In a week when the news was filled with stories about athletes violating drug policies in their sports, Roger Clemens has now been added to the body count.

Clemens has been under investigation for more than two years for testimony he gave in front of Congress in 2008.The grand jury hearing the evidence has been asked to determine if Clemens lied under oath when he denied he was shot-up with steroids and/or HGH.

At that time he was faced with his former trainer, Brian McNamee who told the legislators that he in fact injected the pitcher, not once but multiple times. He ghoulishly kept medical waste that purportedly contained Clemens DNA just for an event like this.

After the Mitchell Report was published in late 2007, McNamee became a star along with former Mets clubhouse employee, Kirk Radomski, who was identified as a source for the drugs.

McNamee trained not only Clemens but Andy Pettite, long-time friends and at the time, fellow New York Yankees.

Congress wanted to know what the heck was going on since all this had been kept on the down-low.

McNamee admitted sourcing his drugs through Radomski and injecting Clemens and Pettite. Roger went on a public relations binge, including an interview on CBS’ “Sixty Minutes”. He was righteous and outraged and continued that posture in front of the Congressional committee, but this time under oath.

In the ensuing two years, Clemens and McNamee have spent a lot of money in legal fees suing and counter-suing each other for defamation of character.

A grand jury in Washington, DC has moved with a snail’s pace to get testimony from many who might be able to shed light on McNamee’s charges and Clemens’ denials. Finally, this week the witness list contains a big fish, McNamee himself, according to the New York Daily News.

He just might determine whether Clemens is charged with obstruction of justice and perjury.

During this past week we learned that authorities believe a Canadian doctor was flying around the U.S. dispensing substances on a very personal basis to athletes who play more than baseball.

We also got the full confession, at least according to him, from disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis. He has decided to ‘fess up about his chronic performance enhancing techniques while he attempts to take down others in his sport, including the Big Kahuna himself, Lance Armstrong.

We learned that the years-long denial campaign that spanned the globe and never got Landis back his 2006 Tour de France victory was a bunch of lies.

We seem to hear that every time an athlete is the subject of investigative digging and faced with facts that can no longer be denied. They admit some, perhaps not all of their transgressions and we all move on.

And that has become the truth about the drugs in sports stuff. It’s sensational, titillating and full of celebrities crashing, but seemingly only for a moment.

Then it’s back to business and the next scandal. Perhaps it’s just better that way.

Mark McGwire decided to come clean and finally admitted using steroids throughout his career, including the year he broke the single-season home run record.

McGwire had basically fallen off the map since dodging the steroid question in front of a congressional committee in March 2005. Now that the former Major League Baseball player is preparing to coach this season for the St. Louis Cardinals he must have thought it was best to address the issue prior to the season to avoid a media circus when spring training starts (Google Alex Rodriguez).

During an interview with the Associated Press, McGwire apologized. “The toughest thing is my wife, my parents, close friends have had no idea that I hid it from them all this time,” said McGwire. “I knew this day was going to come. I didn’t know when.”

McGwire went on to admit using steroids and HGH throughout a decade and during the time he broke Roger Maris’ home run record in 1998.

“I wish I had never touched steroids,” McGwire said. “It was foolish and it was a mistake.”

According to the AP, McGuire called Commissioner Bud Selig, St. Louis manager Tony La Russa and Maris’ widow, Pat to personally break the news then called the AP for the interview.

“It was a wrong thing what I did. I totally regret it. I just wish I was never in that era,” he said.

McGwire finished his career with 583 home runs, tied for eighth on the all-time list. His record of 70 home runs in 1998 only held up for three years then it was surpassed by Barry Bonds’ 73 homers in 2001. In addition, his resume includes 1987 AL Rookie of the Year and 12 trips to the All-Star Game.

Ironically this admission comes just days after the latest Hall Of Fame vote that saw McGwire get a mere 23 percent vote, well below the 75 percent necessary to make it to Cooperstown.

“This has nothing to do with the Hall of Fame,” he said. “This has to do with me coming clean, getting it off my chest, and five years that I’ve held this in. There’s no way a pill or an injection will give you hand-eye coordination or the ability or the great mind that I’ve had as a baseball player,” he said. “I was always the last one to leave. I was always hitting by myself. I took care of myself.”

He said he first used steroids between the 1989 and 1990 seasons, after helping the Oakland Athletics to a World Series sweep when he and Jose Canseco formed the Bash Brothers.

“When you work out at gyms, people talk about things like that. It was readily available,” he said. “I tried it for a couple of weeks. I really didn’t think much of it.”

He said he returned to steroids after the 1993 season after being told steroids might speed his recovery.

“I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength purposes,” he said.

McGwire’s 70 homers in 1998 was part of a head-to-head battle with Chicago Cubs Sammy Sosa who finished with 66. Sosa, like McGuire, has brushed off and denied using steroids thus far and was reprimanded when he was caught using an illegal bat around that same time.

Selig praised McGwire, saying, “This statement of contrition, I believe, will make Mark’s re-entry into the game much smoother and easier.” If anyone knows about damage control it’s Selig. The commissioner has had his hands full over the years with the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez admitting using steroids, Bonds facing criminal charges accused of lying when questioned about steroids and Roger Clemens currently being investigated for possibly lying to Congress concerning his involvement in steroid use.

Rafael Palmeiro is another player who denied using steroids but then tested positive for one later that year.

“I’m sure people will wonder if I could have hit all those home runs had I never taken steroids,” McGwire said. “I had good years when I didn’t take any, and I had bad years when I didn’t take any. I had good years when I took steroids, and I had bad years when I took steroids. But no matter what, I shouldn’t have done it and for that I’m truly sorry.”

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Copyright © 2010 – Sports Climax

ATLANTA – As the Barry Bonds’ March 2 trial grows closer and pieces of the prosecutors’ case against MLB’s home run record- holder continue to go public, if there was any doubt whether Hank Aaron supports Bonds as home run king, those questions may have been answered.

In an interview Aaron this week with the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution, the retired player made his opinion clear saying the HR record belongs to Bonds and should not be taken away.

“In all fairness to everybody, I just don’t see how you really can do a thing like that and just say somebody isn’t the record holder anymore, and let’s go back to the way that it was,” Aaron told the AJC.

“If you did that, you’d have to go back and change all kinds of records. It (the home run record) is probably the most hallowed record out there, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s now in the hands of somebody else. It belongs to Barry.”

“Really, it’s sort of a tricky call when you start going down that road of who is legitimate,” Aaron added in the interview.

These are strong points made by one of baseball’s greatest players of all time. If Bonds is stripped of the record, does that force MLB to strip A-Rod of his MVP award he won in 2003 and Roger Clemens, if convicted, of his laundry-list of strikeout records and seven Cy Young awards.

The list would go on and on. Major League Baseball would have to rewrite their record books and Cooperstown would have to apply asterisks to or garage sale many of their memorabilia displays.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax

NASHVILLE – Roger Clemen’s ex-lover country singer Mindy McCready is recovering in a hospital after she was admitted due to another suicide attempt. 

McCready, who recently admitted to having an affair with the Cy Young winning fast-baller attempted suicide on Wednesday night.

According to police reports released to the media, Timothy McCready, brother of the singer discovered his sister had sliced her wrists and taken several pills after a night of binging.

McCready is said to be in stable condition and her attorney Lee Ofman said he had no details on the situation.

Clemens is still being investigated for possible perjury for his testimony in front of Congress in the MLB steroid scandal.

Clemens also had denied having an affair with McCready but the country star confirmed that they had indeed done the deed on several occasions years after they met when she was 16-years-old.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

Full story here

Judge Susan Illston dropped three of the charges against ex-San Francisco Giants slugger, Barry Bonds, lightening the load of perjury charges he will be facing in his upcoming March trial.That’s a decent start but it’s time to drop the remaining 10 charges as well, unless the government charges everyone else who has outright lied in front of Congressional committees.

Bonds has been singled out, period!

In March 2005, Rafael Palmeiro pointed his finger at a Congressional committee to emphasis his statement and said these words, “I have never used steroids. Period!”

In a blood test that followed later that season, the potent anabolic steroid, stanozolol, was detected.

Doesn’t that indicate Palmeiro’s statement to the committee may have been a lie?

Questions followed and Palmiero was quick to use the name-dropping defense. Political contribution records show that on July 23, 2003 and August 17, 2004, the ex-Texas Ranger slugger donated $2,000 each time to the Bush/Cheney campaign.

Battling the media’s direct hammering of questions about the statements he made in front of Congress, Palmeiro said he was “a personal friend of President George Bush”.

Shortly after, the Palmeiro scenario was quickly brushed under the rug.

Roger Clemens had a similar response as Palmeiro. When Clemens was questioned under oath by a Congressional committee about steroid use, he responded, “I know the ex-President Bush and he was able to find me when I was hunting so . . . ”

What is with the name-dropping! It has no relevance whatsoever to whether or not these guys took a needle full of illegal substances in the glutes from a trainer.

Mindy McCready recently was interviewed about her affair with Clemens. Her statements as well as photos of a party at Jose Canseco’s home all contradict Clemens’ testimony.

Hard not to wonder what the hold-up is on pressing charges on these other players who have appeared in front of Congress and had questionable interviews.

It’s time to charge all of these players or drop all the charges against Bonds.

Full Story Here

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

The more questions that are asked, the more info people offer, the deeper the hole gets for 7-time Cy Young winner, Roger Clemens to crawl out of, unless of course that hole gets so deep he ends up buried in it.

The hole started out small with accusations of steroid use coming from a few “I’ll-do-anything-for-a-buck” guys, Jose Canseco and injector-trainer Brian McNamee.

That hole increased in size when photos emerged placing Clemens at a Canseco party that Clemens, while under oath, outright denied being at.

In an interview with Mindy McCready, done by Inside Edition, that hole may end up deeper and bury Clemens who may have to find a better rebuttal than, “I know ex-president Bush and went hunting with him”.

The debate on whether Clemens lied under oath has grown very lopsided over the months since he lied, I mean, testified before Congress pertaining to that steroid Mitchell Report.

That latest chatter from ex-jailbird McCready, who Clemens denied having an affair with, will be more than just a headache for Roger.

According to CBS.com, McCready told Inside Edition she “met Clemens when she was 16, not 15,” as reported by the Daily News last April. She told the news magazine, they met in a karaoke bar, that her relationship with the pitcher didn’t turn sexual until several years later and the relationship lasted for a decade.

McCready went on to say, “We went on vacations together. We went to Palm Springs. We went to Las Vegas, New York City.”

McCready also was quoted by the Daily News: “He (Clemens) should have just told Debbie (his wife) and been honest with her. If he didn’t want to be with her and wanted to be with me, he should have told her.”

Expect that hole to be 6-feet deep when this fiasco is over.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax

As stern criticism concerning Jose Canseco’s lack of character, ill-intentions and sleaze factor mounts, there seems to be a sudden shift in gears with his public relations strategy.

After glowing in the spotlight as MLB’s snitch of the century and taking in tons of cash, Canseco decides it’s time to say he is sorry and he does it in his new A&E documentary called, “Last Shot.”

Now bankrupt, Canseco said he is sorry he ever created his book ‘Juiced”, and sorry for outing his fellow MLB players for taking illegal steroids.

The following quotes from the book and other interviews have revealed a  character unconcerned about his fellow athletes and former friends.

During a past interview with Mike Wallace: “When the cameras stopped rolling, Wallace asked me if we could talk, off-camera. He kept me there for another hour, clearly curious about steroids. . . . He wondered how the steroids and human growth hormones (HGH) might help him, a man in his 80s, live a longer, healthier life. He wanted to know everything.”

In his book: “I met Mags (Magglio Ordonez) in 2001, when I was with the White Sox. When it was all said and done, when Maggs had the information he needed, he told me he was in. A few days later, we went into the back room in the clubhouse, and I jabbed a needle into his butt. ‘Ow,’ he said. ‘That hurt.’ ‘You’ll get used to it,’ I said.”

Canseco also mentioned the comments he made about Roger Clemens were edited out of interviews he had with ESPN and 60 Minutes and attributed that to the fact Clemens, who is a member of our Famous Mugshots Gallery, is from Texas and is very close to the Bush family.  “Clemens is a personal friend of Bush Sr. and his wife, Barbara. Clemens still has a standing invitation from Bush Jr. to visit the White House anytime. Getting the picture? Maybe the President of the United States, or his daddy, the ex-President, made some calls and took care of things for good ol’ Roger.”

In another chapter: “So A-Rod, if you’re reading this book, and if I’m not getting through to you, let’s get clear on one thing: I hate your — guts.”

Canseco’s National-Enquirer-like tale has ruined the careers, reputations and lives of several people including Clemens, Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire to name only a few.

Canseco’s life since retiring from baseball, has taken the route of a desperate man, whoring himself out to productions like Celebrity Boxing along the way; it doesn’t get much more pathetic than that.

Celebrity Boxing has included other people over the years who were trying desperately to cling to fame. There was a Tonya Harding vs. Clinton-sleaze Paula Jones, Refrigerator Perry vs. Manute Bol; and even a Partridge-family member vs. Brady Bunch member bout.

Canseco was knocked out in his bout by a sportscaster, Vai Sikahema. Canseco, 6-ft 4in, 245 lbs. got pummeled by the much smaller Sikahema, 5ft 9in, 205 lbs.

Sikahema knocked Canseco down with a left hook and again with a flurry of punches, both in the first round and the fight was called after just one round.

Entertainment? Depends who you ask.

Is his book ‘Juice’ entertainment? Depends who you ask.

So how sorry is Canseco, really?

Canseco recently released a second book slamming steroid use as well as the A&E documentary. Creating more negative exposure against the same sport and people he threw under the bus sounds more like a PR and marketing tour. It’s no wonder most people do not see any sincerity in his apology and look at it as another money-making scheme.

When filmmakers make a movie, they go on tour, doing interviews to draw attention to their movie and stir interest . . . the exact things Canseco is doing. If Canseco was sorry and concerned about the damage he has done why give it more exposure.

In this interview on A&E he recites a script that many feel are nothing but words without meaning, “I should not have written that book. The more I think about it the more I regret mentioning these players in my book because I admired them, I respected them.”

Respected them so much, that instead of trying to brush it under the rug; he writes a second book then goes in front of a camera talking about them.

Canseco goes on in his interview making statements that does nothing more than question his intelligence, “I never really realized this was going to blow up as big as it was going to blow up and hurt so many people.”

What planet has he been living on?

“If I could meet with Mark McGuire and these players I would definitely apologize to them because the more I think about it, the more wrong I was.”

If he were really sorry he would help pay for Bond’s and Clemen’s legal fees and pursue getting Mark McGuire into the Hall of Fame instead of going on his PR tour.

The only thing Canseco is sorry about is that very few people care what he has to say anymore so his new book sales are down and bill collectors are said to be banging on his door.

His greed and lack of concern for his fellow players and his sport will make him remembered as nothing but a greedy snitch who stabbed his friends in the back.

Copyright © 2008 – Sports Climax