"The reason we did this spot was to feed the demanding beast," Hardin said, referring to the media.
Link
That was Hardin's excuse about the YouTube video. Aside from being the classic, "I'm an idiot so I'll blame the media", it does highlight Clemens' achilles heel. He's been able to say whatever he wants whenever he wants for so long that he thinks he's immune from criticism. His statement “I am disappointed that my 25 years in public life have apparently not earned me the benefit of the doubt..." is similarly revealing. Link Out of context, but in the same vein, Lance Berkman has the same problem. He thinks every thought he has is worth sharing. He's been a prodigy for so long that he, and his immediate circle, believes each hiccup is a gem. It's why we stick our children's kindergarten doodles on the fridge. It's why we prod our children, who we think prodigies, to say "hi" on the telephone to our friends. Trouble is, these types think the population is fascinated by their fridge doodles. ("Say hi Lance, say hi Lance, Lance say hi..." ad infinitum. The radio personalities who encourage this behavior should be ashamed of themselves.)
Here is the thing, let the media spin in their own vitrol for however long it takes them to no longer be self-amused. Usually, it's about as long as it takes a a small child to be distracted by another set of blinking lights. Unless it's the small handful of investigative reporters who want to get a book deal (see: Shadows, Game of), the whole thing would blow over and be done with because that is what this whole circus called the Mitchell Report was supposed to do.
The MLB acted like it needed to.
Mitchell helped them with his report (and recommendation of "move ahead, don't look back")
Congress gets to say they forced the MLB to get "tough" on drug use in the grand old game.
The media gets to chew on a story for a few weeks, maybe a month tops until the fans/readership/viewing audience tells them "Enough already, can we get *back* to the game instead of this bullshit!".
And that would be it. Finito, over, done deal. But nooooooo... Roger Clemens decides to talk and it's now got a life of it's own. He won't be able to control the media like he thinks. This is the one time the media is going to hit homerun after homerun off of his fastball and he's going to look in the mirror one morning and ask "What happened... I used to have these guys eating out of my hand? Damnit!"
Bad move Rocket, your ego bought you a whole mess of crap you were not prepared to take on, especially with the media who loves a great story. Luckily you provided it for them.
