By Much Ado About Nothing, Clemens Speaks Without Saying Anything
May 12, 2009 – 8:15 am by Jimmy Shapiro
I’m not sure why I continue to get excited when I read about an interview that ESPN or any other network is about to have with a controversial figure like A-Rod, Michael Phelps, or Roger Clemens. These guys hire crisis PR firms who carefully craft every possible answer to every possible question. They have little tricks for clients during these interviews to attempt to make them look like good guys. In this interview with Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio, Clemens had three crutches that he kept going back to: first, he kept calling them Greeny and Goli so he seemed like he was talking to buddies (BTW, I’ve known Golic for over 10 years and I’ve never known people to call him Goli). He kept referring to the young kids and how he tells them steroids are bad for baseball and finally he must have used the word “positive” 20 times in the interview.
Listening and transcribing this interview was an hour of my life unfortunately I’ll never get back. When Clemens hired PR man Gene Grabowski (who he continually refers to in the interview), it was to offset the onslaught of additional negative publicity that Clemens is about to receive with the release of the book “American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime”. I can just picture Gene Grabowksi with his hand up Roger Clemens’ ass like a ventriloquist or feeding him the answers like Steve Martin in the movie “Roxanne”.
I realize it would be a travesty if all this about Roger Clemens was in fact a lie, but I just don’t see it. There’s too much evidence both real and circumstantial that says he’s guilty as sin. Plus, my gut told me all along he was taking performance enhancing drugs. Here are some excerpts from this useless interview!
Why are you coming out now to talk about this?
“Deb and I are cutting out of town, out of the country for about a week and I was informed this book was coming out…and I thought we ought to be able to talk about it. This was great that I hired Gene (Grabowksi) and the Levick company and they came in and said “You need to get your story out about all this garbage that is out and being said” and it’s important for me to do that. I’ve seen excerpts of the book and they’re completely false. What I’ve read and seen, the portions of it are completely false. You know guys, it’s piling on. It’s hurtful at times, but I’m moving on.. I’m trying to move on. You address these, not only locally here in Houston, but abroad when I get out and do my functions that I’ve normally been doing.”
Prosecutors reportedly have evidence of your DNA on drug paraphernalia provided by Brian McNamee:
“Impossible because he’s never given me any. It’s as simple as that. He’s never given me HGH or any kind of performance enhancing drug, so it’s impossible.”
Much of your defamation action against Brian McNamee has been thrown out of court, what’s your reaction to that?
“We’re still dealing with that right now. I know that Rusty and his team and the guys I’ve talked to are still dealing with that side of it. I’m going to let them handle it. That’s stuff that obviously for me as the person that I am will drag me down and I just want to stay positive and continue to go forward and be the person that I’ve always been, keep my spirits high and that’s what I’m doing guys.
Greenberg asks again on the record whether Brian McNamee ever injected him with steroids:
That’s exactly right. He’s never injected me with HGH or steroids. You know guys, let me just add to it. Common sense…our family has a history of heart conditions. My brother had a heart attack in his late 40’s, my step-dad died of a heart attack. (Editor’s note: while it’s sad that his step-dad died of a heart attack that’s not part of his family’s history. Only blood relatives matter.) I mean it would be suicidal for me to think about even taking any of these dangerous drugs. It goes against what I talk about to kids (when I have a chance to talk to kids) of all ages about it. It’s really disheartening. I don’t want to say I have to put my guard up more around people because I’m not that type of person…I’m an outgoing person.”
I appreciate the time I have to come on and talk about this book and tell you my feelings about it. I think I’ve taken some criticism by not coming out at times, that’s another reason why it’s great having Gene aboard because I’ve always wanted to talk about it and tell people my feelings and my stance on it.”
On Andy Pettite said that you and he discussed taking performance enhancing drugs awhile back:
“Well Greeny, my reaction is the same as before…Andy misremembers and there’s only been a couple of times I’ve been in contact with Andy since then because of the legal issues and we’ll let that play out, we’ll let that play out that’s all I can say about it.”
Most polls say that baseball fans don’t believe you:
“Alls I can do is speak the truth and from my heart to them, that’s all I can do. I know what your polls say. I’ve been getting great responses everywhere I’ve gone in the cities that I’ve been to and travel to. All I can do is be me and give them messages I just told you about.. Steroids are bad for kids. You don’t want to have anything to do with them., the way they tear your body down and things they do to you. But again, I can’t defend a negative. When you’ve got somebody out there that is really just crawling up your back to make a buck, which is what this is. Other than speaking out Greeny, what else can you do.”
More Clemen’s rantings:
“Everywhere I’ve gone or I get the opportunity to speak to young kids or college kids I take a lot of pride in telling those boys to get after it, do things the right way,take care of your body…because I know how I did it, I know how hard I worked and for some of that to come in question, of course it’s hurtful, but it’s not going to break my spirit.”
Listen to Roger Clemens on ESPN Radio with Mike and Mike
Tags: “American Icon”, “American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime”, ESPN Radio, Roger Clemens, Roger Clemens denies taking performance enhancing drugs
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