Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds

I continue to be amazed at how cruel and closed-minded we can be during times like this. I wrote these same types of posts when this was happening to Bonds and I am going to do the same thing for Clemens. I cannot stand Barry Bonds. I hesistate to use the word hate but I came very close to hating Barry Bonds. I was never a fan of anything he did. Maybe he served in soup kitchens during the weekend and read the Bible to his kids every night but after all the stunts he pulled I had no respect for the guy. My enjoyment for playing devil's advocate and going against public opinion doesn't always serve me well in these instances but I stood up for Bonds and I am going to do the same for Clemens.

Are steriods bad? Yes. Should Bonds and Clemens have taken steriods as they allegedly have? A big no. Have I ever cheated? Yes. Be it college, sports, or whatever you want to put here. Was it on a grand scale like Clemens and Bonds? No. Was it just as wrong as what Clemens and Bonds have done? Yes. A wise man once said and I am paraphrasing: "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." I cannot cast a stone in this instance. I have done plenty of things in my life that were wrong. Did Clemens and Bonds mess up? Big time. Are their legacies tainted? Yes and they always will be.

It really doesn't bother me that they used steroids. They shouldn't have but I can guarantee you that Bonds and Clemens are not the only two cheaters in all of baseball. They happen to be the latest WHO GOT CAUGHT. We sit in our normal worlds and we completely forget about the lives of professional atheletes. We somehow think that if beautiful women were throwing themselves at us everynight we would just walk away. I hope I would but I can guarantee you it would be tough. We also pretend that if a wonder drug (doesn't have to be drug-put whatever you want here) came along that offered us a chance to be multiple times better than we already were that we would just say, "Oh that little pill could make me ten times better than I am right now. No, I am not going to take that. It will just make millions of people around the world fall in love with me and I will be considered even better than I am right now." Why two guys like Bonds and Clemens, who already had throngs of fans and millions of dollars, would risk it is beyond me.

I said earlier that I was standing up for Clemens. Let me rephrase that. I am not standing up for Clemens. I am trying to step in another man's shoes and look at life from his perspective. Another man named Atticus said something along those lines. I am not trying to say that Clemens and Bonds are good guys. They honestly seem to be anything but. Do they have their flaws? Yes. Do me and you have our own flaws? Yes. The only difference is we aren't professional atheletes.