Legend of the Fall

          It was as recent as 2004 where Roger Clemens was at top of his game.  It was his first year in the National League while playing for the Houston Astros.  He ended up going 18-4 and eventually went on to win the National League Cy Young Award.  How quickly can things can fall from grace.  In December 13, 2007, Clemens name was listed in the Mitchell Report, which alleged that he had used steroids and HGH during the 1998-2001 seasons.  Ever since those allegations, Clemens has been saying he was falsely accused with his lawyer Rusty Hardin backing him up.  Even under oath in front of federal investigators and the Supreme Court, he kept to his story that he never did take HGH or steroids.  What a horrible decision that would later be for him.

        The FBI launched an investigation Thursday into whether Clemens committed perjury.  The FBI said that testimonies that claimed Clemens took steorids contradict what Clemens was saying during the trial.  Clemens should now worry about what his next words are when they come out his mouth.  It is his fault he is almost sharing a jail cell with a serial killer.  He brought this to himself.  All he had to do was follow the path Petitte took.  Clemens could not do that because he did not want his name or most importantly, his hall of  fame credentials to be ruined.  It is too late for that Roger.  You just made it worse.  Even Astros owner Drayton McLane is having second thoughts of having Clemens around during spring training.  Clemens has a 10 year personal contract with the Astros, which allows him to work out with the team during spring training.  McLane is now having second thoughts, “Creates a lot of attention.  There are good points and bad points."  He won't admit that there are more bad points than good points.  Instead of focusing on Astros spring training, all the attention in the camp has focused on Clemens.  It has been a media frenzy over there.  This is not good for the ballclub because not only does it shift the attention away from the team, but it sets a bad example of having a cheater in camp.  Wait a second, they do not really care.  They have Miguel Tejada.

  As the FBI launches its investigation, Clemens has to be shaking in his boots.  If he wants try to redeem his image, he needs to come forward.  This is a forgiving country.  We won't forget.  But if you come forward, you will lose some of the negativity that floats around your name.  Stop hiding Clemens.  You are jogging in place and you are going no where. 

       You are stuck in the second stage of denial to acceptance.  You are stuck in the stage of anger and you are saying to yourself, "Why me?"  You have already gone through the first stage of acceptance: Denial.  This will probably be the state you will be in the rest of your life.  This is a similar situation of what happened to Olympic runner Marion Jones.  Marion Jones.  There were accusations of her taking steroids and she even went to Congress also and told them that she did not take any steroids.  On a slow process, she went through the stages of denial to acceptance.  She went from denial to anger to bargaining then to depression which finally pushed her towards acceptance of what she did.  She looked inside herself and felt what she did was wrong.  She looked in her heart and felt she needed to come clean to release the stress and the strife these accusations were causing her.   She looked inside herself and saw the only path to righteousness was to come clean.  She is now serving her time in prison to help relinquish her soul. 

  What do you see Clemens?  What do you see when you look inside yourself?  Do you see picture of a hero or a cheat?  Do you even see a soul?  If you do see it, can you even save it from yourself?  Can you still save it?