You Remember He Cheated, Right?

Like a lot of people, I really wish Congress made better use of it's time. There are so many issues facing the Nation right now, we would all be better served if Congress concentrated on them instead of things that really don't concern them, such as baseball's steroid issue. I understand that steroids in baseball have somehow become a morality issue and those are the ones that politicians love the most, because it allows them to seem higher and mightier than everyone else and that is what brings in the big donors. And it's the dog-and-pony-show aspect of these hearings that makes me the maddest. The simple truth is that the Congress men and women never want to hear about the actual steroids or the suppliers, they just want the chance to call professional baseball players into a televised setting, frown at the players like a disappointed school principal and then berate them for letting down the youth of this nation, who look up to baseball players as heroes. (That clip always seems to make it onto SportsCenter.) After that those same Congressmen get off their high horses and go back to their offices, where they take huge checks from lobbyists to look the other way on safety regulations and mess around with interns. But at least they didn't lie about take performance enhancing drugs. You know, priorities.

That being said, I have to admit as a man who never like Roger Clemens I took great joy in sitting back yesterday as it was announced that he will be indicted on charges of lying before Congress. Anyone who watched him half-ass his way through his last couple of months in Boston always knew that his rejuvenation in Toronto was not achieved solely because he rededicated himself to fitness after the Red Sox refused to give him a huge contract once he got fat and was a .500 pitcher. These charges seem like the perfect example of how karma not only comes back around to get you, but she picks up a head of steam on the trip. However, as I was watching some breakdown of the charges on ESPN, the one of the Congressmen mentioned that the key to the charges being brought against Clemens was the testimony of Yankee's pitcher and Clemens's training partner, Any Pettitte. The Congressman said that basically without Pettitte it was a game of "he said/he said" between Clemens and his one-time trainer Brian McNamee. Pettitte was apparently such an impeachable witness that when he backed McNamee's story instead of Clemens's that proved to Congress that Clemens must have been lying. This reminded me of something that I don't think is brought up nearly enough: Andy Pettitte took steroids.

For all the uproar that still surrounds guys like Sosa, Bonds, McGwire, Palmeiro, A-Rod and Clemens, Pettitte was right there with them and has somehow managed to sidestep all that and fly completely under the radar. I don't know why it bothers me so much, but the way the media seems to not only ignore Pettitte's steroid use but practically praise him for being brave enough to admit it makes me want to pull my hair out. I think it infuriates me because people keep saying that he gets the free pass because he is such a great guy, when evidence points more and more to the fact that he probably isn't. He cheated, it took a Congressional hearing for him to admit it and then he threw his friend under the bus to avoid further charges. Oh yeah, he's a peach. Secondly, have we learned nothing from the last year of Tiger Woods's personal life being front page news? Sports writers don't truly know these people, they only know however much the athlete feels like showing them. Now, look, I'm not saying that Pettitte is the worst human alive - I firmly believe that no one is always who they are at their worst moment, just like they aren't fully who they are at their best moment. But I also believe that once is an accident, twice is a trend and three times is evidence, and as such I want people to stop ignoring the evidence about people who are repeatedly at their worst moment just because they throw a baseball 90 mph. Pettitte is just as guilty of cheating as the rest of these guys, it shouldn't take someone like me to remind Congress and ESPN of that.