What's that saying again? I think it goes...every party has a pooper that's why they invited you. Or is it...someone always wants to rain on the parade? Seems to me that some people are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Take Roger Clemens for example. The Rocket has elevated modern pitching to heights from the distant past... he has aged as gracefully as fine wine and cheese...yet for many cheesy whiners he simply serves as a target of unjustified resentment.  

Last night Roger Clemens won his 350th game by pitching 8 innings of 2-hit ball to beat the Minnesota Twins. At the tender age of 44, Roger is showing that he continues to be better than most pitchers half his age. He doesn't throw quite as hard as he once did. Then again if he did people might start accusing him of using steroids without having any real evidence to support their claims.  In a moment where praise should be lauded upon him for his body of work, we find more fans lining up to hurl criticisms at the greatest pitcher of this generation. Actually make that two generations since he dominated the materialistic minded Big 80s as well as the Generation X 90s. If he manages to pitch until 2010 he'll be able to boast having chucked heaters in four different decades. 

It seems like just yesterday when former Boston Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette provided us with some tiny pearls of wisdom. Way back in the fall of 1996 he uttered these famous words: "We see Roger Clemens as a pitcher in the twilight of his career."  They do say that hindsight is 20:20 but history clearly proved that Mr. Duquette was either a blithering idiot or came from outer space. My guess would be that Dan is actually from Jupiter, where it takes 11 Earth years to travel around the sun...or approximately the same length of time that has passed from his dubious statement until now.

After being run out of Boston, the former 3-time Cy Young Award winner signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for 2 seasons, then played with the Yankees for 5 more and finally headed home to Texas where he spent 3 years with the Houston Astros. 4 Cy Young Awards, 158 wins, 2,040 strikeouts, 5 World Series appearances, and 2 Championships later...maybe Roger is finally approaching twilight as Dan Duquette watches on from the largest planet in our solar system.

Which begs these questions: 1) Why do so many dislike the best pitcher that most of us have ever seen? 2) What is wrong with some people in America? (Perhaps Duquette brought them all here with him.) Every reason I have come across is riddled with utter nonsense, hypocrisy or both. .

The "Roger Is A Mercenary" Theory: Not to get all Yoda with people who feel this way but when Roger's age you reach...waste your time you will not wish to do.  The man will turn 45 years old exactly one month from tomorrow. He has been pitching since 1984. He's started 695 baseball games not including the post-season. If he can pick and choose where he wants to play then so be it. He's earned it. Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks and Denzell Washington don't have to audition for B-movies. Just sit back, relax and enjoy. Like rapper Main Source once said, "Watch Roger Do His Thing"... for just a little while longer anyway.

The "He's Overpaid" Excuse: Why does anyone care how much money Roger is making (Even if it is a rather fetching prorated wage of $28 million dollars this year)? In my humble opinion middle relievers who make $5 million dollars a year pitching mop up duty are pretty overpaid too. It's George Steinbrenner's money and he still has a lot left over. Check that...it's Roger's money now and he'd still have plenty if he were sitting at home. Would you have told Big George no thanks? Didn't think so. Besides, what do truckloads of cash have to do with a legend winning his 350th game? Nothing unless you're jealous...and last I checked he's not robbing any of us.  

The "Who Does He Think He Is?" Club: Let's approach this logically instead of with the all too popular knee-jerk reaction of the day. Roger does not want to go to spring training or pitch in the beginning of the season. Many view this as his way of saying that he is "above" the rest of the players on the team. Well, other than the fact that he is Roger Clemens and that thousands of extra fannies pack stadiums on days he pitches...he's worth no more than anyone else (Ha Ha). The reality is that during his last full season in 2005, his aging body finally betrayed him. Roger had been losing steam down the stretch and his hamstrings finally gave out when his team needed him most. Unfortunately he had be lifted after just 2 innings of painful and ineffective work during Game 1 of the World Series against the White Sox. Roger did not pitch again in the series. The Astros were swept 4 straight despite being outscored by only 6 runs total. Now you tell me...Would you want Clemens feeling fresh in spring training and April/May or would you want him feeling fresh in the post-season? (please refrain from any "the Yankees won't be in the post-season smack" for that is not the point) Clemens is a competitor and only he knows his body's current capabilities the best.

No matter how people feel about Roger (and the Yankees) the criticism of his motives to play are asinine. He's just doing what he's always done. That would be pitch baseball games and make absurd amounts of cash. If you have a problem with that then you should have a problem with all the younger athletes who play with far less passion than Roger and for all the wrong reasons. Unfortunately it seems that so many of us save our ire only for the cream of the crop and the lowest of the low...in other words for superstars who do not kowtow to our way of thinking and "thugs" we cannot relate to.