‘Rocket's' dead flair; congress bursting hot air

Matt’s Take:

When former Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees ace Roger Clemens was indicted by a federal grand jury on Aug. 19 for allegedly lying under oath during a House Committee hearing in 2008, my first thought was… really?

I mean come on Congress; do you not have anything better to do?

Our economy is sagging, we are fighting questionable wars overseas and unemployment numbers continue to increase, but you want to waste taxpayer money and put someone on trial for lying about taking steroids.

Really?

Personally, I don’t care if every single baseball player, football player or Olympic swimmer is roiding up. Are they hurting me? Taking money out of my pocket? No. So, why don’t you concern yourself with something a little more important?

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not condoning cheating. I think anyone who has taken steroids or human growth hormone should be banned from making their respective Hall of Fame or winning medals in international competition. But to take the time and effort to put them on trial is just absurd.

Talk about wasteful government spending at its finest.

As for “The Rocket,” I would just have to ask why?

You are a seven-time Cy Young winner and arguably the most dominant pitcher of our generation, and now your legacy is forever tainted. Sure, you are vehemently denying it now, but so did Alex Rodriguez. You may as well take whatever dignity you have left and fess up to what you have done.

For some odd reason in the sport’s world, if you admit to your wrongdoing, like Andy Pettitte, all seems to be forgiven. If not, you may as well get in line with Barry Bonds and keep on denying the obvious.

It was a pleasure to watch you — even if you were chemically enhanced.

Andrew’s take:

When I say that Roger Clemens put himself in this situation, I’m not referring to him taking steroids or human growth hormone.

True, if the Rocket never indulged, his name wouldn’t be in the Mitchell report and he would be sitting back, retired, and counting down the days until the Hall called him up.

But he was likely chemically enhanced, along with about half the players from the generation in baseball that will go down as the “Steroid Era.”

That being widely accepted, all Roger had to do was wait to be questioned and then stick with his lie, like everyone else.

But he went to Washington. He tried to beat Congress to the punch, and got burned.

If Roger kept off the grid, the U.S. government would have eventually come under fire for investing tax dollars in a witch-hunt of the entertainment industry.

I believe that performance-enhancing consumption in Major League Baseball is a matter for the administration of the sport — not the federal government. And I have a feeling that a lot of Americans are on the same page.

If our leaders are going to question Major Leaguers, our local meatheads at the gym, who are taking the same junk, should be under the same searchlight.

But Clemens was trying to beat the government, like an opposing batter, by going right after them.

Sorry, but in this case the fastball was the wrong choice, and it looks like Congress will go yard.

One Monday, Clemens will sit in front of U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton as he faces up to 30 years behind bars.