Several sportscasters have chimed in on comments of Curt Schilling and most of them come to bury him. I come to praise him. Schilling has valid points and should be heard regardless of his verbosity.
Let us take a look at Marion Jones. Lady MJ offered to return her medals. She did and someday her career will be rehabilitated to some degree. Still, not only does the Olympic folks strip cheaters of their medals and records, they also want the medals back from teammates in events such as the relays.
Cycling and the Tour De France stripped Floyd Landis. And, they certainly wanted to do the same for our man Lance.
College football wants to strip Reggie Bush of his Heisman and take away the National Championship of USC in which he was a major factor. It’s not like they haven’t done it before … How is this situation different from MLB and Clemens? It may have been Reggie’s parents who cheated. Still, it is he and USC who will suffer … not to mention his teammates.
So then, to suggest that Clemens be stripped of his many awards is not without merit. Or, is MLB somehow better than the Olympics and other sports?
An LA Times article compares Clemens to Pete Rose, saying that “we didn’t take anything away “ from him when he was banned. So how can we consider taking awards and records away from the Rocket? Well the comparison is faulty. Peter Rose broke MLB rules as a manager not as a player. I am one who believes Charlie Hustle should have been let in the hall as a player. But, in his case there is just too much dark water under the bridge now.
Clemens is every bit the steroid monster that Barry Bonds is and neither one of them deserves to be in the hall or to keep their records after using the juice. Many sportswriters have already said they will not vote Clemens into the hall unless he brings something substantial to the table in response to the Mitchell Report.
Now, if his steroid use keeps him out of the hall of fame, how or why does he get to keep his Cy Young Awards after the fact? Does MLB know something the Olympics does not?
In high school and college I led my teams as a middle line backer, running back, and point guard. Now, I'm known for my poetry and other arts. Still like to talk sports on any level.