We’ve learned a few things from the Congressional hearings on Roger Clemens and anabolic steroids. Roger Clemens is not very smart. And his attorney Rusty Hardin is an idiot. From the very beginning, I thought that Hardin should be fired.
Hardin allows Clemens to wait several days before responding to allegations of steroid and growth hormone use in the Mitchell Report. Hardin prepped Clemens for his terrible performance on 60 Minutes where he: (1) admitted the hypocritical use of various other performance-enhancing drugs that enabled him to continue playing while masking pain of his injuries; (2) offered idiotic explanations as proof that he never used steroids; and (3) admitted to allowing a non-medical professional inject him with B-12 and lidocaine. Hardin compared Clemens’ drug use to a high performance racehorse (apparently oblivious to the problem of steroids in horse racing). Hardin apparently preps Clemens to secretly record a phone conversation with Brian McNamee and hold a press conference to share it with the media even though it proved nothing. Hardin stands by as Clemens releases statistical report that supposedly proves he didn’t use steroids but fails to accomplish its goal. And lastly, Representative Henry Waxman apologizes for holding the disastrous Roger Clemens steroid hearings, explaining that the only reason he did it was because Clemens’ attorneys insisted upon it.
Although the stupidity of it all seems self-apparent, it is nice to hear legal professionals weigh in on the matter. Thanks to Steroid Nation for finding this article with criticism of Rusty Hardin and Roger Clemens by Minnesota attorney former talk-radio host Ron Rosenbaum:
No one can really explain the strategy followed here… It strikes me as insane.
Clemens’ ego is so huge that nobody could tell him what was right or he’s getting bad legal advice.
There’s a difference of opinion in this town, but from the very beginning I thought this was a textbook case of how to not handle a legal situation like this…
He’s just a buffoon, and there’s nothing juicier than a buffoon in the legal system… They’ll treat him like a piñata.
Rosenbaum is critical of how the legal case has been handled although he doesn’t directly place the blame of Hardin or Clemens legal team by leaving open the possibility that Clemens is ignoring his legal counsel’s advice. But I doubt it.
An attorney friend of mine has told me that not only has Clemens committed perjury but his lawyers are likely complicit. I liked Roger Clemens a whole lot better when he was just an elite baseball player who I assumed used anabolic steroids and growth hormone. I have lost respect for him after the stupidity he has displayed over the past couple of months.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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