chuckd, I do agree with you on a lot of the Clemens stuff. I liked him as a kid, though he wasn't a favorite of mine. I lost a lot of respect for him when he went BACK to NY, but that's not enough to peg him as a villain. Now when he started getting special treatment, like you said about his not travelling with the team, I got pretty upset. To me it was obvious that Clemens and the Yankees were making a special exception for him(self), which was disrespectful to the team and the team aspect of baseball. But that's not cheating, just total bullcrap.
Still, what I said earlier, I stick by. With an exception or two, he didn't blow away his best seasons, or other player's historical seasons like Bonds did. He obviously got bigger, but he looks chubbier than anything else. He didn't grow a Hulk-like physique like Bonds, which made it far less obvious he was roiding. Except for the Cy Youngs, which is an award, and the 20 k's in one game, I am not aware of him breaking any real records, certainly not any as esteemed as the homer records. Bonds was surpassing highly regarded icons like Mays, Ruth, and Aaron. Clemens, even with his cheating, wasn't going to catch Young, Ryan, etc. And again, with the exception of no-hitters and perfect games, most pitching feats don't get near the press and attention that batting feats do.
Tejada is a player I liked. Palmeiro pointed a finger at Tejajda when he got caught, and though it threw suspicion on Tejada, and I didn't necessarily see him as a roid user. If he were hitting 60+ homeruns a season on the backside of his career, then I'd have started to consider him one. If he grew into a giant in his late 30's, then I would have started to consider him one. Of course, he was named in the report today, so it's pretty obvious he's no angel. The only real coverage he got when Palmeiro "outed" him was in the coverage of Palmeiro's story. They made Palmeiro out to be childish and desperate for pointing at Tejada. If everyone was so racist, I'd have thought this would have been a great chance for them to jump on Tejada. That I'm aware of, he only got minimal scrutiny.
But anyways, if people want to see racism in a situation, they will see it. Whoever has been using steroids, unless it was a legit use via a doctor, I think should have to face the music, regardless of their color, and get equal treatment. Bonds and Clemens, the most dominant offensive player and pitcher, will obviously get more scrutiny, but that goes along with being a bigshot.
"I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself."
