Posted on 01/10/2008 8:35:18 AM PST by canuck_conservative
I don't know the full story of Ralph Beard, but most of those guilty of point-shaving admitted to keeping the scores down, not to throwing games completely. (I know this might be a distinction without a difference to some.) That is, if his team was favored by ten points and Beard made sure they won by less than that, he would be a point-shaver, but he did not conspire to make his team lose.
I HOPE he is innocent because , like he said, all his career he has "worked his butt off" to stay in shape.
On local TV replay of the phone call, I thought Roger did say, "Just tell the truth."
Who knows!?
What’s not said:
Point-shaving is done as favors for organized crime, so that they can steal money. The crime done isn’t his done to either team... it’s grand theft against people who made wagers. If Beard tangled for the mob for only $700, it doesn’t mean his crime was less; it means only his soul was cheap.
Perry’s antics were part of the equation when people decided who to root for, and were useless in trying to fix games for the mafia. Dirty? Yes. Mafia-related crime? No.
And there’s the difference.
I’d like to give Clemens the benefit of the doubt, but if I were him and I’m innocent... as soon as the allegations came out, I’m screaming from a mountain top that I’m 100% innocent, I didn’t do it, and I’ll sue everyone I can for libel and defamation. However, Clemens didn’t do that. He waited a few days, then through his lawyers (note he didn’t do it directly) refuted the claims. To me that tells me he’s hiding something. I hope I’m wrong.
"Absolutely, 100% not guilty!"
I agree... Clemens’ denial seems sincere to me.
On another topic, I also wonder if much of this steroid “cheating” is way overblown. The thing most obvious to me after that big report came out was how many people were on the list— and how most of them were names that I’d never heard of.
If that many people are doing it, and clearly for most of them there was no obvious advantage accruing to them because of it... is it really cheating if it has no effect? Seems to me it’s the same kind of “cheating” as carrying a lucky rabbit’s foot.
There’s no way to be 100% sure, but after thinking about his 60 minutes interview, I think he’s lying for two reasons. He brought up the possible up the possible harm from all the Vioxx he’s taken. It’s typical for liars to change the subject and try to garner sympathy. Second, he said the reason he didn’t take steroids is because they don’t work and they shorten your career. That’s not a convincing argument to me.
According to Werner Wolf, the B12 shot and lidicane? (sp) that Clemens says McNamee gave him would have been more likely to have been administered by a team physician, not a trainer.
Ask yourself this: why would McNamee tell the truth about Pettitte, but lie about Clemens?
The one who should “just tell the truth” is Roger Clemens. But just like Barry Bonds, it will never happen! We can only hope somewhere, someone nails Clemens for perjury!
Didn’t like Clemen’s and this just reaffirms my feelings
He has one section of his house set up like a museum to his career and has the gall to get on TV and say “I don’t give a rat’s ass about the HOF —Yeah sure Rog
He has made how many gazillions over the last 6-7 years yet he wants some peon to risk perjury and jail time for him
Man up Rog you won’t have to give any of the salary back
Marion Jones’s denials seemed sincere at the time.
“Man up Rog you wont have to give any of the salary back”
He won’t. It’s really all about the celebrity status and ego that goes with the induction into the HOF.
As we have seen, some recent offenders have said "yes I did it" and received accolades for coming clean. It certainly seems to be an inexcusable offense to deny something that "the media" has taken on as fact.
Wasn’t Clemens contacted while the Mitchell Report was still being compiled, and didn’t he have a chance then to refute the charges in the Mitchell Report?
As an official old fart, I feel it's my duty to remind you that $700 bucks was a pretty good haul for a college kid back in the 40s.
Why the dollar had only been devalued once and was still worth $.50, a whole heck of a lot more than it's worth today!
Well, ok... so it means that he’s lying because she did?
I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I can’t say I care all that much who’s taking steroids. Seems like the simplest answer is to just legalize ‘em. Everybody’s using ‘em anyway. The don’t even seem to be making much of a difference.
Yeah, that's the significant part here. Pettitte has games to play, Clemens doesn't. Pettitte has more to lose since he could be facing a long suspension or even an outright ban. Clemens, OTOH, has his money. His professional reputation is the only thing at stake here (so far).
Clemens might be the 'Big Fish' that the Mitchell Report was looking for, but isn't Pettitte a big enough fish? I don't see McNamee having any motivation to lie about Clemens. I would think the motivation would be to shield Clemens if anything. They have a long history.
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