth taking out the Calgary Roughnecks 10-9, and the Toronto Rock in Chicago taking out the Shamrox 11-9. It's a great relief to me to have the NLL back after the very real threat of a lost season. I'm also pleased to see my Toronto Rock winning their opening game, even if it is against the expansion Shamrox. You've got to start somewhere.

And Major League Baseball reaches a new low...

No, not just the Mitchell Report.

Pete Rose using the Mitchell Report as leverage to get into the Hall of Fame. That is an all time low.

It's bad enough that Andy Peittite, Miguel Tejada and surefire Hall of Famer Roger Clemens have either admitted to or been accused of taking steroids and/or Human Growth Hormones. We now have Charlie Hustle himself weighing in on the subject.

In an interview with Dennis Miller on the VERSUS network, Rose said:

"I've been suspended 18 years for betting on my own team to win," then he added "I was wrong ... but these guys today, if the allegations are true, they're making a mockery of the game."

I'm pretty sure that Pete Rose criticizing anyone, anywhere, for anything having to do with baseball should be dismissed out of hand. After all, when these guys supposedly took steroids, there were no rules against the use of performance enhancing drugs. When Rose bet on baseball, he was breaking a rule that had been in place since 1919. He has no right to cry foul.

But it gets better! He also complains about these players making a mockery of baseball. This from a man who has repeatedly dressed up as a chicken for World Wrestling Entertainment events, and been chased from the ring by a giant. Don't believe me? Check it out on YouTube and the WWE's own website.

So why is Pete speaking up now? "If you're going to put these guys that supposedly did steroids into the Hall of Fame, I mean I've got to get a shot somewhere," Ah. There you go. Self-promotion. Good job Mr. Rose.

Although Rose and his 4,256 hits have their place in history, more then just about anyone else, Pete Rose deserves to be kept out of the Hall of Fame.

The very best part is that when Miller asked Rose how the steroids would have affected his career hits record, he replied:

"I would have got 5,000 hits,"

To be absolutely clear on this:

Pete Rose (who definitely committed a cardinal sin) wants to be let into the Hall of Fame because people who did not break the rules might get in. He (the guy who dressed up as a chicken and acted like an oaf for Vince MacMahon) feels they made a mockery of the game. But if there were steroids available to him, he would have done the same thing.

Ladies and gentlemen: Pete Rose. Class act.