ROGER CLEMENS GOES DOWN !

It wasn’t easy watching the Congressional hearing yesterday. The man was a near lock for the HOF before he went to the needle.  The man struck out 20 in a game  — twice !  The Man won multiple Cy Youngs.  The Man was a hoss.   And now, the hoss is at a loss for a ticket to Cooperstown.  Permanently.

It wasn’t MacNamee who landed the telling blow, though.  It was Andy Pettitte and his wife.

The hearings resonated with prior scandals.  I couldn’t help but think that Brian MacNamee is to Roger Clemens, as Paul Janszen is to Pete Rose, and as Greg Anderson is to Bobby Bonds.  A self-centered star using an enabler to break the rules.   

There’s an ugly societal dymanic that allows the Superstar to bulldoze the rules while getting the benefit of the doubt.  We could be a bit more careful with our adoration, trying to focus it on the Phil Rizzutto’s, Dustin Pedroia’s, Gene Tenace’s, Jorge Posada’s  and Troy Tulowitzki’s of this world.  Give me a skinny player who can play over his head.  Or a slightly chubbed-out Tony Gwynn look-alike.  I’m starting to look sideways at anybody with an acutely mesomorphic build.  And we’ve got a few on my beloved Red Sox.

May Roger, Debbie and the four K’s accept the truth in short order, admit what has happened, and find peace in the support that will flow.  There’s really no point in being vindictive.

That said — I’m afraid that The Rocket has dishonored the game enough to be permanently barred from the HOF.

 I have complete faith that the BBWAA will never elect Roger.  I am somewhat old school in these matters; I want Clemens, Rose, Bonds & McGwire BARRED from the HOF.  But the BBWAA is way, way beyond old school.  The scribes have memories like elephants.  There’s no chance Roger gets in.

 It’s a sad day for Baseball.  But, we fans will move on and flourish.

I trust that Baeball has not been entirely depleted of its Good Guys.  I believe, as you may, that money has not corrupted every Player and Owner – but, surely has corrupted many.  I believe, as you may, that people that have been raised to have Integrity can earn the bucks and play legit and clean for the love of the game, honoring the life lessons, moved by the remarkable way that Baseball connects us, teaches us.   Folks like you who care about the game deeply are the very proof that Baseball will cleanse itself and survive.

Congrats to the G Men !

No team more deserves their Super Bowl victory than the 2007 NY Giants because they succeeded in doing what everyone knew was the key to beating the Patriots:  They took out Tom Brady.  They hurried him, sacked him, knocked him down and reduced him to a third of his normal  point production.

The Giants do not have a great offense.  But you don’t need one when your defense plays “like a pack of wild dogs”, to borrow a vintage quip from Lawrence Taylor.

God Bless the downtrodden Giants fans who winced all week long when enduring the 38-20 and 52-14 predictions from the sports intelligentsia.  In a poignant coincidence, yesterday’s Catholic Mass featured the Sermon on the Mount, which includes the passage that the meek shall inherit the Earth.  And that, fellow and sister Sports fans, is exactly what happened in Phoenix yesterday.  NY Giant fans were the meek all week, having capped their emotions & expectations, girding against a predicted catastrophe.  But the superior-team-by-consensus looked old, slow, ragged, and disrupted against the brutal NY defense. 

Now Patriots fans must contemplate the downside of their dynastic curve.

Congratulations, Giants fans !  Your boys pulled off a historic stunner.