Make room for Roger, Barry

Move over Barry Bonds. Make room for Roger Clemens and Bill Belichick.

They also have thrown integrity out the window, winning fame and wealth.

Last week's Congressional dealings with Clemens and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has to constitute one of the weirdest sports-related events in our lifetime - given the war in Iraq, the decline of the American dollar, the subprime shake-up, the decline of the public-school system (as well as every other troublesome reality in our country right now).

Sen. Arlen Specter met with Goodell to discuss Spygate and the destroying of evidence. What Specter found out was that Spygate could be traced back to the year 2000, encompassing all three of the Patriots' Super Bowl victories.

While I don't know what to hope for in the Clemens saga, I think the Patriots should be stripped of their three Super Bowl rings. Remember how dominant the Steelers were in 2001, only to lose to the Pats in the AFC Championship? How about those 2001 Rams and the "Greatest Show on Turf?"

Belichick and the Patriots need to fry.

As far as the Major League Baseball mess, we've got a drug dealer who is supposedly telling the truth - with three of the four guys he rolled over on admitting to it. And while the sad Andy Dick look-alike portrayed himself as a lot less credible than the clean-cut Clemens, who said everything right in front of Congress, we've got the past.

We've got a pitcher whose career had a curious resurgence well after his prime. But, as it turns out according to Clemens, only his wife and best friend used HGH.

We've got a pitcher whose ex-friend sat in front of the Congressional panel (with only one person between the two) and "lied" about him. If that were you, wouldn't you have been trembling with anger and giving the "What the hell are you talking about?" look? … I couldn't get past that.

We've got a pitcher, who in his 10th, 11th and 12th seasons (1993-5) failed to register more than 192 innings pitched with well below a strikeout per inning. Then, those marks jump to 242, 264 and 234 innings pitched in the next three years with well above a strikeout per inning. Two of those seasons (1997-8) were in Toronto, where trainer Brian McNamee said he injected Clemens on three occasions with HGH; Clemens insists the three injections were Vitamin B-12. Coincidentally, in those two seasons with the Blue Jays, Clemens won the pitching triple crown (leading the league in wins, ERA, and strikeouts).

You want a little evidence of "Roid Rage?"

Remember the 2000 World Series, between the Yankees and Mets? The series was punctuated by a weird moment in Game 2, when Mike Piazza's bat shattered and a large shard flew in Clemens' direction. Clemens fielded the shard and threw it toward the first-base line, near a jogging Piazza. It missed Piazza, but both benches cleared. Clemens later claimed that he was fielding the broken bat, having mistaken it in his state of heightened adrenaline. His explanation was widely ridiculed, in part because pitchers fielding baseballs hit in fair territory don't typically throw them just to the left of home plate.

While we will probably never get a definitive answer on whether Clemens is guilty, I don't think we need one.

Let's get this Steroids Era over with and keep the guilty parties out of the Hall of Fame.

Carl Hennell is a sports reporter for the Daily Inter Lake. He can be reached by e-mail at chennell@dailyinterlake.com or by calling 758-4446.