By now it is more than obvious that Roger Clemen's will be pursued by Federal authorities and the Justice Department will open a case against him. But will the Rocket do jail time for perjury?
In a legal system that seems to always bend for athletes and celebrities, can the public really count on justice being served (if Clemens is guilty). As of late it seems that athletes, unlike their celebrity counterparts, have been handed lengthy jail terms. Just look at Michael Vick, some people thought he wouldn't be found guilty let alone serve time and now he's in the can for almost two years.
If Clemen's did lie under oath, will the Justice Department give him a slap on the wrist for telling a fib or will they condemn him to prison for lying to the United States Congress. It is very difficult to predict how this will end up. Clemens is a very wealthy man with alot of resources and alot of fans/friends as we saw at the House Committe hearing. We witnessed two different schools of thoughs on Clemens when it came to the Republicans and the Democrats. Will this affect a possible future trial?
Clemens is in real deep and there is no question that despite throwing batting practice in Florida for the Astros, he is soley focused on clearing or defending his name. What does the future hold for Roger, one of the most successful pitchers in basbeball history, will he go down in flames or will he rise above?
As of five o'clock, a Fox Sports Poll indicated that 73% of those who responded believed Clemens is more likely to end up in jail than the hall of fame, total votes were 22,918. Out of 7,059 voters 72% viewed Clemens the same way as Barry Bonds.
Note: This is America. You are innocent until proven guilty.
Gary Sheffield surprised the media today when he opened his big mouth. Sheffield, who is ever more famous for speaking his mind, had some words about former agent Scott Boras.
"My family has been trying to get me to walk away for a while now because they don't like the negative stuff that comes my way. I love it," Sheffield said. "I try to explain it to them, but they think that's some psychotic thing."
It's beginning to seem like "some psychotic thing," because Sheffield cant seem to miss an opportunity to run his mouth. Shef called his former agent a "bad person" claiming that Boras wants money he does not deserve. Sheffield has been involved in a legal suit with Boras and claims that when it's over he will reveal "ugly things" on several subjects.
It's time for a reality check Gary! First of all, everyone knows that Boras has a marred reputation. A-Rod hasn't spoken to Boras since his Yankees opt-out disaster. Kenny Rogers fired him for negligibly shopping him around the league when Rogers' wanted only to negotiate with Detroit. This isn't to say that he is in fact a bad person, just a simple observation. I frankly don't care one bit about Boras and the rest of the public doesn't need Sheffield to make up their minds for them.
Sheffield is simply a guy who wants attention. He must perceive himself as a noble vigilante, when he in fact is just a public agitator. Sheffield has made headlines with comments regarding the steriod probe as a "witch hunt" to nail Barry Bonds and Joe Torre treating black players differently than whites. How many more headline attempts will he make until he is satisfied with himself?
At one point Sheffield seemed to have reached a point of enlightenment when he said, "Actually, I'm not supposed to be talking about this at all," too good to be true. He followed this good idea with, "But, I am anyway."
I say Gary shouldn't be allowed to talk about anything from now on.
Hank Steinbrenner has commented that he doesn't understand why the MLB is being "singled out" in regards to the highly publicized steroid accusations surrounding baseball. Steinbrenner then went on to say that "football is tailor-made for performance-enhancing drugs".
All this is is a cheap cop-out by the Yankee's owner's son. This poor attempt to pass the buck is a sad indication of how negligible the MLB has been with its knowledge of steroid use. With their backs in the corner Basbeball people are scratching and clawing to get the spotlight taken off themselves.
What is more irritating about the situation is the finger-pointing Steinbrenner began. In attempting to take some pressure off (the Yankees had the most names in the Mitchel Report) Steinbrenner decided to throw the NFL under the bus. He should be ashamed of himself. Instead of facing the problems that he has as part of Baseball's greatest dynasty he as attempted to circumvent the problem with blame shifting. As if to say, "I know it's wrong, but they're doing it too and no one is saying anything."
Admittedly, the NFL does have some drug issues of their own but they have been publicly punishing atheletes caught using drugs, remember Shaun Merriman was suspended for five games last season for steroid use. Furthermore, one might say that the NFL is a little too strict in their enforcement of drug use. Leading rushers like Travis Henry and Ricky Williams have both been suspended for marijuana use; this is recreational not performance-enhancing.
Debating about drugs aside, the NFL has done more in the public eye about drug use than baseball has. Wether or not NFL players use performance-enhancing drugs more than baseball players is unknown to us and most importantly unknown to Hank Steinbrenner. All the public knows is that their is a list naming more than 80 baseball players who have been involved with steriods and HGH. No such list exist in the NFL, where videotaping seems to be the subject of interest at this point in time.
Steinbrenner doesn't really wonder why he's being singled-out; he is just trying to take some pressure off. The MLB is being singled out because for years the public has been told, by former players and trainers, that players have been abusing these drugs for decades without reprecussions. More importantly, several of these abusers hold high positions on Baseball record lists, most notbaly for wins, single-season homeruns, and career homeruns.
I in no way condone the use of drugs in any sport but when players begin talking about the rampant use of steroids in football, then Steinbrenner will have a scapegoat. Until then he should just worry about fixing the problem within his organization and keep his mouth shut
