BASEBALL DRUG HEARINGS

Major League Baseball pitching star Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, continue to contradict one another on Clemens’ alleged use of steroids and human growth hormones, generally known as performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens adamantly denied such use in front of Congress Wednesday while McNamee affirmed that he personally injected Clemens with the drugs.
One of them is obviously lying so take your pick. Which one do you believe?
There could be false testimony in both of their statements. There is perjury here and there will be severe punishment with a possible jail term when the case is closed.
I believe Clemens did use some of the drugs, but perhaps not as many or as often as McNamee alleges. Clemens says it was Lidocaine or B-12, which McNamee denies. B-12 would also seem to be a vitamin with considerably less effects than some of the other drugs.
However, McNamee should have come forward sooner. He kept the syringes from 2001 until now to make his own case. He says the DNA and chemical analysis will show he is telling the truth.
But why did McNamee wait seven years to come forward? And what could have happened to the equipment since that time?
Other players like former New York Yankees teammates Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch say McNamee is telling the truth. So Clemens seems to be the odd man out in that case.
Major League Baseball is still to take some blame for all of this for not policing drug usage years ago. Officials looked the other way when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were belting all those long home runs that helped bring baseball’s popularity back.
Now it seems like giants of the game like Barry Bonds and Clemens have been caught with the goods in the act.
All of the records and statistics are now tainted, not to mention whether to induct these people into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. If and when they are found guilty, I don’t think they belong in the Hall of Fame.

Posted by
Barry Sankey