Published: May 06, 2008 11:14 am            

Clemens needs to apologize in person, not in print

ANDERSON, Ind. — There are professional athletes who become

superstars, and others who maximize their dismal decision-making

skills to become fallen stars.

Allow me to take this time to present Roger Clemens, a

fallen-and-I-can’t-get up star.

Clemens’ fall from baseball icon to Letterman punchline, if put in

front of a radar gun, would blow away any fastball ever delivered by

The Rocket. We’re talking triple digits here. Bob Feller, J.R. Richard

and Nolan Ryan in their prime all rolled into one.

Sunday, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner used a printed

statement to The Houston Chronicle to apologize to family members

and to the public for mistakes he’s made away from the baseball

diamond.

OK, one problem. Well, several, actually.

Does typing a statement and e-mailing it to one’s hometown

newspaper qualify as an actual apology? For someone who played

the game with a guy’s guy machismo, a pitcher who would have

gone high and tight with Ghandi in the batter’s box, it leans toward

cowardly.

Having watched Clemens the player all those years, I expected him

to hold a press conference inside a very, very large room, stand

before the cameras and microphones and spill his guts. You know,

show a human side. Be a man.

That’s not to say Clemens still couldn’t take this route because he

could, and I hope he does.

You see, as someone in his mid-40s who is 3 1/2 months older

than Clemens, it’s been easy for me to marvel from afar at the way

Clemens kept himself in peak condition so that he could continue

mowing down batters two decades his junior. Some even younger

than that.

Whether or not you liked Clemens or the team he represented, once

he reached his mid- and late-30s, every personal triumph became a

victory for a whole bunch of us. Hard work, wisdom and what we

thought was clean living were prevailing over youth, much like years

ago in the NBA when a skyhook from an aging Kareem

Abdul-Jabbar still couldn’t be stopped.

Now we come to find that Clemens, a married father of four boys

who in recent weeks has been accused of extramarital affairs, isn’t

perfect. Sadly, all signs point to him cheating off the field, but what

about on it?

The aforementioned statement to The Houston Chronicle also

served as Clemens’ platform to firmly deny use of

performance-enhancing drugs during what was once thought to be

a first-ballot Hall of Fame career.

Again, the words came via e-mail, unless Clemens actually took the

time to go old-school and write the statement himself, drop it in an

envelope and spring for the necessary postage.

Either way, it’s the easy way out, and I expected more from one of the

few sports idols I have.

Make that had. 



Mike Beas writes for The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind. He can

be reached at mike.beas@heraldbulletin.com.