Now that the Roger Clemens case is behind us, the question is what have we gained from all of this?
The answer is simple, absolutely nothing.
With all of the alleged users that have been taken to court by the government at the behest of some bloodthirsty media columnist and others, only one person has actually spent time behind bars. Marian Jones has come and gone with respect to jail time while the rest have beaten Uncle Sam.
It wasn’t that long ago that there was an expose written or aired by anyone with a microphone or a laptop who painted Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens as Class A cheaters and they rest they whispered about.
The government took the bait and thought it was a good idea to go after these poster children of everything that is wrong with people we thought were using something. They spent millions of dollars and thousands of man hours to get these guys, and they have nothing to show for it but a big fat zero.
This is the same government that could throw you or me under the jail with the blink of the eye and yet take a pass on going after anyone on Wall Street for creating the biggest financial meltdown and robbery of this country in recent memory. Talk about priorities?
So now that the prosecution and media have taken their swing and missed, some of the players suspected of doing something are going to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. Ironically, some of the same media members who wanted to see these players tarred and feathered will now be charged with deciding if these guys go into the Hall of Fame. Funny how that works out.
The voters thought the legal system would take care of this matter but that will not be the case, they will have to do their job and that is vote for players for their performance on the field, not in the courtroom.
I am surprised by all the “investigative” reporting and rumored reports that could not get a conviction in the court of law will now face scrutiny in the court of public opinion. Some thought will have to go into how the vote will come down on many players as in many cases it may be more guilt by association than a legal conviction.
The chapter on steroid use in sports, especially baseball, is closed for now. All of the alleged cheaters have been brought out, tried and been found not guilty and it appears that all are not happy about it. With that said it may be time to move on until the next batch of cheaters comes along and rest assured there will some on the way, especially now that they know they can win in court.
I am not sure what we learned here other than many in the industry of sports have no clue about how the legal system works hence the need for legal analysts on TV and radio. The way it has been handled has been sad.
I am in no way saying that Clemens and Bonds are totally innocent. I am of the belief that guys their age do not do the things they do. I think it was more of one side had a better lawyer than the other. It happens more than you think, as it is still hard to convict on hearsay.
