Verducci On Clemens

This week Tom Verducci writes about Clemens. He refers to his previous stories about Raj.

Its still hard to fathom that Verducci did not ever raise the steroid issue when he wrote those stories.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tom_verducci/02/19/clemens0225/index.html

 

Delusional.

When I opened this piece up, I expected the slap at McNamee. McNamee defended the lunkhead until he saw there was no way lunkhead would return the favor. Then, all bets were off. How else would anyone rational expect the guy to act?

 

Delusional, denial, head in the sand-- whatever the discription it's really weak of Verducci.

This is the writer who is credited with being "out front" on the PED story yet he had no clue that the player he might be closest to in baseball was a user.

For whatever reason Verducci continues to be soft on Clemens.

 

Maybe I'm misreading it, but I didn't think he was soft on him at all. Okay, he doesn't come out with a sentence that reads, "I think Roger Clemens did steroids and I was fooled." But the entire piece is designed, I think, to show that Clemens is basically delusional.

There's the quote from a former teammate showing how Clemens always had an excuse when he'd get hit: back, groin, whatever. There's another quote from a teammate saying Clemens surrounds himself with his own people and has his own world.

The line "He sleeps well at night because he knows he is right," isn't Verducci talking, it's what he thinks Clemens is thinking. He's then got an entire column listing the people who Clemens has blamed for this situation, instead of blaming himself: his agents, the commissioner, the Blue Jays physician, his late mom, and McNamee. Pretty damning stuff there, I think.

And at the end he includes the quote from McNamee, "Well, I can't see Andy telling you anything different than what I told you, and Roger probably, because he doesn't remember any of it, I don't know. I can't see Roger remembering all that..."

The last lines: Clemens does not remember because he believes none of it happened. Rocket is sure of it.

Again, I think he's just pointing out how Clemens got himself in this situation: he's so certain of himself that he's basically become delusional and will lie to the bitter end.

Again, maybe I'm misreading it, but I don't think it's head in the sand.

 

I'm with you, small-town-guy.

I think Verducci is painting a picture of someone who is so delusional, he believes all the lies he's telling. And I wouldn't bet against Clemens being able to pass a polygraph. If I were his people, I'd have quietly arranged one to see.

 

Wholly agree that Verducci is trying to recalibrate himself, regarding the cause celebre.

Better late than never.

 

I'm with Boomer here. (From the SI thread on the J board...yes I am quoting myself)

I'll probably be in the minority here, and please feel free to follow with comments about how I couldn't carry Verducci's jock, but I continue to be underwhelmed by his coverage of Clemens. There were some good anedotes in this week's story, but again, how can he go into first-person without admitting he was as hoodwinked as anyone?

And, again, Verducci seems to be making excuses for his friend with the glowing description of how Clemens never left the high school jock phase. Most anyone who has come across Clemens would agree with that, but would not use it as a complement. Clemens is an overgrown bully who blames everyone but himself for his shortcomings, yet again, Verducci explains this away by saying it's an extension of what made him a great pitcher, as if it's a positive trait to display these characteristics in front of Congress.

Verducci's final graph was especially telling: Clemens does not remember because he believes none of it happened. Rocket is sure of it.

I'm beginning to think Verducci is the same way.

 

Well said BYH. Fine if Verducci wants to "recalibrate" but he owes his readers more.

Here is a passage from his SI 2002 steroid special report:"Totally Juiced"
:

Steroid use, which a decade ago was considered a taboo violated by a few renegade sluggers, is now so rampant in baseball that even pitchers and wispy outfielders are juicing up--and talking openly among themselves about it. According to players, trainers and executives interviewed by SI over the last three months, the game has become a pharmacological trade show. What emerges from dozens of interviews is a portrait of baseball's intensifying reliance on steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. These drugs include not only human growth hormone (hGH) but also an array of legal and illegal stimulants, ranging from amphetamines to Ritalin to ephedrine-laced dietary supplements, that many big leaguers pop to get a jolt of pregame energy and sharpen their focus (box, page 38). But it is the use of illegal steroids that is growing fastest and having a profound impact on the game.

Verducci was clearly aware of steroid use in baseball by 2002 yet choose not to bother his friend Roger Clemens with the subject. Plenty of quotes from Curt Schilling but none from Roger. Verducci could not really believe that Clemens success was due to his training regimen.

 

Here is a passage from artilce that Verducci wrote in 2001 - "Rocket Science"


Clemens takes great pride in having stopped his baseball biological clock. He will tell you that he still runs three miles in 19 to 20 1/2 minutes, that he still weighs 232 pounds, that he still wears slacks with a 36-inch waist (though they must be tailored to allow for his massive thighs) and that he can still reach for a mid-90s fastball at will -- the same specs he had at least 10 years ago. "He's a freak of nature, the kind of pitcher who comes along once in a generation, maybe every 25 to 30 years," says Devil Rays pitching coach Bill Fischer

Ragu - have to disagree. In 2003 Steroids was a major baseball story yet in Clemens work out story not even a question about PED's to either Clemens or Mcnamee. Verducci had to have suspicions about Clemens.