Did you hear the big news Wednesday surrounding the Mitchell
Report? Well, as it turns out, Sen. George Mitchell was right about
this one.
Did you hear the big news Wednesday surrounding the Mitchell Report? Well, as it turns out, Sen. George Mitchell was right about this one.
Colorado first base coach Glenallen Hill and reliever Matt Herges issued written apologies Wednesday for using performance-enhancing drugs.
It didn’t take a congressional hearing, or a nanny, or a beer can full of bloody syringes and gauze pads. It didn’t take a taped phone call, or a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, or a story about bloody pants either.
No, it didn’t take any of those things for Hill and Herges to end their steroid speculation.
Granted, Hill and Herges admitted to using PEDs on the same day when Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee were on Capitol Hill stating their sides of the issue (making sure no one will ever read the story about Hill and Herges). But did you ever think Clemens would learn a thing or two from, well, a couple of nobodies?
Clemens and McNamee continued their my-word-against-yours-dog-and-pony show Wednesday in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee on Capitol Hill, a performance that wasn’t enhanced by lasting nearly five hours.
And while neither McNamee nor Clemens took a page from Hill and Herges’ Just Tell the Truth so We Can Move on With Our Lives handbook, we were rewarded for our half-day of C-SPAN watching.
Aside from Rep. William Lacy Clay’s ridiculous question on what uniform Clemens will be wearing to the Hall of Fame, or Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s statement that Clemens will assuredly be going to heaven, or Rep. Danny K. Davis telling the Rocket that it was a pleasure meeting him last week, there were some decent nuggets that came out of the hearing.
Notably, Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte’s depositions came into play, but not the two former Yankees themselves, mind you. For some reason, or no good reason, they were excused from Wednesday’s hearings. Still, their words still rang true from Room 2154.
Pettitte, in so many words, did not back Clemens at all, saying in his deposition that Clemens discussed the use of HGH with him in either 1999 or 2000, and again in 2005.
He also said McNamee told him that Clemens was using steroids as well.
Clemens said Pettitte “misheard” him, and even threw the word “misremembers” into our lexicon.
But Pettitte also said that he told his wife, Laura, that Clemens was taking steroids. He also said there was “no doubt” about what he remembers.
Clemens, of course, believes Pettitte misremembered.
McNamee also stated that Knoblauch took steroids. In Knoblauch’s deposition, the former New York second baseman confirmed McNamee was telling the truth.
For those scoring at home, it’s 2-0 in favor of McNamee, unless of course you consider Jose Canseco a credible source, then it would only be 2-1 in favor of McNamee.
Sadly, depositions not taken on Wednesday provided the most important revelations to come out of Wednesday’s hearings.
Considering Clemens and McNamee both came off incredibly unbelievable, the outcome of this could simply be an increase or reduction in supporters. Whoever scores the most support, well, isn’t lying. In an election year, that seems rather appropriate.
While this columnist is still a McNamee “supporter,” and finds the defense’s tactics to be rather suspect (What’s next, a taped phone conversation with Andy Pettitte?), Clemens could learn a thing or two from Glenallen Hill and Matt Herges.
Those two were just another pair of players that admitted to using PEDs after their names popped up in the Mitchell Report. They apologized, and we move on.
Clemens, who is the only player named in the report so far to put up a fight, remains steadfast.
But after Wednesday, after two of Clemens’ former teammates – one being a very close friend to Clemens – backed McNamee, it may be nearing time for the Rocket to drop out of this race.
