Clemens: Not good company to keep
Roger is a long-time reader who used to call into my radio show and make excellent points. Now he sends me the most fascinating emails. Stuff he’s really thought about and carefully considered.
He wrote me last week about Roger Clemens, who went on ESPN’s Mike & Mike radio show and again vehemently denied the steroid accusations. My Roger made some points about Clemens. 1. “When asked a sensitive question, Clemens would change the subject. 2. “Some very obvious lies. (Because of family history, he certainly would never risk using steroids.)” 3. “If others don’t agree with his version of the facts, they must be liars (or misremember?).”
My Roger said he got a strong feeling that he had heard the same kind of story recently. “Then I remembered,” Roger wrote. “Sunday night I was watching an NBA playoff game, but during a time-out I went to check the History Channel. They had a special on Herman Goering and his part as an accused war criminal in the Nuremberg trials.
“Goering was a large man, used to being in charge — and intimidating others. His testimony was persuasive to some at first because of his strength and power. Goering was shown to be a liar.
“One example: after Goering claimed he had nothing to do with the concentration camps, no say in sending anyone there as a prisoner, someone got him to tell how he got some Jewish prisoners released on his authority – these were Jewish men who had been loyal German officers in WWI. Goering wanted to show how ‘some of his best friends were Jews,’ but then they made this point. If he could get a prisoner released, who would believe he had no authority to get someone put into a death camp?
“This is much like Clemens’ claim that his family has a history of heart disease — because his STEPFATHER died of heart disease. So obviously Roger would never endanger his own heart by using steroids?
“Goering told his story as he saw it: as a loyal German citizen, he helped protect the Fatherland from those pesky little neighbor countries who threatened his country. Herman claimed to be a good family man. He changed the subject whenever questions became uncomfortable. He rationalized every action he took.
“It seems Clemens has character not much different from the Nazi war criminal. I found the similarity to be very disturbing to me.”
Well, I must admit no great expertise in Herman Goering or the Nazis in general. But I found this discussion fascinating. I believe Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs; heck, I believe almost every baseball player used them, why wouldn’t I believe a guy with as much evidence stacked against him as Clemens?
I also know that there are people who believe Clemens has been railroaded. The witnesses against Clemens are of dubious character; that’s what you get in legal matters. Choirboys rarely show up in shaky situations, though there is that Andy Pettitte deal that Clemens never has explained away.
But finding similar attitudes in such vastly different settings is simply fascinating. I don’t know for sure that Clemens is lying. But I can see the parallels. Can’t you? Some people tell themselves something so long that they almost come to believe it.
In any event, I’ve seen Clemens compared to a lot of people. Herman Goering now has to rank as No. 1 on the most unflattering list.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
Wow. I don’t like Clemens. I think he is probably lying and is a cheat. But to compare him to a Nazi war criminal? That’s asinine and ridiculous. It’s completely inappropriate to compare the traits that lead someone to cheat at a game with someone who participated in the mass slaughter of human beings. I usually like your stuff Tramel…but giving credence to this type of psychobabble puts a serious dent in your credibility as a journalist. Clemens and Nazi’s? Let’s have some perspective here please!
I don’t think they were comparing Clemens to Goering, I think that they were just comparing the way Clemens was lying to the way Goering was lying. Seeing the similaries. If Clemens was not lying, he wouldn’t be avoiding questions and doing stuff like Goering did.
The commonly used expression, “Those who ignore history are bound (or doomed) to repeat it” is actually a mis-quotation of the original text written by George Santayana, who, in his Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason, Vol.1, wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Santayana’s quotation, in turn, was a slight modification of an Edmund Burke (1729-1797) statement, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
“But to compare him to a Nazi war criminal? That’s asinine and ridiculous.”
Did he compare him with a war criminal, or did he compare him with a known liar? You can certainly compare similar traits in a person without claiming either person’s character totally encompasses the other. To insinuate that the writer was comparing Clemen’s crimes to Goerring’s crimes seems to be more in keeping with the definitions of the words “asinine and ridiculous” than anything the writer said. There is absolutely nothing in this article that would suggest the writer believes Clemens is as evil as Goerring. While they’re crimes were different, they both lied about them in similar fashion. The comparison ends there, and is an apt one.
Did some of you people actually read this article? Did you just see Roger Clemens name next to a notorious Nazi official and garner the assumption that Barry Tramel thinks Clemens belongs in the annuals of evil war time crimminals? The whole basis is that Roger is presenting himself in the same manor as Goerring did in denying his crimes. It makes for a good article, nobody would read this blog if Tramel compared Clemens to middle school janitor who continued to deny and lie about using acid instead of bleach on the gym room floor! You people really can be shallow, maybe taking a refreshing course on literary analysis would do you some good. Good article Berry, I’m sure you have already done so, but just grow some tough skin against some of the more ignorant people in OK, they are just looking for the next pathetic water cooler talk to spread in their gossip circles.
“Some people tell themselves something so long that they almost come to believe it.”
Just like YOU BELIEVE… YOU’RE a SPORTS WRITER!
You guys are mistaken. Trammel is not a journalist; he is a columnist. As a columnist, he is paid to repeat other’s and his opinion. As a journalist, he would present facts based on research and evidence. Obviously, The Oklahoman has no journalists in their sports department, just columnists.
Actually, I think the comparisons between these two men are quite evident. Roger Clemens is, without a doubt, a self absorbed, arrogant, allegedly ‘bullet proof’ because of his talent and reputation who is nothing but an unadulterated liar. And there is the issue he is jerk ass Longhorn, so let him go to prison and develop skills as a wide receiver…..
Wow. I don’t like Clemens. I think he is probably lying and is a cheat. But to compare him to a Nazi war criminal? That’s asinine and ridiculous. It’s completely inappropriate to compare the traits that lead someone to cheat at a game with someone who participated in the mass slaughter of human beings. I usually like your stuff Tramel…but giving credence to this type of psychobabble puts a serious dent in your credibility as a journalist. Clemens and Nazi’s? Let’s have some perspective here please!