Sam Donnellon of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote a great article about how fans want to believe in their sports’ heroes, but certain athletes are making it impossible to do so.
As congress underlined during its steroid inquiries, we can convince ourselves of any improbability when it comes to sports. For example: Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch have, under oath, confirmed trainer Brian McNamee’s testimony that he administered HGH and/or steroids to them, and Pettitte gave an affidavit stating that Roger Clemens said nearly 10 years ago that he used HGH. Debbie Clemens, Roger’s wife, said in a statement that she allowed McNamee to shoot her with HGH when Roger wasn’t home. And yet, when it was Indiana Rep. Dan Burton’s turn to ask questions, he called Clemens a “titan” and tore into McNamee with this bit of baseballese:
“What if all your lies turn out to not be true?” he asked.
We dearly wanted to believe that a cowboy like Clemens or a pretty little thing like Jones simply worked harder than everyone else to attain their titan status. And so we’re clear, the media is as guilty as anyone of looking the other way, of being dragged to the investigation rather than spearheading it.
When andro was found piled in McGwire’s locker, discussions of his cheating were washed over by a debate over the ethics of the reporter who found it there.
Fans should demand more from athletes. While they don’t necessarily have to be role models, it would be nice to watch a player jack a home run without wondering what he’s on. Just based on the Clemens-McNamee battle, those days seem to be a long ways off, however.
