Did he actually use the word misremember?  That’s not even a word!!!  Oh, wait…it is?  Misremember IS a word!?  Well, excuse me, Roger.  On top of not believing a single word you said, I’ve actually been making fun of you for your terrible grammar!  Come to find out (thanks Dictionary.com), misremember is a word.  I apologize for my gross overreaction. 

Two days ago, I got a chance to witness one of the more comical things I’ve ever seen on TV: the congressional hearings on steroids in baseball.  And what a farce it was.  At first I was surprised that Congress was actually “grilling” each guy.  Then as it went on, I became increasingly disturbed by the inevitable end result: NOTHING. 

These hearings were an example of partisan politics at its worst.  The Democrats asked the harder questions, while the Republicans brown-nosed the entire time.  It almost seemed like George Bush called his Republican brethren before the hearing and told them to go easy on Roger and rip into McNamee. 

Democrats like Waxman, Lynch, Cummings and others asked the tough questions and began to uncover numerous lies.  But then one of two things happened:  either they did not ask the next question to prove Clemens was lying or they ran out of time and couldn’t follow-up with an appropriate question.  Sadly, I think the vast majority of Americans share these same sentiments:

"We found conflicts and inconsistencies in Mr. Clemens’ accounts," said Waxman, D-Calif. "During his deposition, he made statements we know are untrue." 

"It’s hard to believe you, sir," Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., told Clemens. "I hate to say that. You’re one of my heroes. But it’s hard to believe."

In a court of law, Roger is innocent until proven guilty.  But in the court of public opinion, he’s already been sentenced to life. 

And don’t even get me started on the Republican Congressmen.  They were the biggest joke of the day!  Roger’s visit the day before obviously resulted in some preferential treatment.  He signed baseballs, took pictures and shook hands.  He met with 25 members of Congress, while McNamee met with NONE.  In fact, McNamee wasn’t even allowed to meet with them.  Before this fiasco, I thought it would take a lot more than a few autographs and pictures to buy off members of the United States Congress.  It was an embarrassment the way McNamee was treated by the Republicans.  And it was laughable that Roger was praised and put up on a pedestal by them. 

Congressman Clay said a colleague “wants to know what uniform will you where into the Hall of Fame?”  One Congresswoman actually said she thinks Roger will go to heaven! 

"This is really disgusting," Congressman Burton yelled at McNamee.  “You’re here as a sworn witness, you’re here to tell the truth, you’re here under oath. And yet we have lie, after lie, after lie… I don’t know what to believe. I know one thing I don’t believe, and that’s you!  Roger Clemens… is a TITAN in baseball."  Give me a break, Mr. Burton.  You’re an embarrassment to our country.

They had Clemens on the ropes, but couldn’t deliver the knock-out blow.  Why not ask him the tough question?  So many times, this “TITAN in baseball,” could have been caught in lies and some “misremembrances” of his own.  But the crucial follow-up question was never asked.  Hey Roger, your wife admitted to being shot up with HGH, so how did she find out where to get it?  So you’re telling us that Pettitte, Knoblauch, Pettitte’s father, YOUR WIFE and others were taking HGH, but not you?  Interesting.  Rather convenient that you met with the nanny you hadn’t seen in seven years before the hearing too?  What a joke.

I just don’t see how Roger is innocent.  I feel awful saying that, and I really hope further evidence proves me wrong, but after watching him at the hearings this week, I don’t see any way he’s telling the truth.  Actions speak so much louder than words and he was acting like a guilty man on Wednesday.  He constantly looked down at prepared statements after being asked a question.  He repeatedly gave conflicting stories to many different people.  He was uncharacteristically nervous.  But, who wouldn’t be nervous facing interrogation from Congress?  I’ll tell you who…someone who is telling the truth!  McNamee never once appeared nervous to me.  Don’t you think one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball, who performed like a superstar in front of millions of fans in his career, would be able to comfortably handle questioning from 40+ members of Congress if he were telling the truth?

Moreover, what does McNamee have to lose here?  If he lies, he goes to jail.  If he doesn’t comply he goes to jail.  If he tries to cover up and save face for MLB and some players, he goes to jail.  So, why would he lie?  Some would say (especially Congressman Burton), well if McNamee is an admitted liar, why should we believe him now?  I say, because he now knows he can’t get away with the lies anymore.  In the past he thought he could probably lie about his involvement and the whole thing would go away.  Well, not anymore.  He must come clean if he wants to save his own rear-end.  Pun intended. 

This is turning into a Barry Bonds-like saga all over again.  Barry hasn’t gotten in trouble yet, so I guess Roger just decided to follow the same path.  He could have easily done what Pettitte, Knoblauch, Brian Roberts and Rodney Harrison did: come clean.  Don’t try to fool the American public.  We’re not THAT stupit. Like Martha Stewart, Clemens thinks he’s better than all of us.  He thinks he can beat the system.  If he came out 2 months ago and just admitted that he did steroids/HGH a few times, things would be so much different.  In fact, I bet most people, while angry or saddened at first, would forgive him in the end.  I sure would. 

The only reason they had the hearings is because Roger insisted.  He thought he could fool us.  He thought he could clear his name.  There’s a possibility that the only truthful thing Clemens said on Wednesday is that he’ll never “get his name/reputation back.”  John Dennis of WEEI called it “pathological arrogance,” and I couldn’t agree more. 

The whole hearing was a joke.  It was Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus all dressed up in pretty little suits.  Step aside Jerry Springer, the United States Congress is here to take your place.

Pitchers and catchers reported 48 hours ago, so from here on out, it’s Red Sox baseball posts!  Check back next week…

I’ve struggled for weeks about the topic of my first MLBlog.  I heard about this website through some friends from Boston College that I graduated with in 2004.  There were hundreds (probably thousands) of Red Sox fans at BC at the time, but other teams were also well represented.  These groups encompassed an incredible cross-section of MLB fandom.  Mets fans, Cubs fans, Dodgers fans, Twins fans, and especially Yankee fans all seemed to dominate conversations throughout the year.  In an all-too-familiar way, I left school every May with the Red Sox having a 3-5 game lead in the division, then I’d come back in September and the Yankees had flipped the script.  I constantly drew parallels to the movie “Groundhog Day.”  Every year was the same.  Then things changed.  2004 happened.  2007 happened.  Now, all is well in Boston.  It’s a great time to be a Sox fan.  Disappointing that the Sox didn’t get Johan Santana; but hey, the Yankees didn’t get him either, so it’s alright.

This first blog reminds me of the introduction/thesis of every paper I ever wrote at BC.  Getting started is the hardest part.  Once the first part is done, the rest comes easy.  How do I begin a full season’s worth of Red Sox blogs?  Well, the answer came easily on Sunday night around 10 pm. 

For a Boston sports fan, it’s always baseball season.  However, I believe the official beginning of the baseball season is a few days after the parade celebrating a Patriots victory in the Super Bowl, or immediately after a devastating loss that ends their season. As the baseball “hot-stove” cooled, the focus of fans and media alike was almost solely on football.  And why not?  The Patriots were undefeated and on their way to becoming the greatest team in NFL history.  But, with an Eli Manning TD pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left in Super Bowl XLII, the 2008 baseball season had officially begun. 

I had a Super Bowl party at my house with about 30 people.  Immediately after that touchdown pass 28 of them said the same thing: “well, at least the Red Sox season starts soon” (the two people that didn’t speak were Giants fans, who admirably, were very happy, but not obnoxious).  In fact, none of my Giants fan friends, from home or BC, were obnoxious.  Perhaps they were too elated to brag or fill my inbox with thousands of nonsensical text messages or emails.  Perhaps they knew I was a little bit happy for them.  Perhaps they were as stunned as I was.  Or perhaps, they too felt as I do that it’s not like beating a bitter rival.  After all, I like the Giants. 

The New York Football Giants are a lot of New Englanders 2^nd favorite team.  Many years ago, well before my time, they were the only team to root for around here.  Even though this loss was devastating, I wasn’t as heartbroken as I would have been had the Patriots lost to the Colts or Jets in the AFC playoffs.  The hatred for the Giants, at least in my neck of the woods, isn’t as vitriolic as the hatred of the Colts and the Jets.  And without a doubt, the hatred of the Giants, or any of those other teams I mentioned, doesn’t even compare to the hatred of the New York Yankees.

I couldn’t disagree more with those of you that feel this Patriots loss hurts more than a season-ending loss to the Yankees, the Colts, or the Jets.  The Patriots are my #1 football team, always will be.  The feeling I felt in early 2002 when the Patriots beat the Rams was unforgettable.  It was a feeling that had me and my friends at BC running around shirtless outside in sub-freezing temperatures high-fiving BC police officers!  These were the same police officers that probably would have arrested us or written us up for underage drinking had the Patriots lost.  But, I digress.

The only similarity between the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry and the Patriots/Giants rivalry is that the teams are from Boston and New York.  Now pay attention.  The Giants are to the Patriots as the Mets are to the Red Sox.  Not many, if any, Red Sox fans truly despise the Mets.  The Giants aren’t the Yankees!  And nothing hurts more than a season-ending loss to the Yankees; especially that loss in 2003.  When Aaron Boone hit that walk-off homer, I cried for the first time since my great-Grandmother passed away 4 years earlier.  I’ve never cried over a Patriots loss. 

I still don’t believe the Giants won, though.  It stinks that I may never see another team even come close to 19-0 in my lifetime. This Super Bowl loss hurts badly, but, not as much as the loss to the Yankees in 2003.  Not as much as a playoff loss to the Jets would ever hurt.  But, most importantly, this loss to the Giants didn’t even hurt as much as the loss to the Colts in the AFC Championship last year.  This is my justification:  the Giants absolutely dominated every aspect of this Super Bowl.  Their defensive line made Matt Light look like a Fagan Door (joke in there for those of you that know the Fagan Door commercial here in New England).  They made Tom Brady look like Eli Manning.  The Giants offensive line made Eli Manning look like Tom Brady (well, the pre-2007 Brady)!  The Patriots were outplayed in every aspect of the game, and still led for about ¾ of it!  They did not deserve to win.  And if it weren’t for the Patriots defense, the Giants would have won by 3 touchdowns!

The Giants were the better team on Sunday.  And when they won, I was stunned.  I was angry.  Were the Patriots cocky?  Did they think they were going to just roll through the Giants without a contest?  Did the Patriots think they were playing my high school football team in Rhode Island?  Were they listening to the yahoos and nitwits on sports radio 850 WEEI all week predicting a 42-14 victory? 

I only speak for myself (because I’m sure a lot of Patriots fans will think I’m crazy), but my point here is that while this was a painful loss and will take a while to get over, it didn’t even hurt as much as the loss to the Colts last year.  The Patriots were dominated in this year’s Super Bowl; they were lucky to even have a chance to win.  On the other hand, the Patriots owned last year’s AFC Championship against the Colts.  They were the better team for nearly ¾ of that game.  There is no way in **** they should have relinquished that lead.  That loss hurt.  It hurt for months.  I’m still not over it, especially because the NFC Super Bowl opponent was THE CHICAGO BEARS (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit)!  It hurt far more than this loss to the Giants hurt, even with an undefeated season and an unprecedented historical accomplishment on the line.   

But, what really hurts the most about the loss to the Giants is that everyone, yes even you New England Patriots haters, now have to hear Mercury “bleeping” Morris run his mouth and rap about the ’72 Dolphins until you die!  He’s never going away now.  Give me a break, Mercury.  The ’08 Patriots would have demolished the ’72 Dolphins.  The ’08 Giants would have dismantled the ’72 Dolphins.  The ’08 Colts and the ’08 Chargers would have blown out the ’72 Dolphins.  Even the ’08 Jets would have given the ’72 Dolphins a game…ok maybe not, but you get my point.  I’d rather listed to JA Rule on my 50 mile commute to and from work every day than hear Mercury Morris open his mouth ever again.  (“Where would I be without my babayyy?!”).  Ugh.  Awful. 

If only the Packers capitalized on their home-field advantage…

Just to clarify in case there is any confusion; this loss to the Giants is devastating.  I’m just trying to put things in perspective and have a little fun while doing it.  If I feel like I got kicked in the junk on Sunday night, then I can only imagine how the Patriots’ players feel.  Football is their job.  To us, it’s just a game.

Pitchers and catchers in 8 days!

Fellow BC bloggers:

http://donovan.mlblogs.com/my_weblog/

http://theyankeeidentity.mlblogs.com/

http://thecubsexperience.mlblogs.com/the_cubs_experience/

http://gries.mlblogs.com/