Do We Really Need Congress to Investigate the MLB?

Roger Clemens is not happy that some people believe his trainer and not him.

Let's get serious about steroids
Congress can ask the questions 60 Minutes should have asked Roger Clemens

By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

If Congress really cared about steroids, it would have passed meaningful legislation years ago.

This latest round of hearings isn't about doing anything. With all the lawyers and private investigators and PR suits getting their 15 minutes, it was only a matter of time before Congress saw an opportunity for some potentially great television.

Nothing else matters. Don't kid yourself that this is any kind of search for the truth, or that Congress will do anything to punish those who distribute and use steroids.

It's just television, potentially great television. Roger Clemens and his accuser, Brian McNamee, answering questions under oath. Andy Pettitte in the hot seat.

It's one thing for Clemens to try out the latest version of his defense on poor old Mike Wallace. It's another thing for him to put his hand on the Bible and say it all under the threat of perjury.

Questions for Clemens

Congress can ask the questions Wallace should have asked. For instance, where did you obtain lidocaine?

Here are 10 more:

1. If a doctor prescribed lidocaine, why didn't a doctor do the injections?

2. Do you think it wise to have your trainer, Brian McNamee, do injections into your joints that a doctor or someone under the supervision of a doctor typically does?

3. Did you ask Jose Canseco about the benefits of steroids?

4. Why do you think Brian McNamee would risk jail time to lie about you?

5. Why do you think Brian McNamee told the truth about Andy Pettitte but lied about you?

6. Did you discuss the use of steroids and human growth hormone with Pettitte?

7. Do you think there's a chance McNamee injected you with banned substances and that you simply didn't know about it?

8. Why didn't you mention the injections in your previous denials?

9. You previously said: "I'm going to find anything I can that'll make me stronger ... , but I'm going to depend on physicians to tell me what's OK." If you were willing to try "anything," why wouldn't you try performance-enhancing drugs?

10. Do you consider the use of steroids and human growth hormone to be cheating?

By the time Congress finishes with Clemens and Pettitte, we might all have a better idea about what they did or didn't do. But with a war raging and the price of oil soaring, should Congress really be that concerned about whether a couple of millionaire ballplayers cheated?

I'll bet my next paycheck that at least one congressman belittles Clemens when the television cameras are on, but asks for a picture and an autograph when it's over.

Do you really think we need hearings to tell us athletes ought to stop using illegal substances that might kill them? Has the line between right and wrong become that blurry?

Do we need hearings to tell us that baseball had a drug problem?

I'm glad Clemens will have the opportunity to tell his story with a perjury rap hanging over his head, but in the end, it's about as important as Britney's latest meltdown.

We need Congress to pass legislation toughening the penalties for possessing and distributing steroids. We need Congress to attempt to mandate Olympic-caliber drug testing for professional athletes.

Less talk, more action

We need Congress to act instead of talk. Too many high school kids are using steroids, and Congress could do something about it.

Instead, Congress threatens and Congress blusters and Congress does nothing of substance.

Check the record. During those March 2005 hearings in which Sammy Sosa forgot how to speak English and Mark McGwire killed his Hall of Fame chances, one of the leadoff witnesses was Don Hooton, a Plano parent whose 16-year-old son committed suicide, probably as a result of steroid use.

His testimony was gut-wrenching, and he all but begged for legislation to reduce steroid use at the high school level. Congressmen made a big show of being sympathetic, but when the cameras were turned off, little happened.

"Almost nothing of substance," Hooton said Saturday night. "It just demonstrated what a lot of this was about. It was an opportunity to grandstand."

Hooton emphasizes the hearings were useful because they brought attention to the subject and gave him opportunities to continue to tell his story. He's also happy to see Clemens and Pettitte in an uncomfortable spotlight. He wants every high school kid to be reminded Rafael Palmeiro and McGwire have gone into hiding since the 2005 hearings. He wants the stigma of being cheats to send a message to every kid considering using the stuff.

There's so much more Congress could do.

"Go and ask your police department how much time and attention they devote to these drugs," Hooton said. "I'm guessing it's little or none. For someone to really be punished for distributing steroids, they'd almost have to be caught with a truckload.

"Let's start taking this stuff seriously. When someone tests positive for steroids, it's a confirmation he or she has committed a felony. Think about that for a minute. Turn these people over to law enforcement."

One of the enduring memories of the 2005 hearings is how spectacularly uninformed committee members were. Just one guy — Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., — seemed to have done his homework, and he lost his seat in 2006.

So it's showtime once more. No matter what Clemens and Pettitte say, no matter what the gas bags threaten, these hearings will result in great theater and nothing more. Your tax dollars at work.

Listen to Richard Justice weekdays from 10 a.m.-noon on 1560 AM. richard.justice@chron.com

read more | digg story