Clemens: Do you believe him?
Jan 7th, 2008 by Bill Burt
I will have more on this subject in Tuesday’s newspaper, but it is worth discussing.
Do you believe Roger Clemens after seeing and especially hearing him on 60 Minutes last night?
Basically, he says it was all lies.
Of course, he fumbled his words when “lie detector” test was brought up by CBS’ Mike Wallace.
Anyway, what do you think? Do you believe Clemens? Do you believe Brian McNamee, probably the most pitoval subject from the Mitchell Report.
Send me your thoughts …
10 reader comments to “Clemens: Do you believe him?”
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1Jim-red sox nation west said:
Hey Bill,
I still dont see why Rogers trainer would have to lie…do you? -
2John Cronin said:
What was to gain by McNamee lying. Petitte said he was correct. Roger is and always will be Roger the dodger. Said his body never changed. He has redwood forest legs for heavens sake. Plain and simple, if Memere didn’t trust him and called him a crybaby, Bill, and stick with Memere!
John -
3Colin said:
I don’t see why McNamee would lie, but Clemens is really going out of his way to strongly deny the accusations. I can’t imagine why he would do that if there were any chance he could be proven wrong, because then he’d look even worse. I’m still suspicious, but for now I’m willing to at least be open to the possibility that Clemens never did steroids or HGH.
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4s1c said:
I think this is going to be a soap opera in which it will be proven that Roidger did take the roids. As Confucious says, “the guilty dog barks loudest”.
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5Marcel said:
“As Confucious says, “the guilty dog barks loudest”.”
This is ridiculous. Thee weeks ago everyone was calling him out for not immediatly suing McNamee and issuing statements proclaiming his innocence. Because of the time that lapsed (while he was doing the itelligent thing and talking to his lawyers to a) see is a defamation case was feasible and b) making sure of what he could say without getting him self in an legal trouble since McNamee is still part of an on-going federal case) eveyone assumed his guilt because only a guilty man would let these accusations stand unanswered. And now that he has answered to the media and filed that suit that everyone was waiting for, everyone still thinks he’s guilty because he’s making such a big deal about it. Seriously, it can’t go both ways. It’s just not possible. At this point most people has made their illinformed judgements and basically nothing can change their minds. It’s really quite sad. -
6Marcel said:
I just want to apologize for the horrific grammar in my previous comment. I was thinking faster than I was typing and didn’t bother to look it over before hitting submit.
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7Marci said:
I’d like to believe he’s innocent, but I don’t see what McNamee gains from lying about it. He clearly felt pressured to tell “the truth.” It wasn’t like they said, “You must give up top tier players or we’ll throw you into prison.” And if it was, well, he did give up top-tier players like Andy Pettite, why throw Roger into the mix if he didn’t have to.
And why say, “I was never injected.” and then turn around and say, “Well, I was injected, and by the person who said I was injected, but not with what he said”? Gee, that’s not the slightest bit disingenuous. How dare I be confused and left questioning after those remarks? It’s totally clear and unambiguous.
I heard part of the press conference yesterday, and I heard Roger’s lawyers take full responsibility for the things that he did or didn’t do in response to the accusations, but it’s hard to believe that his lawyers would have encouraged him to do 60 Minutes, it seemed like more of a Roger wants to thing, and I don’t think it did him any favours.
I agree with comments I’ve heard other people make about soft-ball questions that didn’t force Roger to directly confront what people are saying; for instance, about Andy Pettite. Why would Pettite, also Roger’s friend, say that Roger took HGH when Andy admitted his own use. The answer might have been a copout like “I don’t know.” or a spin like, “Maybe he really thought I was, but he should know better,” but why was the question not asked?
I also understand that with the time-lapse between the interview being taped and the interview being aired, that Roger might well have made up his mind to sue MacNamee for defamation, but does it not strike anyone as suspiciously timed to file opening bell after the interview aired? Why not file on Friday? Oh becuase of the ‘hour long” emotional phone call? Please. And playing the phone call in the press conference. LAME. Who had visions of the lawyers’ runners racing at 7:50 to the courthouse to file before Brian MacNamee’s lawyers could?
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8Jeff said:
This whole story is very sad for roger and for baseball. this Clemens saga is turning into the Pete Rose story and he will keep this for the next 20 years. Instead of telling people that he did it because everyone else was doing it and that he wanted to compete and not retire. Clemens would be a great spokeperson to clear this whole game from the steroids. but no, hes choosing the bonds/palmiero way. From speaking with a lot of people, it is clear that taking steroid is an accepted culture in the pros and that everyone is watching each others back. Guys like Canseco are seen as negatice person because he speaks out about his experience and knowledge but somehow he is just trying to help baseball…
Question: Do you think Mcnamme will go in front of congress and say that he didnt inject illegal substances into Clemens Body?? im am wondering how much power will Clemens have with all his money??? i smell the buyout…
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9pasta diving lugo said:
McNamee sounded like a man in the midst of complete breakdown…what do you want me to do, what do you want me to do? Even allowing for the entrapment attempt this sounds like a guy who could have been pushed by Mitchell (who is a complete prima donna slime dog) to give up the pearl of his report, Clemens.
Without Clemens in the report all Mitchell has is rehashed nothings for 30 million. The pressure to come up with a big name was there. Did you read the report about how Mitchell “hugged” McNamee at the end?
I don’t think we will ever really know and the roger haters have enough juice to last another decade.If this is the heart of the report, what does it say about American justice? Now more parading about in Congress. Henry Waxman, ugh. My sympathy is with Clemens until PROVEN guilty. You need to come up with a supply or traces of the stuff in his body. Until then, shutup. For 30 million I would have provided suppliers and buyers at high schools not a bunch of pious liberal b*llsh*t about protecting our “children.”
Hell why doesn’t the Globe or the Herald find the mass suppliers and buyers in the local college and high schools? Wanna know why? They don’t know how to anymore. When the Metro or Boston Now figures out how to do this, we’ll be able to get rid of these deadwit pundits and their godawful media empires. barack obama plays soccer.
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10bob said:
Clemens is a fraud.. we all knew that…I can’t tell you how happy I am watching him fall deeper and deeper into a hole.. you have seen maybe the greatest pitcher of all time go down as the biggest fraud of all time. I think he has been on roids since his days at Toronto.. just look at his muscles tone when he left the sox…loser
