Day: January 4, 2008

Posted on

Roger Clemens and the Steroids ERA

I did not expect to post today but in light of the dark cloud of steroids that does not seem to be going away even in January, I figured I would talk about it.

There is news that Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte along with their former trainer Brian McNamee are going to testify before a congressional committee in a couple of weeks. I am not really sure how much will come out of this congressional session but I guess maybe putting these guys under oath, someone will crack like Mark McGwire’s “I’m not here to talk about the past”. Only time will tell… currently the committee is set for January 16th, so the countdown begins.

Roger Clemens clearly said on December 18th, “I want to state clearly and without qualification: I did not take steroids, human growth hormone or any other banned substances at any time in my baseball career or, in fact, my entire life.” That could not be more opposite to the one Brian McNamee gave Senator Mitchell where he said he injected Roger Clemens multiple times. It is hard to say who is correct and certainly Roger Clemens is in a tough spot with his teammate and close friend Andy Pettitte admitting that McNamee injected him two to four times with Human Growth Hormones while he was injured in 2002.

Right about now, it is probably impossible to say who is right and who is wrong, but the one question I would like Roger Clemens to answer is how he produced his 2nd best full regular season numbers at the age of 35 in 1997 with a 2.05 ERA (league average 4.53) when he won the CY Young Award and followed it up with another CY Young year in ’98 with 20-6 and a 2.65 ERA. I just do not get how a pitcher who was let go by the Boston Red Sox after 12 years and seemed a little washed up posted up numbers like where the average ERA around the league dropped only 0.5 runs, that a pitcher his age drops his numbers 3 times the league average. I just have a hard time believing it was only his work regiment that led to that change… once again at the age of 35.

I never really had a lot of respect for Clemens but the little amount i did, I lost it when he threw the piece of bat at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series. I never really bought into his hype of retiring and coming back to help teams half way through the season with all his perks in his contract and certainly if all of these allegations about steroids and human growth hormones turn out to be true… kiss the Hall of Fame good bye Mr. Clemens.

I guess I needed to get that out of my system… so now this a relaxed Brown Guy signing off…

Posted on

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody! So I had told myself that I would start off this new year by finally starting my own blog. I plan to write maybe a couple of times a week usually about whatever is either bugging me that week or could even be something good. I am not always an angry brown guy, actually most of the times I am not but who knows. So from the 2008 US Elections to Sports to International Politics to Video Games, whatever seems to be the flavor of the day for me then, expect to see it here. Feel free to comment away on how you feel about the topic, it does not matter if you agree or disagree, I just maybe want to hit a nerve or two which gets people talking about something.

I’ll start off this first one on the 2008 Iowa Caucuses. I have heard some people say they don’t understand the caucus system or they are not fans of how it is done but that is usually the people who have not sat down on voting day and witnessed the event. This is democracy working it self in front of your eyes. These people in Iowa give up their regular lives and thoroughly investigate and background check these candidates and leave no stone unturned. It might have been Chris Matthews on MSNBC who said most of us get angry if we have to wait more than 10 minutes in a line at a voting booth come our primary or election night but not these people. Not only do they spend countless number of hours beforehand looking at which candidate to support but come caucus night, they get together for a couple of hours, trying to jockey for votes so they can pick up an extra delegate or two for their candidate. These people deserve a lot more credit than they get but I am sure sooner or later, they will get their dues.

Before tonight, I had hoped to see Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama as the two victors in tonight’s electoral process and I am glad it turned out that way. I think when Obama came on the stage in 2004 with a speech that literally blew the country away, I thought that speech set the bar way too high for him and he would never top it. He still has yet to do so but his victory speech tonight in Iowa really sent some chills down people’s back. He has a way of captivating his audiences and this is no time to get lazy now but if he keeps it up in New Hampshire and maybe pick up one or two in Michigan, Nevada or Florida right before Super Tuesday, I think he is in very good shape to lock up the nomination very early.

Cannot wait for the Rutgers Bowl game on Saturday, New Hampshire Primary on Tuesday and a sad departure of a dear friend for a semester abroad sandwiched in between. Expect to hear from me somewhere around then.

This is a pretty subdued brown guy right now… signing off.