The Rocket- Innocent Man?

  By Gary Armida

“And that’s our country, isn’t it? Guilty before innocent, that’s the way our country works now.”

Perhaps that was the most troubling statement that came out of the much ballyhooed Roger Clemens-Mike Wallace interview. The interview has spurned quite a bit of “he’s guilty” from writers, talk show hosts, and fans. It is somewhat humorous that people can get so into every single word he said and every single facial movement he made. Talk Show hosts have screamed all day (don’t you love it when they do that? As if that makes for good radio!) that Clemens did not say the right things, his eyes went to the floor when answering questions, and the now infamous, he drank too much water. For the past few days, the entire sports world has turned into amateur psychologists. As stated many times here at FCP, all players should be given a chance to prove their innocence. As a society, we have gone too far in the rush of judgment because “these players” have always let us down. One thing is for sure, Roger Clemens is launching a full attack to preserve his image. Previously, an FCP feature discussed how Clemens has gone on the attack, but now he is going that step further that we previously mentioned.

The Mike Wallace interview is being widely criticized as a soft conversation. Many people will point to the fact that Wallace did not press Clemens on any issue. It is almost as if people want Clemens to be guilty. There are some instances where Wallace could have gone further. When Andy Pettitte was brought up Clemens said that his situation is separate. Wallace should have gone to the next question of if they work out together every day, follow eachother from New York to Houston and back to New York, and take vacations together, how could he not know? But, last night was not about Andy Pettitte. The world took judgment on Clemens’ body language, his pauses in speech, and his eye contact. Mostly, the world simply held on to one revelation.

The side that believes Brian McNamee will hold onto the most important revelation to come out which was that Clemens now admits to McNamee injecting him. This is in stark contrast to his previous denial of never having anything injected in him. A few issues arise here. One, if you are a multi-million dollar athlete, why would you let a personal trainer inject lidocaine or B-12 into you? A doctor is more than affordable and probably much more capable of doing these tasks. It is quite dubious that a player who has always been so publicly concerned about his body, and seemingly so in tune with it, would allow a less than qualified person inject him with anything. Sadly, this is same type of excuse that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield gave. They are crucified in the media for it, why should Clemens be any different at this point? The world wondered whether this was the precursor to the “I didn’t knowingly take steroids” defense that has become so popular.

Today’s sports-talk radio was flooded with the aforementioned screaming hosts blasting Clemens. One particularly loud host, Stephen A. Smith, had a doctor on to discuss the substances Clemens admitted to having injected. According to the doctor, lidocaine is not a drug that is used often. Yes, it is for the joints and has a function of a muscle relaxer, but it is not something used on a consistent basis. It is a local drug used for specific areas, never really injected into the buttocks. Additionally, B-12, while having some health benefits, is not really prescribed to promote healing. It is usually used for someone who has a B-12 deficiency. The doctor also stated that B-12 is actually a masking agent to hide steroids if taken in large enough dosages. That’s not meant as an indictment of Clemens; it is meant to just pass along another fact regarding B-12. To be fair, a tremendous amount of athletes take B-12 as a way to stay healthy. Additionally, many athletes use lidocaine to numb pain. It was reported that Brett Favre, the legendary Green Bay Packers quarterback and FCP favorite, had a dose of lidocaine to play through his separated shoulder. It seems that the doctor is a bit narrow-minded when it comes to athletes and pain killers.

What the public didn’t know during the interview was that Clemens had filed a lawsuit against McNamee. Now, this is exactly what people have said they wanted an athlete to do. You always hear, “If that was me and I was innocent, I would sue.” Clemens is suing. So, there’s the contradiction. With the mainstream media and majority of the public saying that he looks guilty and says questionable things, he is still fighting like it’s game seven of the World Series. It is hard to fathom someone lying yet embarking on what many experts say will be an ugly court battle.

Monday, The Rocket held a press conference, as he promised. In a surprise move, he came armed with a taped phone conversation with Brian McNamee that they had last Friday. Obviously, his legal team would not have let that out if it did not help Clemens. While most analysts state that the tape doesn’t really help Clemens’ cause, it certainly does help shed light onto the character of Mr. McNamee. McNamee seems like a broken man in the conversation constantly asking Clemens, “What do you want me to do?” Clemens states during the conversation multiple times that he did not do steroids. McNamee does not say that Clemens did do steroids at any point during the conversation. Detractors are pointing to the fact that Clemens didn’t respond to McNamee’s question. Well, lawyers have stated that it cannot look like Clemens is forcing McNamee to change his story. If Clemens responded with “Tell them I didn’t do it”, it would be detrimental to his case. Clemens does tell him, more than once, to tell the truth. The tape is a huge piece of evidence for Clemens. It shows the instability of McNamee. It shows that McNamee is reaching out to Clemens, almost seeking forgiveness. Perhaps he really is looking to avoid jail-time. It shows that Clemens is strong with McNamee, not sounding like a guilty man trying to cover himself. Potential jury members will have this conversation in the back of their minds when hearing testimony.

So, Clemens attacked again. Now what? Congress awaits him next Tuesday. Yes, he is going to Congress despite the public thinking that the lawsuit was an excuse not to go to Congress. The Congressional hearing may be the biggest event for Clemens. His story must be consistent. He cannot alter what he has told the public this far. Andy Pettitte is also a key for Clemens as well. If Pettitte has no additional knowledge, it looks better for Clemens. Perhaps McNamee will alter his story before the committee. If those things happen, Clemens could regain much of his reputation.

“How do you prove a negative?” This is another excellent question by the Rocket. In this day, most people are guilty until proven innocent (which is the opposite of the ideal). How can Clemens prove he didn’t do it. It’s not like there will be a paper trail stating that he didn’t do it. If he truly didn’t do it, there are zero records. So far, there has been no documentation of any wrong doing. Clemens wondered how much will be enough to restore his image. The answer is, probably, nothing will be enough to change the perception. Sadly, Clemens is already convicted.

It is a sad commentary of the mainstream media that there are editorials proclaiming Clemens’ guilt. But, unlike Barry Bonds, there is no paper trail. It is not as if the media has never been wrong before. The Duke Lacrosse team probably would’ve liked the benefit of the doubt. Everyone rushed to pronounce them guilty only to realize that the chief witness did, in fact, lie. The purpose of the media is to report, analyze, and discuss the news. It is not to speculate or sensationalize. Columnists made the same mistake with the Duke players. Once their innocence was proven, the same writers wrote about the corruption of the government. Where was their culpability? History may be repeating itself.

Clemens stormed out of his press conference on Monday, just like he stormed off a pitchers mound for his 24 year career. He seems angry, disheartened, and determined to clear his name. He hurts for his family, in particular his son Kolbe who is a player in the Astros system. Perhaps the Congressional hearing will yield more answers or give new questions to ponder. Either way, FCP will do what should be done. We’ll wait until there is news to discuss, not make something up.  

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