The indictment is based upon statements Clemens made during a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2008 regarding his PED use, where Clemens and his former trainer Brian McNamee contradicted each other numerous times. McNamee insists on having injected Clemens with steroids and HGH upon Clemens' instruction and since the hearing has presented Congress with damning evidence including syringes containing steroids. (The Washington Post reported that those syringes contained not only steroids, but also Clemens' DNA.) Some of Clemens' former teammates have even corroborated McNamee's story. Clemens is likely to face a jury trial in the upcoming year and if convicted, will probably face over one year in jail.
Clemens will have an uphill battle fighting this indictment and hopefully he has the evidence to back up his innocence. His constant and outspoken denial of PED use (including a tweet just after the indictment) reveal that he is in for a long fight.
Yet, the real issue here to me is why the hell Congress is wasting its time and resources investigating MLB PED use? Isn't the economic hole our country is in a much more important battle for our Congress to focus on then that of MLB steroid use? Why isn't MLB and Commissioner Bud Selig taking on this fight on behalf of the league instead of leaving it to Congress to fight on his behalf? (To his credit, Selig did initiate some of the steroid investigation with the Mitchell Report, but only after he ignored PED usage for years and has since turned the responsibility over to Congress.)
Call me crazy, but our Congress' priorities are out of whack: a baseball player lying about steroid use takes a backseat to our economy and the implications of the recession.
No comments:
Post a Comment