Mitchell Report Thread (Nothing to see here! Drugs are bad. Crisis averted!)

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Clemens' lawyer: My client has been slandered!)

so, i've been away for most of the day ... was bonds cleared?

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Clemens' lawyer: My client has been slandered!)

Just for fun, so I can keep changing the subtitle of the thread, and so Big Chee can feel someone has listened to his concerns....

Dan Wetzel says Clemens is the white Barry Bonds.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=dw-clemenssteroidsearly121307&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Clemens' lawyer: My client has been slandered!)

So ... Tom Petty, Bud Selig and Don Fehr ... that makes three people who haven't read the Mitchell report ...

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

I've always been amazed at how the same circumstancial evidence used against Bonds - mind-boggling success, physical growth and strength at an advanced age - was rarely used to indict Clemens. Or at least not in the same vociferous nature used to villify Bonds.

Folks "whispered" about Clemens but they screamed about Bonds.

Never understood that. Not even with the players' respective complexions taken into consideration.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

actually the thing is setting in a three-ring binder next to me. just thought i'd set the ball on a T for someone ... and you didn't hit it out of the park.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

Bruh, I really do believe people were mostly whispering about Bonds until the Balco stuff, and then it became screaming. I'm not sure there is any way to actually prove this, but no one was screaming at all when Bonds hit 73 home runs. They were shrugging their shoulders, but no one was screaming. I can pull up articles from that time and show you that no one was ripping Bonds for anything other than being a surly jerk.

Had Clemens been had some grand jury testimony leaked and had his trainer been indicted and had his best friend gone to jail and had he been chasing the most hallowed record in American sports, yes, people would have screamed. I suspect they'll scream some now, although he'll almost certainly retire, which will defuse much of it.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

i was reading the stupid-assed shit chee was posting earlier; the man demonstrates what a fucking idiot he is each and every time he posts on this board.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

Why did people allegedly "scream" about Bonds while "whispering" about Clemens?
1) Bonds was implicated in a federal investigation that has resulted in his own indictment and prison terms for others. So far, Clemens hasn't been linked with that.
2) Bonds is/was an everyday player. Clemens, by definition of his job description, played only once every five games.
3) Bonds chased and ultimately broke the most acclaimed individual record in sports.

I'm not absolving Clemens. He's just as much of a fraud as Bonds is. But there are explanations for the differences in treatment of the two, and they are not necessarily sinister.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

Yeah, I opened my FedEx package full of human growth hormone, but then after talking it over with my wife, I threw the stuff away ...

Wait a minute, that was Darren Holmes ...

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Wetzel: Clemens is the white Barry Bonds, Pg. 24)

Verducci weighs in...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/tom_verducci/12/13/mitchell.report/index.html

Nothing really you wouldn't expect. Says Clemens reputation is in tatters. Says nothing about that infamous "work out" story. Bet he wishes like hell it could be scrubbed from his book.


Instead, I offer up this now HILARIOUS excerpt from Clemens' foreward in Verducci's book.

"Few reporters combine the natural talent with a work ethic the way Tom does. He's the rare writer who has as much to offer those of us inside the game as we do him, which is one of the reasons I've enjoyed going back and reading the stories in this book again. I'm not just talking about trade news or tidbits about guys on other teams that come up in conversation. I'm talking about stories like Totally Juiced, Tom's ground-breaking piece on baseball's steroid problem. ... Those stories were eye-openers for players as well as fans."

-- Roger Clemens, Houston, Texas, 2005


Again, for the record, I love Verducci. I just think Clemens bamboozled him in an embarassing manner.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Verducci weighs in, Page 25)

Gotta love the headline on CBSSports.com -- Mitch Slapped.

 

Re: Mitchell Report Thread (Verducci weighs in, Page 25)

How can Verducci wonder "would it kill Selig to admit some culpability" when Verducci has written thousands of flowery words about Clemens' work ethic? When he worked out with Clemens? Clemens wrote the intro to his book?

More than anyone else, Verducci had to stand up tonight and write "I was fooled." He didn't. And he comes out looking worse at the end of the night than he did at the beginning of it.