Junto Boys

CLEMENS/McNAMEE PHONE CALL

Brian McNamee seems to idolize Roger Clemens. Every time Roger said that he wanted to tell the truth, McNamee never apologized for what he said. If what McNamee said was untrue it would seem that somewhere in there McNamee would have apologized, instead he asked Clemens what he wanted him to do. He said that he would go to jail for Roger. That is crucial, because the only way he would go to jail is by recanting his testimony. It sounded like he was asking Clemens if he wanted him to take the fall.

Also, McNamee said that he would fly in the next day and talk face to face. He also volunteered to come to the press conference today when Clemens mentioned that he was going to tell the truth. He obviously wants to patch up his relationship up with Clemens and would have done anything to do so.

There was something else said in the Wallace interview last night that was interesting.

Wallace: Why would Brian McNamee want to betray you?
Clemens: You know, I don't know. I'm so upset about it, how I treated this man and took care of him.
Wallace: I imagine he's watching the two of us right now. Wouldn't you?
Clemens: I hope he is.
Wallace: OK. Anything you want to tell him?
Clemens: Yeah. I treated him fairly, I treated him great as anybody else, I helped him out.

“How I treated this man and took care of him” is an interesting phrase. It sounds sort of like the Godfather upset over Senate select committee testimony. Is he asking McNamee to come forward and pay him back for all that great treatment? During the phone call McNamee said that Roger treated him better than other people. He came off a little sycophantic even.

I think it shows the nature of a celebrity/commoner relationship in our society. Celebs are use to idolatry and plebs are use to doing anything to be in a portion of the spotlight. McNamee was scared of the prosecutors and told them everything to stay out of jail, but a phone call from Clemens brought McNamee back into that celebrity glow and was ready to do anything to stay in good with Roger.

Also, I think McNamee may have been a little surprised by Clemens reaction to the news, especially with Pettite coming forward. He initiated the conversation by texting Roger that his son was dying and the initial part of the conversation was McNamee telling Roger his problems, one bedroom apartment, wife and kids left him etc. He was asking Roger to forgive him for the testimony but he didn’t do so like a man that had lied, but as a man who hoped that Clemens understood and wasn’t angry with him.

The main thing about Clemens telling his side that grabs me is that Clemens says he is angry not because of the HOF, which he doesn’t give “a rat’s ass” about, but that he cares too much about his health to have put these things in his body. I think what Clemens is implicitly saying is that he knows that taking these substances are wrong and taints the game. For all the people who say that Bonds or Clemens would be in the HOF anyway, the players themselves know that they shouldn’t have done it and it bothers them to have their names associated with it.

I hope that Clemens is innocent, but nothing today or yesterday convinced me that he is.