At least someone got the DiPerna memo.
Describe it as courage, craziness or the perfect combination of the two. Regardless, when critics said, “OK, tough guy, if you really didn’t use illegal PEDs, then say it under oath in Congress,” Clemens responded with an “OK!” and put his posterior on the line.
By calling everyone’s bluff in February 2008, repeating his denials to our nation’s lawmakers, Clemens sparked the chain reaction that finally concluded yesterday when the jury said, essentially, “Sorry, government, you’re gonna have to do better than this.”
Yes, Clemens will be on my Hall of Fame ballot this December, although he would have regardless of this verdict. His alleged transgressions occurred before Major League Baseball began enforcing bona fide rules against illegal PED usage. His career speaks for itself. If his numbers are illegally enhanced, well … he can get in the back of the line.
...Whatever you believe in your hearts, Roger Clemens can now stand with pride and say, accurately, he has done everything humanly possible to clear his name. There’s nothing more for him to do besides point to the scoreboard reading “NOT GUILTY.”
It’s a great day for the United States, a great day for baseball. And rather than wait for a Clemens confession that isn’t coming, let’s see if those apologies start rolling in. Clemens deserves them.
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1. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit Posted: June 19, 2012 at 08:27 AM (#4160871)Proving that both sides can be a little over the top I guess.
I'm on the "everyone was doing it so I don't care" team on steroids so I don't really care but man this is a bit thick. It's not a great day for the US or for baseball, it's a great day for Roger Clemens. He wasn't found not guilty of doing steroids, he was found not guilty of lying to Congress.
You can't prove a dounble negative, I guess.
That's a rather interesting way to frame the result, given that Selig is neither a prosecutor with the power to indict, nor a member of Congress with the power to subpoena.
And the New York Daily News I-Team...
No, more like the jury didn't think the prosecution made a strong enough case so that it was reasonable to think he used and then lied about it.
I was on a jury and some of us believed that the defendant---who admitted she'd been drinking, but that she only had one---was drunk, which would have had consequences in this case had it been true. But we agreed that we couldn't make that leap, even though circumstances (holiday party, etc.) certainly suggested that it might have been the case.
best chuckle i've had yet from all this.
where at least I'm PED freeeeee!
U.S. law 1, Congress 0?
No, in essence the jury didn't believe *beyond a reasonable doubt* that he used and then lied about it. Or to put it another way, that didn't think it was *unreasonable* to think otherwise.
Anyway, I'm not sure why the best pitcher of all time being convicted of perjury would be seen as a victory for the sport's commissioner.
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