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Sunday, August 22, 2010

More Flaming Jocks: Roger Clemens

I confess: seeing hero worshiped ex-jock "Skrep-Daddy" go down in flames in Luzerne County was somehow satisfying for me on a visceral level. It was as if someone (in his case the judicial system) finally said "I don't care that you can play sports, the rules DO APPLY TO YOU too!".

It's on this note that another hero worshiped jock gets ready to go down in flames.

Roger Clemens indicted for perjury.

The case to me looks pretty much black and white: he lied to Congress about taking 'roids. Now lying to fans is one thing, after all, they are the saps who ultimately just pay his salary. However lying under oath is another, and yes, when you testify in front of Congress you are under oath.

[Ironic side note here: Congress is full of members who lie all the time, it's just that they hold that privilege more or less for themselves exclusively. They can lie to you...you just can't lie to them.]

This is serious stuff baseball fans: you do real jail time for prejury. We are not talking Lohan time either.

Oh, and if convicted he can probably kiss the hall-o-fame goodbye.

Not being much of a baseball fan (that left me long about 1978), my interest is this story is probably more sociological than anything else, as I simply find the attention and adulation afforded to sports figures to be fascinating. Wait, is that "fascinating" or "pathetic"? I'm not really sure. Anyway, I find it interesting that someone who was paid so much to play what amounts to a teenager's game basically blew it because they wanted to continue a fantasy. This fantasy was fine for the press and (as noted above) the fans, but like most fantasies it couldn't continue indefinitely. What was the fantasy? It was "I can do whatever I want, because I'm Roger Clemens and I play professional baseball".

So to you Roger Clemens I say "HaHa!". You screwed up. You threw it all away. You had a life whereby you were paid millions of dollars...not for protecting society...not for solving the worlds problems...not for curing cancer...but for playing a f&^king children's game. And somehow that just wasn't enough for you. You wanted more, you moronic greed-head.

And now it is slipping through your 'roided fingers.

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