Clemens seems to be strategic on what he's doing. If you want the public to even remotely be on your side, provide a standard for yourself of being defamed and slandered... even if you don't even stand a chance of legally suing anyone. The best way to *look* tough on the side of being defamed is get the best lawsuit lawyer in town. Hardin is a criminal lawyer by career, which is why this is sort of funny in a way, but a name is a name nonetheless.
The other front Clemens seems to be using is the very controlled environments (so far) to speak carefully about the issue at hand. "I didn't do it" is not enough right now, it has to be "I didn't do it" by way of very calculated public airing. A PR move if you will to make sure he has all the damage control he needs.
All in all though, I sit here in awe of this attempt to sway public opinion. Clemens had nothing to fear in terms of public backlash on the whole and if he was worried about his name being dragged through a McGuire-like situation prior to inclusion to the HOF, well... that is ego talking right there.
And that is Roger Clemens, what makes him the best pitcher of the century in the eyes of some also makes him his own worse enemy in other ways like this whole circus that is playing out before us.
Well, Roger has been a criminal before, at least in the arrest and charge phase. Remember when he and his brother were arrested in that brawl at Bayou Mama's in 2001?
It was only a few months after Roger's ever-so-public meltdown in the ALCS pitching for the Red Sox against the Oakland A's. If the A's won that game #4 Roger started, the Red Sox would be ousted from the playoffs. Roger went ballistic against umpire Terry Cooney in the second inning (pressure of being in a "save us, Roger!" situation?) and got kicked out of the game, threatening later to find out where Cooney lived, and "get" him. The Red Sox lost the game and the series.
Anyway, a few months later he and brother Gary were whooping it up at Bayou Mama's, and Gary got into a brawl. An off-duty cop security guard attempted to get brother Gary out of there, and Roger didn't like that. He jumped on the back of the cop and attempted to throttle him. They were both arrested for aggravated assault (a felony), but later the charge was dropped to a misdemeanor, and later they were not charged. Nice judge? Or do you think Rusty Hardin got the two out of hot water that time?
I have to wonder, in this Mitchell Report case, why on earth did
Roger hang on to the services of Brian McNamee even through 2006, and
speak up in support of McNamee after the Grimsley affidavit, if he and his lawyer think McNamee is such a criminal and a liar?
(there's a lot of archival links in the NY Daily News and the NY Times, if anyone cares to Google them)
