Just when you thought it was safe to go to MLBlogs home page, Ms. Milano comes out of blogging hibernation to grace us all with her profound insight.  I guess I didn't really need a new Modal V-Neck over the winter (certainly not for fifty bucks).  Maybe she's got bats for sale.  Or baseball gloves.  Wonder if she's got any balls for sale?  I hear the twinkies who run MLBlogs could use a pair.

Nah, just what you'd expect on a baseball site: women's clothing.  As if the Victoria's Secret catalog and SI Swimsuit issues weren't enough--and they don't even pretend to be legitimate bloggers!

Be sure and drop by with your dollars and a lot of comment love.  That way the twinkies don't have to impersonate so many legitimate commenters.  Everyone should enjoy the show.  "And now for your entertainment pleasure, the sexy Alyssssssssaaaaaaaa!"  Be sure and tip your waitresses!

As Russell at Arizona Via Slough so aptly pointed out, in my last post I missed the irony in the latest Clemens self-demolition derby:  as I had noted previously, the entire issue regarding whether Captain America had attended the Canseco party was a complete canard created by his attorney, a logical sleight-of-hand designed to divert attention from the substantial charges.  I was actually surprised (silly me) that Congress took the bait and spent a considerable amount of time focused on the party.

Earth to Roger: have you ever noticed that people have a propensity to bring cameras to social events where celebrities are present?

Tip for Hangsters: Hire Rusty Hardin as your attorney.  Guys like that make the big bucks thinking about things like the fact that people have a propensity to bring cameras to social events where celebrities are present.  This clown has ill-served Clemens at every turn.  He should have advised Clemens from the onset to say two words:  "No comment."  Makes you wonder who Clemens' personal physician is, Dr. Kevorkian?

Assuming those photos exist--and the admission by Clemens lawyer makes me think they do--Clemens is indisputably guilty of perjury, the irony being it was Clemens who made attendance at the party the crux of his defense.  No party -> No conversation -> No steroids.  Looks good on a whiteboard.  Too bad it was a whitewash.

Clemens did more than lied to Congress: he made a fool of Congress.  How ridiculous does Burton look now waving videotapes purportedly proving Clemens was not at the party and assailing McNamee?  He made them look gullible and stupid.  Clemens is toast.

I'll give you some free advice, Roger: come clean.  Do an Andy Pettitte.  Throw yourself on the mercy of the court.  Apologize to the baseball public. It is over.

You hung yourself, you dummy.

 

Photos may exist that show Roger Clemens attended a 1998 party at the home of then-teammate Jose Canseco that was an issue at the Feb. 13 hearings before a congressional subcommittee, The New York Daily News reported.

Such a discovery could undermine Clemens' sworn testimony that he did not attend the party as the congressional committee decides whether to turn baseball's steroids issue over to the Justice Department.

The paper said the photo is owned by a man who attended the party when he was 11 years old and took photos of his baseball heroes, including Clemens. Richard Emery, a lawyer for Clemens accuser Brian McNamee, said he was aware of the new development.

FOX Sports on MSN - MLB - Report: Picture puts Clemens at Canseco party

There would be something deliciously ironic if ol' cheatin' Rog is finally undone by the worshipful actions of an 11 year old fan.  He thought nothing of the message his actions would convey to the youth if his dirty deeds were ever exposed. 

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Clemens demanded the hearing before Congress, as committee chairman Henry Waxman has claimed.  Here is the statement from one of Clemens' attorneys as to why they believe the hearing wasn't their idea:

"When I was first retained, I argued to this committee that this should not be the kind of hearing that they had, that Roger Clemens would be proud and delighted to join chairman Waxman and anyone else and to say to them and to say to anyone else what he has said to the children all over America: That there are no shortcuts, that it's hard work, and he is against steroids and he is against HGH. I was turned down flat," Breuer said.

ESPN

The Clemens camp is completely incorrigible.  Once again denying responsibility, they blame the hearing on a committee that felt it needed to delve a little deeper into the issue than present Clemens with U.S.A. emblazoned on his chest (superman cape too, probably) declaring "steroids, bad".

You know, I almost felt sorry for old lip licking Roger getting the **** kicked out of him by the facts.  After reading this, I feel a lot better.  I may even put the DVD on and watch it again.

10:00 am - Waxman makes his opening statement.  Waxman declares that Mitchell’s report was “credible”.  He defines the scope of the hearing to be only to establish the credibility of the Mitchell Report.  Waxman notes the committee has greater resources to determine the truth since it has the ability to compel testimony.

10:17 Waxman cuts to the chase: someone is lying.  He declares that after the depositions, he considered canceling the hearing and simply issuing a report.  Clemens attorney insisted on a hearing.

10:19 Waxman notes McNamee has previously lied to federal investigators, once in an earlier case, presently in the number of injections he gave Clemens, and second by witholding evidence.  McNamee claims he lied because he felt bad about betraying Clemens.

10:21 Clemens is counting on testifying under oath proving his innocence.  Clemens lobbying apparently had some effect.  Waxman notes that Clemens, too, has inconsistencies in his testimony, including lies about contact with McNamee.

10:23 Pettitte did, indeed, testify that Clemens had confided in him that he had used HGH, a statement which he later denied.  Due to chronological problems, Clemens could not have been talking about his wife, as Clemens claimed in his denial.  Pettitte's wife confirmed Pettitte's testimony!

10:32 Rep. Tom Davis is now pontificating.  I'm getting a bad feeling that this thing is going to be inconclusive.  Davis, basically, is saying as much.  He also seems to have been influenced by Clemens' lobbying efforts.

10:36 Clemens is making his opening statement.  "Shortcuts were not an option."  "I trusted McNamee like family".  Oh, boy, is he laying it on thick!  He's only guilty of being too nice!

10:40 Clemens concludes, McNamee begins making his opening statement.  McNamee is making his case: Pettitte and Knoblauch confirmed his accounts.  "I have no reason to lie."  McNamee claims he liked and admired Clemens, but never trusted him.  He kept the syringes because he feared he would be made the fall guy.

10:47 McNamee concludes his statement, questioning begins.  Rep. Elijah Cummings asks if Clemens is fully aware he is under oath.  Clemens affirms.  Pettitte is the subject of questioning.  Clemens is rattled.  He's saying he is sure if Pettitte was interested in using HGH he would have spoke with Clemens if he knew Clemens was using.  Clemens is now using the erroneous report of his connection with the Grimsley case as evidence of his innocence in the present case.  Cummings is grilling Clemens on Pettitte, and Pettitte's wife.  He reminds Clemens again he is under oath.  Clemens is sticking by his guns.  Clemens is licking his lips, obviously nervous.  His point, however, is a good one: if Pettitte knew Clemens was using, why didn't the conversation continue when Pettitte decided to use.

11:05 Rep. Tom Davis is doing the questioning now.  He is going after McNamee (surprise, surprise).  He's questioning about the changing number of injections with all players (I posted earlier what a canard this question is!).  He also bought into the canard of the Canseco party.  McNamee is sticking to his story.  I can't believe a congressman is chasing this rabbit.  ****, he's from Virginia, too!

*******, I'm getting pulled away.  I'm recording the proceedings for later, but this is the end of live blogging.  Tata.

 

"One of the things the committee is going to hear on Wednesday is about this party that is supposed to have started this whole thing," Hardin said. "Roger wasn't even at this party."

...

The report goes on to say that Canseco told Mitchell's staff "he had numerous conversations with Clemens about the benefits of Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol and how to 'cycle' and 'stack' steroids."

SI.com - MLB - Canseco comes to Clemens' aid - Saturday February 9, 2008 10:51PM

Hardin is performing a clever lawyer trick here.  Note the value he assigns to the party: the whole thing started at the party.  Ergo, no party, no "thing".  The second quoted statement notes the fact that Canseco and Clemens did have the conversations about steroids, which was the point of McNamee's contention, i.e., that it was a conversation between Canseco and Clemens that "started" the "whole thing".  Perhaps his memory as to which party, or, for that matter, conversation it was is faulty.  But that hardly impugns his credibility, anymore than if it turns out McNamee injected Clemens ten times, not a dozen.

What is significant is you don't hear Clemens denying he ever had conversations with Canseco about the virtue of, and more importantly,  how to use, steroids.  If Roger eschewed steroids as much as he claims, you would imagine he would have terminated that conversation before it ever got started:  "Ah, shut up, Hosey, you've got an elbow growing out of your head.  Go pull a tractor with your teeth."

It just didn't happen at that party.  You know, the one where Jose ended up dancing with a blue lampshade on his head.  Or was it green?  I can't remember, I was pretty drunk at the time.  ****, I might not even have been there for all I know.

A couple of my Chinese friends reminded me that today is the Chinese New Year and sent me the following link:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/SpringFestival/199202.htm

This Year of the Pig is the Chinese year to host the Summer Olympics.  You can even learn foreign languages with Fuwa!  Is it just me, or does Fuwa look like Michael Jackson?

In case it escaped your attention, this is an Olympic year, with a special host: China.  The Dodgers will introduce us to the venue:

The full Dodgers squad will be in Vero Beach through March 11. At that time manager Joe Torre and a portion of the team will head to China, where the Dodgers will play the San Diego Padres at Wukesong Stadium in Beijing, the home of the Olympic baseball competition, on March 15-16.

Spring Training 2008: Dodgers settle on spring-training schedule

Amazingly I've seen nobody, but nobody, question just how Belichick was so certain that Giants player didn't make it out of bounds he would risk losing a challenge.  Jeez, he must have had somebody with enhanced optics watching the sidelines pretty intently to realize that poor fool didn't quite make it off the field by a stutter step, don't you think?  Maybe he reviewed the videotape.

My football fandom began after Super Bowl III, when the disrespected, underdog New York Jets established parity between the NFL and AFL by beating the unbeatable Baltimore Colts.  After about twenty more, I kind of quit paying much attention. I almost did not watch tonight, but something told me that no matter how it turned out, it would be extraordinary: the second perfect season in my lifetime, or the greatest upset since that other team from New York took it to the Colts.

I saw the latter.  Congratulations to all you New Yorkers out there, wherever you might be.

And to the New England fans (well, except for the infamous J.W., who represents the Boston Young Jerk hanging himself in effigy right now) -- no matter how it ended up, that was the greatest team I ever saw.

In honor of this weekend's Super Bowl, thought I would remind that cheating isn't peculiar to baseball.  Indeed, it seems to be an integral part of the American character:

Football changed from something like soccer or rugby to something like the contemporary American game.  What can these changes tell us about Americans and American sport?  Among other things, Oriard [Michael Oriard, Reading Football] argues that referees were needed because Americans had a different attitude toward rules than did our British ancestors.  British amateur athletes operated on a code of honor associated with the peculiarities of their elitist social class, a code that was as old as the games they layed.  Adherence among upper-class British boys to the code of honor was enforced by the captains of each team, and in so doing, both the social nature of the contest and the social status of the players were supported.

Americans, in contrast, had no such social understanding--Americans argue to this day that we are of the "middle class" and so have no code of honor to break.  This difference in culture is reflected in our games, and Oriard argues that Americans wish to exploit the rules of the contest as much as they wish to adhere to them.

Mechikoff and Estes, A History and Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education 

This perspective is important when judging the "steroid era".  To paraphrase Forrest Gump: cheating is as cheating does.  Before we can begin to evaluate the use of performance enhancing substances, we must first examine the longer standing issue of cheating in American sports.

In case you haven't heard, Arlen Specter is calling for congressional investigation into cheating by the New England Patriots after the NFL inappropriately destroyed evidence regarding illicit taping.  You remember Specter, don't you?  He's the one who came up with the "magic bullet" theory in the Kennedy assassination.  Maybe the Pats can make the defense that the camera angle was deflected off someone's sunglasses reflecting the other team off of a skybox window.  Or maybe we can take a serious look at cheating in football, in business, indeed in America.

Greetings, Woodchuck chuckers!  It's Groundhog Day!

MLB pitchers and catchers report in a couple of weeks, but might I suggest a more robust menu?  Real games begin in the college ranks in a few weeks.  Old Dominion University, where my son and sometimes co-author here on SBY attends, opens up a three game series versus Rutgers February 22nd.  They will play an exhibition versus the AAA Norfolk Tides at beloved Harbor Park on April Fools Day.

There is almost surely a college in your backyard where you can hear the crack of a bat thud against leather in a matter of days.  The college games emerge from the snows soon.

Charlie don't surf, and Punxsutawney Phil don't play baseball.  Speaking of surfing, I need to head to The Beach before the tourists start arriving again.  See they are having their annual Millenium Chess Festival in a few weeks.  Summer is never far from Virginia Beach!