Jim Murray = Smoking Gun?

Unlesss you run your life like a CIA black-op, it's hard to keep secrets these days.

ESPN reported on its web site Sunday that Brian McNamee met with one of Roger Clemens' representatives in 2004 to discuss the implications of Major League Baseball instituting steroids testing for the first time. According to McNamee's attorney Earl Ward, McNamee met with Jim Murray for coffee not far from Clemens' apartment, where the former New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays trainer said he injected the 45-year-old Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. The report indicates that Murray works for Clemens' agents Randy and Alan Hendricks.

I find this very believable. If I were in McNamee's position, I would certainly want to inform my client of potential problems with drugs in his system and upcoming testing. The fact that McNamee invoked Murray's name in the taped phone conversation aired by Clemens' advisors on January 7th further bolsters his claims.

Look, I'm no fan of either Clemens or Barry Bonds, and I think they both used PEDs. Yet Bud Selig, Donald Fehr, and MLB ownership clearly enabled and fostered a culture of cheating, and nothing of any consequence is happening to them. Players, "protected" by their union, are being dragged through the mud by the Mitchell Report. A few may face more serious charges that could land them in prison. 90 players, give or take, have been adversely affected by the Mitchell Report while not a single baseball executive is being held accountable for their role with PEDs.

In the meantime, Selig gets a contract extension.

If I were a player, this would strike me as a bit unfair. How long do you suppose they'll put up with this? Lance Berkman of the Houston Astros wants blood testing now. The rest of the players had better get a clue and demand immediate, meaningful change. The present system is not serving them well, while the rest of MLB seems to be enjoying themselves. Otherwise, it will be more of the same: management will continue to skate, and players will bear the brunt of the fallout from future investigations, as they did in 2005 and are doing now.

Mr. Pot, Say Hello to Mr. Kettle

Just how screwed up do you have to be when the group investigating you is infamously known for such things (naming just a few) as Abscam, the Keating Five, 8,331 bounced checks, embezzled House Post Office funds, and sex scandals with under-age staffers?

Such is the state of Major League Baseball these days.

Loser of the day? Miguel Tejada. Talk about a warning shot at the 5 players who will testify next month! You think Roger Clemens may have soiled himself when he got wind of that?

And who would have thought so many ball players required a drug ordinarily prescribed for attention deficit disorder in children? MLB approved medical exemptions for Ritalin for 28 players in 2006 and more than 100 in 2007. Just as we're coming to grips with physical performance enhancers, here come the "mental" enhancers.

The end is not in sight.

Bonds & Clemens: Future Cellmates?

So Congress has postponed their hearing into drug use in MLB until February 13th. Among those "invited" to appear are Brian McNamee, Kirk Radomski, Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Roger Clemens. I'm guessing they will all appear, voluntarily or not. None of them will be offered immunity for their testimony, which is expected, of course, to be truthful.

This cannot be good for Clemens.

You've probably noticed that the guys who have admitted to using PEDs seem to be getting a pass (Giambi, Pettitte, et al), while the guys who are lying about it are getting hammered. Which is OK by me. To this point, these judgements have been made in the court of public opinion, not a court of law. Due process and "innocent until proven guilty" don't apply, especially if you act guilty.

Assuming McNamee sticks to his story and Clemens to his, at least one of them will be lying. Will we see a second liar emerge?

Imagine this scenario:

Congressman: "Mr. Pettitte, did you ever see Roger Clemens use PEDs? Were you otherwise aware of his use of PEDs?"

Three possible responses:

1) If he truly didn't see or know of Clemens' drug use, he can say no and be off the hook.

2) If Pettitte was aware of Clemens' PED use, does he lie about it and say no, or does he give up his friend to keep his own hide safe from possible prosecution for perjury?

3) Or does he take the 5th - no answer? That effectively condemns Clemens, just not in so many words, and again saves Pettitte's skin, if not his reputation. Anything close to Mark McGwire's pathetic performance in the previous hearing will likewise brand Pettitte.

As long as there is no "smoking gun" out there, a la BALCO records or the like, Clemens may still escape. I'm betting that Clemens, Pettitte and their advisors have a conversation or two about all of this prior to February 13th.

But there is still McNamee's testimony to deal with. If it doesn't change, how does Congress handle this obvious discrepancy on live TV? Will someone be charged with perjury later on? Their last foray into MLB and drugs was widely considered to be a joke. Rafael Palmeiro obviously lied to them, and nothing came of it. The delay until February 13th tells me it may be different this time. Congress doesn't want to come across as a bunch of sycophants and poseurs as they previously did. After all, they have an election year image to maintain, and the public wants them to be tough on drugs, right?

So I expect (hope for?) tougher questioning. "No habla Ingles" won't cut it this time around.

Clemens needs to fire his current team of advisors and hire one with damage control expertise. We may not even be having this hearing but for his arrogance and obstinacy. If he would have offered even a weak defense, like Pettitte, much of this would have passed from the public's eye by now.

But Clemens' pride upped the ante, and I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that he could go to jail, like Barry Bonds might be doing.

Not for using PEDs, but for lying about it.

Lidocaine + B12 = Flaxseed Oil

Taking yet another page from the Barry Bonds book of self-defense, Roger Clemens has introduced the equivalent of flaxseed oil, albeit with a bit more savvy than Bonds. Bonds claims he used something he thought was flaxseed oil, which turned out to be a steroid. So he's an addmitted user with "ignorance" as his defense. On the CBS show "60 Minutes," Clemens now says he was injected by his trainer, Brian McNamee, but it was with allowable substances, Lidocaine and Vitamin B 12 .

Clemens' defense is that his injections were of allowable substances and not performance enhancing drugs (PEDS). He has the further advantage, presumably, of no physical records or other hard evidence of PED use such as were available on Bonds through his BALCO association. But who knows what the future will reveal in this increasingly bizarre saga.

In a former career, I sold pharmaceuticals, including lidocaine. As a strength coach, I've spent many years in gyms, and I've known a lot of guys who have used all manner of PEDS. With this as background, a few questions come to mind:

1) Why is Clemens willing to talk on national TV to Mike Wallace, but not in private to George Mitchell?

2) I'm guessing Clemens' lawyers vetted the questions Wallace would ask before agreeing to the interview. Even the final video that CBS showed may have been edited. With this in mind, it's too bad that Wallace didn't explore this whole "injection" issue more. Steroids are typically injected in the buttocks area, intra-muscularly (IM). Lidocaine is usually applied topically or by sub-cutaneous (sub-q) injection, as dentists use it, for example.

The only use by an athlete for pain that I'm aware of would be by intra-articular injection (IA), or within the joint. This is a very different type of injection, more technique-sensitive and potentially dangerous, something that a skilled physician would perform - not a trainer.

3) McNamee has a Masters degree in Sports Science. Clemens' educational background is in, what? Just a guess here, but I'm willing to bet that McNamee knows more about drugs than Clemens. The fact that MLB players commonly use the term "B 12 shots" as a euphemism for steroids isn't particularly helpful to Clemens either.

And now we find that Clemens is finally suing McNamee for libel, after McNamee threatened to do the same. Clemens' attorneys are claiming that "McNamee made the allegations with actual malice, knowing they were false."

So who benefits from any of this? One name or the other may be cleared, but not both. I'm not a legal expert, but does this lawsuit prevent Clemens from saying anything substantive in front of Congress, should he decide to appear before them - the old, "I'm sorry, but I can't comment on that because of ongoing litigation I'm involved with?"

And now that the legal process is officially engaged, Clemens had better tread carefully. Bonds is in trouble not for his PED use, but lying about it. Interesting, isn't it, that law enforcement may end up doing more to rid MLB of PED use than MLB itself?

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