Of coarse, that is the question! It has happened so many times recently that someone gets on T.V. and adamantly denied something. It has also been the exact opposite every time! Someone goes on T.V. and points their finger, screams, or cries and it turns out to be a complete fallacy.

So when Roger Clemens goes on 60 Minutes and says he didn’t inject steroids or HGH, I think he did. No one has any credibility or "an inch or respect" (Roger Clemens) because all the credibility was used up by prior allegations on American Icons that got on many cameras and lied right to our T.V. screen.

I remember where I was when President Bill Clinton came into that press conference and started it off by saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman Miss Lewinsky" as he tapped his pointing hand on the press table. Well we all know what happened there. He did have sexual relations with that woman Miss Lewinsky! If you do not believe #### sex is a sexual relation than ask your wife/girlfriend or both if she would care if you got #### sex from someone else. Or better yet. Would you care if she gave #### sex because it isn’t a sexual relation?

I don’t remember where I was when Marion Jones said she had not violated and anti-doping rules. "They" have been after her for so many years that when they finally figured out that she really had, I didn’t care anymore. However, she was stripped of all medals years later. Many say the price of success is paid in advance. But in Jones’ case her past took her to the top and dropped her right back off.

Barry Bonds said for so many years that he didn’t do steroids. People would always say "look at his head". It is huge! That is from steroids! Actually that is not from steroids. That is what happens as you get older. My head has grown almost ½ inch since my first fitted Tigers hat back in 1991. Look around you. Older people have bigger heads. Look at T.V. star George Lopez. He says it all the time that he has a really big head and he does. It is also why you occasionally see much older people that have oversized facial features.

Barry Bonds always said he had just taken flack seed oil "the cream" "the clear" I don’t know. He has a Federal Grand Jury indictment against him for perjury on this and Tiger outfielder Gary Sheffield said that he and Bonds had shot steroids into their butts. As it turns out he is just another person lying to all of our faces.

Michael Vick is sitting in prison right now over dogfighting after he had to tell the truth. Too bad he didn’t start with it. He may not have a suspension when he gets out of prison. He may have even garnered a much shorter sentence.

Now Roger Clemens says he only injected B-12 and lidocaine I don’t believe him. I also took a one week coarse on Neurolinguistic programming about ten years ago. Neurolinguistic programming is the study of the neurological processes underlying the development and use of language. Or how to tell if people are telling the truth, lying, or just making stuff up.

He does so much reflecting the blame on other people to start off. He is aggressive as well which says to me that he can’t be caught so don’t even try. Then he releases this weird cell phone conversation he just had with Brian McNamee? McNamee, questioned by federal prosecutors, told them last year he injected Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Prosecutors had him repeat those charges to Mitchell. Since the report was issued, Clemens has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations.Also invovled in this was Andy Pettitte. He has admitted McNamee injected him twice with HGH. Pettitte coming clean has really had no heat at all from this.

So the question is To Believe or Not to Believe. I do not believe Roger Clemens. I really don’t care that he did it. After all he was pitching to hitters that were juicing as well. In fact players at all positions and ages were doing it.

Roger Clemens is still a first ballot Hall of Fame player based on his career, including 1998, 2000, and 2001. He has been dominant his entire career and is one of the few 300 game winners all-time. He has six 20 + winning seasons along with a span from 1997 to 2005 with 13 or more wins. His best season was way back in 1986. His first breakout season. It was his third year in the league. The Rocket was 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA. He also had 238 strikeouts that year as well.

The trade deadline had it all yesterday.  Players were dealt, prospects and draft picks as well.  It is never fair to really say who winners and losers are for sometimes five to seven years.  Especially with as many draft picks and prospects were dealt yesterday.  The moves that were made are all to help organizations (canadian translation organ-eye-zation) wins the Stanley Cup this year or in ten years.

One team did what they have a history for and they are my first loser of the pack.  I left Nashville of the list of winners because they didn't add anyone after Foresberg.  Peter Foresberg has not played like the Peter Foresberg of Colorada since he was in Colorado.  The Predators are a fast team that didn't seem to prepare for  a marathon as the Detroit Red Wings have now tied the for the second best overall record in the NHL, just one point behind Eastern Conference leading Buffalo.


First winner is  the New York Islanders.  They get a franchise player in Ryan Smyth from Edmonton. but give up essentially three first round picks to get him.  The trick now is to sign him to a long term deal like Edmonton would not.  If they cannot convice Ryan to stay, they will have problems.

The second winner is San Jose.  They traded for Bill Guerin.  He may actually be the best overall forward right now in the NHL.  The Blues were eliminated basically from the playoffs and needed to look at the future.  San Jose may now have the best power play going into the playoffs.

The Third winner is Detroit.  They brought in struggling winger Kyle Calder traded from Philadelphia back to Chicago enroute to a trade to Detroit.  Calder came off the bench to score approxiamtley 6 seconds into his Red Wing career.  The Wings also brought in Todd Bertuzzi from Florida who has been out almost all season with back surgery.  Bert is almost ready to go though. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins got tougher, a lot tougher.  They convinced tough guy, veteran, goal scoring, playoff tested Gary Roberts to waive his no trade clause and also brought in the leagues best fighter Georges Larauque to protect possibly the leagues best player in Sidney Crosby.  These moves may be bigger than all of the above, but don't forget, goaltending wins out and they have a lot riding on Fluery to prove he has more than a great regular season in him, and he has that chance this year.  The Pens may not win it all this year but these are the steps to get there.  The playoff experience will be great for this young team.

Other teams that were close were Atlanta for bringing in Keith Tkachuk not Pascal Dupuis.  Atlanta is ready to make a playoff run adding to their improved line up.  Nashville did bring in Foresberg but that is all.  Five years ago that would have been huge.  But the question remains in Nashville is, will the Preds get the Peter Foresberg of old, or just and old Peter Foresberg? 

Teams that lost were not as clear because of the prospects and future picks acquired are moves made for the future  However I can say that with out a doubt the Edmonton Oilers are losers, clearly.  The irony of Mark Messier night?  Honoring a hero and sending another away, adding in Wayne Gretzky had his coyotes in town was too much for me.  The day they traded the franchise in Ryan Smyth, they celebrate Mark Messier and celebrate with another of their big trades made when they sent Gretzky to L.A. in 1998.  Smyth is often dubbed Captain Canada because he has represented his country on the ice so many times at the world Championship tournament.  He also won gold with Team Canada at the 2002 Olympics.

The Hab nots is what Montreal has become.  They traded away a defenseman two days earlier and stand in the number seven spot in the playoffs in the east tied with the Islanders.  They are still in a strong position to play for the Stanley Cup and decided maybe they shouldn't be.  They made no moves other than subtraction.

The Maple Loafs did it again!  They brought back Yanic Perrault for his third stint in Toronto.  He did have 19 goals for Phoenix this season so far and the Loafs do get Mike Peca back soon so maybe they are going to be just fine.  maybe they can have the respect of being called the Leafs again come playoff time.  Yanic said of his return to Toronto "It feels like Groundhog Day, "I wake up and I'm back in Toronto.  He also said "It's great . . . the fans have always been great."

It is nice to see the trade deadline hasn't lost its luster but had more shine since the salary cap. More players were moved yesterday than any in trades past.  It is also amusing to see the same basic results in standing before and after the cap. Many thought the Wings would falter but had the best overall record by far last season and only one point behind the Sabres for the Presidents Trophy. Some thought this would keep teams like New York from plucking great players from teams, having a huge payroll, and never making the playoffs.....wrong. It all came out who the have and have nots are when it comes to front office supremacy.

 

This year it looks as if it is not the deepest draft ever but there is still a lot of talented QBs to be drafted.  It looks early on as if JaMarcus Russell is the best of the 2007 class.  After Russell there are fout to five players that all offer almost the same overall package but are a little better at different things.  In other words if you were to give each attribute a rating they would all come out at the same overall rating but different areas are stronger.   I am not even sure if ten QBs will even get drafted but here is my top 7 QBs by overall rating.

7.  Drew Tate - Iowa  Tate was a leader and overall good QB for Iowa. Tate also avoids the rush, has a  firey attitude, and his play making ability is very underated with a strong arm.

6. Jared Zabransky - Boise State  One thing I have always liked to see from college players is if they are winners.  Zabransky proved that he was a winner by leading BSU to an undefeated season in 2006.  Zabransky is also a leader plain and simple. he is a tough farming kid who loves to run the ball and use his 4.6 speed to move the chains. Has a quick release, and delivers the ball on time. His arn stregth is the big question mark.  But he did prove he can win a big game as well.

5. Chris Leak - Florida   Any QB who can win a National Championship is worth giving a shot in the NFL.  He proved he could also win a big game and lead Florida through the tough SEC.  He may be a project in some eyes but he will more than likely go in the first two rounds, possibly first round early second round. 

4.  Drew Stanton - Michigan State  Drew is an athletic QB who can run a spread offense or just plain run.  He has good arm strength, poise, and vision.  He is a complete quarterback who was hampered in national hype because the Spartans had a dismal 4-7 record this year.  He may get picked as high as the 2nd QB drafted this year, don't be surprised if he is.

3. Troy Smith - Ohio State University  Troy is a leader, first and foremost.  He wasn't always that way though and I commend him for the changes he made in his life to better himself and not blow the opportunity he is about to get.  Troy also won the Heisman Trophy this year.  Even though that doesn't translate in to a great pro QB in most cases, it does prove his worth against all the other QBs that will be drafted because if they played better they would have won  it instead of Smith.

2.  Brady Quinn- Notre Dame  I am a little perplexed as to why Brady isnt throwing this weekend at the combines because it is causing many to say he is slipping down the draft boards.  Most GM won't let that get in the way of them drafting him very high if he is still available.  He has been a pro prospect pretty much since he started playing at Notre Dame.  His ability to make the deep throw and pick up the blitz are major attributes that any team would want. 

1.  JaMarcus Russell - LSU  JaMarcus has one of those arms that are not very common in any sport.  He has can't miss size at 6-6 260 he is a giant quarterback. I have never seen someone throw a ball like him with the flick of his wrist. He can throw 80 yards on his feet, 60 yards on his knees and 40 on his butt. To go with that is a 68% completion percentage. Good runner and very tough to bring down. A winner in college and very good in the clutch.  The Raiders would be insane to pass on him.  Although I said the same thing last year when they DIDN"T take Matt Leinart.

Some others not on the list were East Carolina's James Pinkney, Akron's Luke Getsy, Houston's Kevin Kolb, and Stanford's Trent Edwards.  I really didn't see enough of their college careers to judge where I thought they ranked among the top prospects for the 2007 draft.  Pittsburghs Tyler Palko and UTEP's Jordan Palmer may get drafted as well but it won't be until the 6th or 7th round.