Six counts of not guilty. He pitched his innocence, the prosecution struck out. Roger got a walk. Well, the baseball metaphors could just keep going. Roger definitely was free to go home, and more often than not he seems to get a base on “balls.”

Roger Clemens was acquitted Monday (June 18/12) of all charges related to his testimony to U.S. Congress in 2008. It was then he insisted that he never used steroids or HGH (human growth hormone) during his career. Shortly after his testimony evidence from former trainer Brian McNamee (below left) suggested Roger's recollection might have been contrary to the facts.

STEROIDS vs FACTOIDS

Andy Pettitte (below right), a pitcher/teammate and other government witness also initially had damaging testimony to make it appear Clemens was trying to get away with something.

It the end, Pettitte recanted 50% of his memory (he went from being 100% sure to half that) and the credibility of Brian McNamee came into serious question. On their second day of deliberation the jury returned the not guilty verdicts on all six related counts. The discussion immediately switched to Roger's entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame, an honor voted on by baseball writers, who answer to no other judge or jury, and usually establish their own criteria of eligibility. By the numbers, and baseball IS a game of stats, Clemens should be enshrined at Cooperstown.

People will continue to question if the U.S. (or any) government should spend large amounts of time, energy and money trying to clean up major league sports, when likely a majority of sports fans could care less if players are juicing. As fans we are no longer as engaged by the games as we are the highlight reels. We need the spectacular 20 sec. SportsCentre clips, and average performances no longer cut it.

What has amazed me about the Clemens case, is how many people wanted him to be guilty. Guilty in the same way they wanted Barry Bonds to be guilty and even Lance Armstrong, whose cancer-surviving charity work does little to increase his likability.

In the end, no amount of trials or even HGH, seems to contribute to anyone's growth as a human (being) and there are still athletes trying to get an illegal edge in the high-finance pressure cooker world of professional sports. And no amount of jurors seem to be able to change our minds on what we think we know. LEAVE COMMENTS.

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