Reaction to the Clemens press conference

I'll start off by saying this: I want to believe Roger Clemens. I want to believe that something during the era of coming into my own as a baseball fan was real and that there was a player who put up numbers bigger than the game. There was a natural product out of a now tarnished generation. I will also admit, into the press conference I was about 80 percent sure Clemens has been lying and he is just as guilty as the hundreds of other players who cheated the game of Baseball.

I think this press conference was at the very least very well presented by Clemens and his lawyer. Rusty Hardin comes off as intelligent and experienced, but also a "good 'ole boy" kind of lawyer. The orange tie was a nice touch. This sort of reminded me of a baseball game: Hardin starts, shoots down the defense point by point and Clemens came in to close and play the role of the eventually angered victim. Literally, Hardin stood there and called out every accusation and suspicion that had been plaguing the eventual legal case so far and whether or not it was true, you have to commend him for doing his job.

Following the free and public "opening statement" was the audio of a phone call that Clemens and his legal team had recorded with the unsuspecting Brian McNamee, who is now being sued for defamation by Clemens. I made a few key notes about the tape:

• As many others have already figured out, Brian McNamee asked Clemens at least 1,000 times what he (Clemens) wanted him (McNamee) to do. McNamee even offered to fly to the press conference and talk, but Clemens, not once, actually told him anything.  Now on one hand you can take the "Clemens was angry" vantage point and say he couldn't think straight and on the other hand you can say "he must be guilty." I will say this, if it was anger then Clemens certainly did not show normal angry patterns in the phone call. At times you can sense it and then later on he seemed calmer and then even later on he seemed mad again with no real prerequisite.
• Clemens' legal team has now successfully painted McNamee to the public the way they wanted to. McNamee sounded scared, unsure, and was or is clearly in a dark place right now. It was noted that his son is dying of a serious disease, he has no money, no credibility, his family has left him/is suffering and he can't even pay hospital bills. All of that was admitted on the tape. He also came off as extremely guilty sounding in regards to "betraying" Clemens, whom McNamee consistently said "treated him better than anybody else." At one point McNamee referred to himself as "bleepin nothing." How do you trust that credibility in the court of law over a guy who has taken each legal step to clear his name and has all the money in the world to continue doing so?
• Neither side used the words "guilty" or "innocent". Every time Clemens said there were lies out there and he was going to tell the truth, McNamee never accused him of lying or said either of them was guilty. He simply stated he did what he thought at the time was right, which could mean a number of things. He never defended what he said, but he did defend his actions, which alluded to him being forced into them, I felt.
• Interesting quote: Clemens: "Now there are all these lies out there." McNamee: "I know, man." It doesn't say much, but it doesn't say nothing either.
• I found it perhaps most interesting (oddly enough) that McNamee recently became a "Celiac." The only reason I noticed this is because as I have stated before, I myself, am one. Celiac's disease is life changing, but not necessarily life threatening. However, with McNamee in his 40s and just now being diagnosed, it's very possible he has physical damage to his intestines or another part of his body. Mine was in the esophagus (the intolerance to gluten lead to acid reflux which lead to holes), and I am just 20. It's a disease triggered usually by "emotional trauma." Mine was the result of a death, his could be the result of this situation, or his son, but that's purely speculation. Either way, it only adds to the uncertainty of McNamee's credibility and the hardships he is currently undertaking.
• His son dying and being in the hospital is yet another plus for Clemens' legal side, as morbid as that sounds. Hmm, McNamee gets threatened with jail time, or he says whatever he is told to say to be with his son. The negative to this theory is that he also stated he turned down TV time in the form of seven figures because he didn't want to talk about Clemens. View that as you choose.
• Somehow, one way or another, money is going to play a role here and not in the form of how much Clemens spends to defend himself.

Here's where my suspicions still remain:

1. If Clemens cares about his body as he stated, than why would he allow McNamee, who may be medically trained, but not a doctor, to not only inject "vitamins" into him for the better part of a decade, but also to do it without Clemens having any idea where they came from, as Clemens also stated.

2. Why didn't Clemens tell McNamee to come to the press conference with him and speak?

3. You had to feel bad for both sides in this. All baseball aspects aside, both families seem absolutely floored at the moment and it really was a shame Clemens could not go to his coach's son's funeral in lieu of the press conference. I wouldn't look any further into that, however.

I do agree with Hardin in that it makes complete sense not to subject Clemens to a lie detector test whether he is guilty or not. I'm no lawyer, but I do know that is something you just don't make your client do. It's right up there with not forcing your opposition to try on blood exhibits from a murder scene, like a glove for example.

• Just to clarify because I was just as confused until it was clarified: It is legal in the states of both Texas and New York to record phone conversations and have them be made public if at least one of the parties consents. In this case, obviously Clemens consented. As we have previously learned, it is not legal to record phone conversations in Washington D.C.
• As I said earlier, I was around 80 percent convinced Clemens was guilty before this conference. I recognize all of it was pre-meditated, the legal team had a hand in everything including the conversation and I can't fully gauge Clemens' reactions. He did seem exceptionally angry and the water barbs at the very least, were humorous. I would now say I am around 70 or 75 percent convinced Clemens is guilty. And I'm sure if he testifies in front of Congress, it will be 60 or 65 percent. The more legal pressing Clemens does, provided nothing comes out against him, I think is like a chink in the armor of suspicion every time. McGwire, Palmeiro, Bonds, Sosa - none of these guys have pressed it this far and all of them had the Hall of Fame at stake. Clemens finished his press conference, perhaps intentionally, by adding he didn't care about the Hall and then proclaiming he was done answering questions. It was a nice touch, I thought.

If today was any indication, we are in for one very interesting legal battle the next few years. This could be the next best male soap opera.