The Dallas Morning News Tim Cowlishaw Column: Clemens' Pitch to Public Isn't Seamless

Jan 09, 02:07 AM

Jan. 9--As Roger Clemens goes after his former trainer's accusations, you have to applaud him for taking the offensive.

If you're a fan of Clemens, or simply of baseball played the right way, you can't help but scratch your head at the enormous holes in the pitcher's story.

Clemens was mostly good in his 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace. But he had no answer for two key questions.

One was, what did his former trainer Brian McNamee stand to gain and why would he risk the defamation suit Clemens has now filed by lying? And why would he tell the truth about Andy Pettitte, Clemens' longtime teammate with New York and Houston and his regular workout partner, and lie about Clemens?

Clemens said he didn't know.

That wasn't good. That wasn't what anyone who would like to believe Clemens achieved his mighty accomplishments without the aid of steroids wanted to hear.

In addition, Clemens told Wallace he had no idea Pettitte took human growth hormone. It's conceivable Pettitte could have hidden it from Clemens, but it sure doesn't seem very likely.

Clemens stayed on the offensive with his news conference Monday in Houston. And I don't have any problem with him saying he didn't give "a rat's [expletive]" about the Hall of Fame voting and didn't need that recognition to justify his career.

He walked away from the podium at the right time, too, saying, "I've said enough," before becoming angrier.

But the tape of his telephone conversation with McNamee seems as damaging as the accusations the trainer made to the Mitchell investigation about injecting Clemens with steroids in Toronto and New York.

None of the anger Clemens showed in the Wallace interview or in the news conference was present in the 17-minute conversation. As McNamee repeatedly says, "Tell me what you want me to do,"' Clemens just keeps saying in a very soft voice, "I just need somebody to tell the truth, Mac."

Not once does Clemens say, "Why did you lie about me? Why did you falsely accuse me of taking steroids? You know I never did that."

That's what we need to hear on tape. It isn't there.

Consider that McNamee called Clemens, that Clemens knew he was recording the call and McNamee did not. If Clemens was going to use this as evidence to support his case and is truly innocent, why didn't he ask McNamee why he lied?

McNamee would have had to answer the question. But he didn't. And as you try to sort through this ugly matter, the logical conclusion is that the question was never asked because McNamee did not lie in the Mitchell Report.

Pettitte has acknowledged his guilt, as reported by McNamee. Pettitte said he took HGH briefly to try to recover quickly from an injury to help the Yankees.

Clemens simply says it never happened.

If there is no physical evidence to show Clemens purchased steroids, this may never come down to anything other than Clemens' word against his trainer's. But the fact that a defamation suit has been filed means this battle is going to continue, and we are at least going to get closer to the truth than we do in a lot of these cases.

In addition, Clemens said he is going to testify before Congress, and if he is as defiant under oath as he has been in front of CBS's cameras and the media, we will have to ask if maybe there isn't something to what he is saying, despite some glaring holes in his story.

You have to respect Clemens for doing what we always say people should do when they are falsely accused. He is on the attack. He is trying to clear his name.

In the court system, you are innocent until proven guilty.

In the court of public opinion, Clemens will be judged by how he creates doubt about his trainer's credibility.

For now, it is unfortunate he is not off to a good start.

-----

To see more of The Dallas Morning News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.dallasnews.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Dallas Morning News

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. The Dallas Morning News Tim Cowlishaw Column: Clemens' Pitch to Public Isn't Seamless
Back to Current Headlines