Congressional Hearings

I apologize in advance for writing this but I couldn’t resist. There were a few things I needed to get off my chest

As a responsible journalist I decided to watch the congressional hearings yesterday involving Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee. Actually I was just stuck in an airport and it was on every TV. I didn’t really have a choice but to pay attention to it. To say it was embarrassing would a mild understatement. I think it was quite ridiculous and comical. To think that members of our congress spent over 5 hours yesterday in these hearings makes you wonder. Is this the best way that they can spend their time? More importantly, were we really asking the right questions or investigating the correct issues.

A couple notes that I made regarding this whole debacle:

Ø The purpose of this committee, the Mitchell report, and these pending investigations are to find out how popular steroid use was in professional sports, and how do we stop it. Most importantly, how do we get young kids to stop doing them? I feel as if we’ve completely lost sight of this. Instead it has turned into a prolonged effort to prove whether or not Roger Clemens or Brian McNamee is lying. It has become about two men. These hearings do not take place in a court of law. That was not supposed to be a trial about how was telling the truth. If you’re a high-school baseball player or a minor leaguer, are you going to think twice about doing steroids now? Probably not. The real lesson here is don’t lie about it if you get caught. Andy Pettite has admitted to using HGH. I’m pretty sure he’s going to trot out to the mound the first week of the season and will get cheered loudly by his adoring fans in Yankee Stadium. Brian Roberts admitted to using as well. His owner has gone over the top to praise him and has shown a reluctance to trade him because of the personal affection he has for him. If Clemens had come out and said “I’m sorry, I realize I shouldn’t have done steroids, but half the hitters I was facing were doing it at the time and I made a mistake,” we probably wouldn’t be talking about this anymore.

Ø The drawing of party lines and the clear distinction between the two viewpoints is quite discouraging. I know these guys are politicians, but they are not supposed to bring their political affiliations into these hearings. It’s also a bit disturbing that we cannot have a unified unpartisan view on this. Steroid use is a bad thing for this country, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, no?

Ø A couple Republicans took special effort to go out of their way to verbally attack Brian McNamee and ignore that Clemens, who is a friend of the Bush family, was even in the room. So much so that Rep. Waxman, the committee chairman, went out of his way to apologize to McNamee at the end of the hearings. I’m not saying McNamee is a good guy, but what Rep. Dan Burton and Rep. Chris Shays did was ugly. (By the way, if you get a second, look up Dan Burton. He’s quite a character. I feel bad for people in the 5th ward in Indiana.) Did anyone think that Clemens was going to get taken to task as much as he should have? A week earlier, he spent a good deal of time walking around Congress shaking hands and signing autographs for the congressmen and women. He’s a hero to many of these people, how can we expect them to be objective.

Ø One representative, a congresswomen from North Carolina, spent the first 3 minutes of her questioning explaining how she thought it was a gross misuse of time for them to be there and how she didn’t agree with them doing any of this. After this soliloquy, I was very much in favor of this woman until she proceeded to present a huge poster with 4 separate pictures of Clemens at various point in his career. She then “asked” Clemens, “There doesn’t appear to be any physical difference in your appearance, does it?” Talk about a tough, hard-hitting question. So, you don’t think your committee should be dealing with this hearing and you think it’s a waste of time, but you took the time to find 4 pictures of Roger Clemens in the same exact position and analyzed the size and shape of his body.

Ø Both of the stories have holes in them. McNamee is a guy who gave people an illegal substance and clearly has lied about things. On the surface, he seems less than credible. Clemens’ supposed closest friend in baseball and training partner has basically said Clemens talked to him about it. Clemens’ camp has also taken on the appearance that they may have tampered with a witness. Again, doesn’t do a whole lot to help your cause. Clemens didn’t look entirely comfortable during the whole proceedings. He made many forceful and demonstrative points during the hearings, but he constantly avoided answering direct questions. There were a number of instances also where the committee had to reprimand Clemens’ lawyers for speaking up during the hearing, which is not allowed and there were also a couple of times where his lawyers leaned in to whisper something in his ear. A tactic most people saw as them “coaching” him on how to answer the question.

Ø Clemens is correct in saying that his reputation will never be restored. He’s used the “how do you prove a negative” line numerous times. Much like Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa before him, Roger Clemens is always going to live with this cloud hanging over him. If he is completely innocent of all these allegations, that is very unfortunate for him. Because this may never get to a court of law, which may help him “prove the negative,” he is going to have to deal with how he is viewed in the court of public opinion.

Ø Bias aside, Clemens showed a bit of his true colors yesterday. He not only attacked what McNamee had said about him, but he threw his friend Andy Pettite, his agents, and his wife under the bus in order to save his own name. Either all of these people are in the wrong or this guy feels no loyalties to anyone. It was really a bit disturbing.

All in all, I think the day went pretty much according to how I thought it would go. We didn’t really learn anything new. I still think that Clemens did something illegal. And I still think that, despite the fact he’s telling the truth, Brian McNamee is less than a model citizen. I think the most disturbing thing was the performance of our elected officials. I think they acted in very poor taste regarding these hearing.