Regardless of the outcome of ongoing perjury trial, Roger Clemens has already lost. He has lost his Hall of Fame candidacy, he has lost his prestige, and, most importantly, especially to him, he has lost his legacy. It doesn’t matter if the The Rocket took HGH in the winter between the 1999-2000 seasons; it doesn’t matter if, as the government contends, he lied about it under oath in front of Congress in 2008. None of that is important because the results of the Court of Public Opinion are in and that is punishment enough.
Everything started with the release of the Mitchell Report. That document named Roger Clemens as one of the 180 or so Major Leaguers with solid evidence indicated of taking illegal performance enhancing drugs. In the aftermath of that report, some players, like Jason Giambi and Andy Pettite admitted wrongdoing. They were chastised and booed and that information is now on their public “permanent record,” but, more or less, the issue is in the past for those guys. Rocket, on the other hand, steadfastly denied taking the drugs, even in the face of ever mounting evidence. Now, Clemens wasn’t called in the original Mitchell Report Congressional hearing (you know, the infamous Sammy-Doesn’t-Speak-English, Rafi-Never-Did-Steroids-Period hearings) but over a year later,the now retired righty asked to speak in front of Congress in an effort to help his useless crusade to clear his name. It was in this testimony that Clemens, a 354 game winner, is accused of lying. Lying to Congress, under oath, is a very serious crime punishable by very serious jail time. That part is where we are now.
There are varying opinions about whether or not the government should be pursuing this case. Some believe that it is a waste of time and money. Others think its necessary to enforce the law to its fullest in every case. I agree with both camps, to an extent. I think that it is very important for the government to enforce perjury laws. Everyone needs to know that lying to Congress is unacceptable. Even if your a celebrity, an athlete, or an otherwise good guy (debatable in Clemens’ case). That said, I think the government proved its point with the first Clemens trial. A few months ago, Clemens went to trial but a mistrial was declared just a couple of days in. That should have been the end of it. The government proved its point. This is just a waste, Clemens is already serving his punishment.
At this point, Roger Clemens is fighting for his freedom, I can empathize with that and he should be able to do it with whatever amount of zeal is necessary. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is a pathetic man unable to accept that he did something wrong. For all his life, he has been treated specially because of his skill and talent. Not any more. His entire career, the thing he cared about most was his legacy. When the Mitchell Report came out, he could see that this special legacy was in jeopardy. What he didn’t understand was that people forgive and forget but when you act like an ass and treat the public like idiots by denying things everyone knows you did, you make people angry. Clemens did infinitely more harm to his precious legacy by denying his HGH use than just admitting it and moving on.
-Max Frankel
