A Tarnished Legacy is now commonplace

There seems to be another trend going on in sports. A team or person in sports cannot just take their success and fade into the sunlight.

Two perfect examples of this are going on right now -- Roger Clemens and the New England Patriots.

Growing up, Roger Clemens was the most dominate pitcher I had ever seen. His 'I don't give a damn' persona fit perfectly with his overpowering pitching ability.

However, the persona isn't as fitting when you find out that its not a persona, its the real Roger.

This week, Clemens testified at a Congressional hearing on the McNamee/Clemens debacle. You can say that Clemens is trying to save his legacy by proving he hasn't used steroids.

Sorry Roger, thats not even possible at this point. You have Andy Pettite saying you used steroids, and apparent proof from everyone (Including your wife) saying that you were around the juice.


Now we come to the case of the New England Patriots. The NFL Dynasty in waiting has all but collapsed since losing the Super Bowl to the Giants just a few weeks ago.

Reports came out that the Patriots have been cheating (stealing opposing defensive signs) since 2001.

I have known that the Patriots were way too secretive about something and now I realize something:

We live in a time where publicity is money, and money is power. We see people like Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan glorified on the news every evening with their underwear-less escapades and DUIs galore.

This doesn't just apply to star-dom, but also applies to Sport.

In this corner we've got Britney Spears, the girl who truly never had a childhood and needs everything from everyone and thinks that even in the negative, she is still popular.


In the other corner, we have Bill Belicheck. The coach who can do no wrong and even in defeat will be the newsmaking story, the guy who's secretive nature becomes so comical that you can't do anything but laugh at how idiotic he is.

Random Comments 2/10

• Curtis Granderson was in Africa with MLB's ambassador program as a part of not only Black History month, but also to hold clinics to help spread the game. You can check out the pictures from the trip on Curtis' myspace page.

• Red Wings winger Dan Cleary may be out 6-8 weeks with a fractured jaw. After having surgery, Cleary will now have his jaw wired shut for over two weeks. Fun.

• The SportingDetroit love luck continues once again, with the Purdue Boilermakers up ending the Wisconsin Badgers last night in Madison.
  

• Rich Rodriguez was on SportsCenter with a short interview last night. To summarize, he basically just said that WVU was a good place, but Michigan is Michigan and it was the chance of a lifetime. He also got emotional when he addressed the death threats his family has endured during his switch. The video can be found on youtube HERE.

• Apparently Brian McNamee decided that everyone in Roger Clemens' fav 5 also used steroids since he has now accused Rogers' wife of "taking it in the butt" as well.

The Clemens family poses for a family portrait, circa 2003.