Around the World of Sports

I’ve been away from the blog for a couple days because of schoolwork. Media Ethics paper. Don’t wanna talk about it. In the meantime, during what is usually a slow time in the world of sports, between the Super Bowl and Spring Training, a few interesting stories have arisen.

Roger Clemens gave his deposition about performance-enhancing drugs in baseball to Congress on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. He once again denied using steroids. While I’m not rushing to judgment, it would be ill-advised for Clemens to lie at this point in time. So basically there are three possibilities:

1. Clemens did not use steroids. His former trainer, Brian McNamee, named Clemens for the Mitchell Report to appease investigators by giving them a “big name.” This is a strong possibility; most of the names in the report were of players who had a brief period of success in the major leagues. Steroids are known to be more of a “quick-fix” and promote more injuries.
2. Clemens truly believes he did not use steroids. McNamee told him he was injecting him with”lidocaine and B12″ when he was, in fact, giving him PEDs. His motive? Building his resume as a trainer. Nobody would care if he billed himself as “the trainer that worked with Clemens as he rode off into the sunset.” Give Clemens some juice, and voila, he’s “the trainer that extended Clemens’ career by nearly a decade.” People will pay big bucks for that.
3. Clemens did steroids, and this whole episode is just an effort to get away with it. He was acting when he said, “I don’t care about the Hall of Fame.” He told Congress that he did steroids, left the room, and lied to the media about it. If this is the case, we will see Clemens do little speaking during the group hearing on Feb 13th.

As a fan of the New York Yankees and baseball, I hope for 1 or 2. It’s just too difficult to make a clear judgment right now. What is clear is that Clemens should consider suing his barber in addition to McNamee.

In other news, the New York Mets formally introduced their newest acquisition, Johan Santana, to the media on Wednesday. Santana will keep his number 57 from Minnesota. The Mets came away with a steal here because they were willing to pay Santana the large salary he was looking for. He definitely makes the Mets the frontrunners for the NL East title, but I don’t think he’ll make enough of a difference to propel them to a World Series title. He has a poor track record against perennial contenders Boston and the Yankees.

Also Wednesday, in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns traded four-time All-Star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for Shaquille O’Neal. At first glance, the Heat look to be the winners. Shaq is getting older and more injury-prone, and doesn’t seem to fit in well with the speedy Suns offense. Marion’s strong defensive play is sure to make a difference for the struggling Heat. Look for even more overhyped Shaq vs. Kobe matchups now that Shaq is back in the West.