Tax Dollars to Send Baseball Player to Prison...

It was when I was 8 or 9 years old on a trip to the flea market at the New Mexico fairgrounds my parents bought me my first set of baseball cards. It was the 1987 Revco drugs all star pack featuring a couple dozen cards of standout players. Roger Clemens was one of the included players in that set and from that pack on I have considered myself a fan of Clemens. I have never been a fan specifically of any of his four teams and I think the theme of that pack of cards likely laid the road to the way that I am; more a fan of players in Major League Baseball as opposed to any single team.

Today, Roger Clemens finds himself under indictment for lying under oath to Congress before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform stating that he did not use steroids while a former trainer and a teammate asserted that he had. The charges under the indictment include “obstruction of Congress”, making false statements and perjury and are based on a grand jury investigation into Clemens that began hearing testimony more than 18 months ago.

The Congress show trials on the scourge of steroids in baseball, of course in the name of the children, all those years ago was unnecessary and wasteful and this indictment only furthers the valid point that the Congress spends too much time on things that just don’t matter and outside of their responsibilities. In this trial it is asserted that in the face of his denials Clemens knew exactly that he had used steroids in the past based on the testimony of others.

Based on others grilled by the Congressional panel who changed statements, if Clemens had later contradicted himself and apologized he would not have faced any further scrutiny while actually perjuring himself. According to sources he could face up to thirty years in prison on the charges. While it would be unlikely that he would be found guilty on all counts and there is much leeway in regard to sentencing guidelines the possibility of 30 years incarceration is completely over the top even if he is guilty.

No doubt detractors of Clemens, such as ESPN’s Sport’s Guy Bill Simmons, may view this news as a reason to celebrate, a reaction completely tied to emotion. Clemens, like Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby, to cite recent examples, are being trotted out for public ridicule and faces losing his freedom as he approaches his fifties (and could be into his eighties!) because Congress cannot help itself to wade into issues that it has no business in and then taking out convenient targets on politically motivated charges.

This is not justice; instead it is more proof that the US government is too big, disorganized and preoccupied to serve the citizens of this country. Here’s to Clemens beating this wrap and embarrassing Congress at the same time. And, here’s to more Obstruction of Congress, something that I think everyone can get behind. They need to be stopped.