11/05/24
February 13, 2008
Is anyone else following the hearings today?: I didn't want to post to the front page about this, but thought maybe an ongoing locker room dump on Clemens/McNamee/Congress would be enjoyable. Admins: delete if you feel this is out of line.
posted by rocketman to navel gazing at 12:31 PM - 30 comments
Watching a very brief bit of this really caused me to lose what little remaining faith I have in our Congress. I'm willing to entertain that it is within Congress' power to hold hearings on this type of stuff (although I think the founders would be rolling over in their graves), but to exercise that power in this manner is just sickening to me. My congressman is on this committee and I specifically voted against him last Tuesday because of this crap. And I knew nothing about his opponent, who could torture puppies and be a KKK member, for all I know. Single issue voting rocks. (BTW, the incumbent won with about 90%.)
posted by holden at 12:44 PM on February 13, 2008
Nobody is coming out of this looking good. Clemens looks like a weasel and like he's got a posse running interference for him, McNamee looks like a liar and a coward, and Congress looks like the grandstanding pack of egomaniacs that it is.
posted by rocketman at 12:47 PM on February 13, 2008
ESPN's Jason Stark is live blogging it. I haven't seen any other coverage so I can't say whether his observations are correct or not, but it appears to be okay.
posted by apoch at 01:08 PM on February 13, 2008
Though Andy Pettitte clearly needs to have his hearing checked, because he sure does mis-hear a lot of stuff.
posted by rocketman at 01:24 PM on February 13, 2008
Westmoreland questioned what the heck everybody was doing there in the first place, saying it wasn't Congress' role to investigate individual players and that "if we called everyone who was accused of using steroids before this committee, we'd have to shut this place down." Finally, a voice of reason. Jeebus, what are they doing there?
posted by hawkguy at 02:13 PM on February 13, 2008
Ratings on CSPAN were crap.
posted by yerfatma at 03:12 PM on February 13, 2008
I watched the entire morning session, and there were 2 points that I think really hurt Clemens. The first was the MRI result that showed no muscular injury, but some sort of mass on his buttocks. The probable cause, and no one seemed to contradict this, appeared to be from an injection. The depositions say that Clemens received a B-12 injection from the Toronto team physician around that time, but the doctor says that he had given many B-12 shots and had never seen this type of reaction. While McNamee's testimony on this was rather jumbled, I tend to believe that he did inject steroids into Clemens at the time, but had poor recollection of time and place. The second point was the deposition obtained from Clemens's kids' nanny concerning the party at Jose Canseco's. It contradicts a significant point of Clemens's defense. Even worse, the timeline that was explained by Mr. Waxman strongly suggests attempted witness tampering at worst and an attempt to withold information about the witness at the least. The reaction of the lawyers was telling. The old saying is that if the facts are on your side, argue the facts. If the law is on your side, argue the law. If neither the facts nor the law is on your side, pound the table. I saw some table pounding here.
posted by Howard_T at 03:19 PM on February 13, 2008
Watched some. Listened to some. Clemens' wife is hot, maybe HGH will be the new Valentine's Day gift of choice. And I love how this thread was posted by rocketman. Ironic. I love Spofi.
posted by BoKnows at 04:38 PM on February 13, 2008
Not ironic. Definitely eponysterical
posted by scully at 06:41 PM on February 13, 2008
Thanks for the new terminology, terrapin. I learn something new every damn day. Except when it comes to steroids in baseball, I haven't learned anything new thus far.
posted by BoKnows at 06:57 PM on February 13, 2008
Except when it comes to steroids in baseball, I haven't learned anything new thus far. I learned that you can't depend on Andy Pettitte's recollection of anything. Fuckin' guy probably can't remember his own birthday or address without looking at his driver's license.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 12:20 PM on February 14, 2008
Fuckin' guy probably can't remember his own birthday or address without looking at his driver's license. Is he allowed to drive anyway? He can't hear at all or remember anything correctly, the guy should be in a home.
posted by BoKnows at 01:33 PM on February 14, 2008
Best quote about clemens ever. "If clemens had not been able to consistently throw a baseball 95 miles per hour past men with bats in their hands, he would be wearing bib overalls and sitting a milk crate at the open end of a trailer somewhere, brushing his tooth, while shooing away flies from his head", barnicle wrote. "The man is a complete dope."
posted by justgary at 02:01 PM on February 14, 2008
One of my coworkers was following this live yesterday and getting so worked up that I was worried he would feint or something. As it was he kept screaming out the latest (IHO) stupid thing every few minutes and since we sit in an open office...
posted by billsaysthis at 03:04 PM on February 14, 2008
justgary, that's beautiful. I'd like to see that tattooed across Rocket's forehead.
posted by chicobangs at 03:54 PM on February 14, 2008
justgary, Are you saying that there is not a standard level of decency required by MLB? No tests or anything to judge each person's intellect? Crazy. I assumed that all MLB players were pillars of society. I must be an idiot.
posted by BoKnows at 04:53 PM on February 14, 2008
Are you saying that there is not a standard level of decency required by MLB? No tests or anything to judge each person's intellect? Nope, just quoting a quote.
posted by justgary at 04:58 PM on February 14, 2008
Are you saying that there is not a standard level of decency required by MLB Obviously. As evidenced by this guy.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 06:51 PM on February 14, 2008
Now he (GM) knows I clicked on that link, YYM. If I face my demise tonight, it's your fault. You will feel shame.
posted by BoKnows at 07:04 PM on February 14, 2008
Of course, Barnicle is also a moron who's been mailing it in for decades, Patrick Reusse's opinion notwithstanding.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 08:21 PM on February 14, 2008
No tests or anything to judge each person's intellect? Nope. Exhibit A, for your perusal.
posted by grum@work at 09:46 PM on February 14, 2008
That's awesome grum. That story does not help Pettitte's case at all. Forget steroid testing, let's just see if they can make their own bed. (I was totally prepared for another Maddo.....nevermind. Shit. Thats twice in a matter of hours.)
posted by BoKnows at 09:52 PM on February 14, 2008
Fuckin' guy probably can't remember his own birthday or address without looking at his driver's license. Well, whenever I'm confused, I just check my underwear. It holds the answer to all the important questions.
posted by HATER 187 at 11:35 PM on February 14, 2008
Like whether or not you've eaten corn or peanuts in the last 24 hours.
posted by The_Black_Hand at 07:29 AM on February 15, 2008
Or the even rarer hybrid Peacornut. Which when buttered and eaten on the cob tastes like peanut butter corn. Yummy.
posted by apoch at 08:27 AM on February 15, 2008
I don't know if I am ready for peanut butter flavored corn, apoch. I'm still getting used to broccoflower.
posted by jerseygirl at 12:47 PM on February 15, 2008
Meh, broccoli is a cauliflower anyway. So they can both go pound sand together. Never liked that family.
posted by yerfatma at 01:12 PM on February 15, 2008
I gave my wife a vase of broccoflower yesterday for Valentine's. Talked to her lawyer this afternoon.
posted by tahoemoj at 04:26 PM on February 15, 2008
I've been peeking at the headlines, that's about it. Sure does look like things will come to a head soonishly. (my subjective perception is that Clemens is trying for a semantic weasel-out, maybe something along the lines of saying, "I never took steroids," and meaning, "I never pushed the plunger myself." But we shall see.)