Following the money

Following today’s testimony by Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the notion that members of Congress split along party lines during their questioning was prevalent. The idea that Democrats were tough on Clemens and more apt to find McNamee credible, while Republicans drilled McNamee and were soft on Clemens has some legs. That got me thinking a little bit – is Roger Clemens a donor to any specific politicians or political groups. It’s well known that Clemens, a Texan, has a relationship with the Bush family, but when it comes to writing checks to politicos Clemens is about as revealing as his today’s testimony.

In other words, there is nothing there.

According to the report on federal campaign contributions filed as of Feb. 11, Clemens has never donated more than $200 to any politician or political special interest group since 1978. The same goes for Brian McNamee.

In fact, amongst active team-sport athletes the political contributions aren’t overwhelming. Shane Battier, Lance Berkman, Peyton Manning, Dikembe Mutombo and Alex Rodriguez are the most notable donors.

Locally, all of the team owners and chairman have made political contributions, with Bill Giles of the Phillies and Jeffrey Lurie of the Eagles giving away the most. According to the filings, Lurie wrote a check for $10,000 to Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee last November and dished out a pair of $2,300 checks to Hillary Clinton for President on Sept. 18, 2007.

But like Giles, who has donated to both Republicans and Democrats, Lurie’s money has no party alliegience.

Meanwhile, Eagles coach Andy Reid recently donated $2,300 to Mitt Romney’s campaign for President.

Anyway, if the reason why Republicans were softer on Clemens than McNamee today and Democrats grilled the pitcher, but were sympathetic to the ex-trainer, it isn’t because of political contributions.

Meanwhile, there are a lot of folks who have wondered why Congress is digging into baseball’s drug problem instead of more pressure issues.

“Don’t they have anything better to do?” people have asked.

No. No they don’t.

For more on who gives money to whom, click here.

To tell the truth: The Clemens, McNamee edition

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) just gaveled closed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s hearing on steroids and baseball. It came a few seconds after he pounded his gavel onto his podium and told Roger Clemens to shut up.

That little moment were just the sprinkles atop of the sundae during the four-plus hours that Roger Clemens and his ex-trainer Brian McNamee met with the Congressional Committee to discuss the Mitchell Report’s investigation in illicit performance-enhancing substance abuse in baseball. Most of the testimony and questions were quite testy and went so far as for several U.S. Representatives to call McNamee a “liar” and a “drug dealer.”

Aside from the final gavel down from Waxman, Clemens was treated much more respectfully than McNamee than members of Congress, though the questions were hardly deferential and the responses were greeted with loads of skepticism.

So after four hours of accusations, anger and the threat of further hearings, here’s what I learned from watching Clemens, McNamee and Congress joust for the better part of the afternoon:

• Andy Pettitte is a problem for Clemens. Actually, it seems almost Shakespearean in that Clemens’ best friend in baseball could be the one guy to bring him down.

• Whether he is telling the truth or not, Brian McNamee did not come out of the hearings looking very good.

• Whether he is telling the truth or not, Roger Clemens does not look good for hiring a trainer/body man like Brian McNamee.

• Athletes like Roger Clemens continue to perpetuate the notion that they do not know what they are taking or have taken. Just the thought of such a thing is such a load of bull----. Every elite-level athlete knows very well what they take and they sweat over the details. Those who don’t pay attention to such things don’t last very long. So for someone like Roger Clemens to say he was not aware or was duped by a trainer, nutritionist or doctor… well, perhaps they aren’t exercising the best candor.

• Most importantly, Roger Clemens is not a vegetarian. When asked if he was a vegan, Clemens looked confused and said: “I don't know what that is. I'm sorry.”

So if Clemens is neither a vegetarian nor a vegan, we should assume that he has ingested steroids… sorry, there I go again.

Anyway, the question remains – what was accomplished with having Clemens and McNamee in front of the committee.

“Not as much as we would have liked,” Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) told ESPN, who also chastised Major League Baseball and its players for its “code of silence” in regards to its drug problems.

“I found Clemens almost as believable as Rafael Palmeiro,” Rep. Souder told ESPN.

The problem is that McNamee came off just as believable in a circus of events in which it seems as if the man who was not present came out with his reputation intact. That’s the curious part, especially considering that several Congressman wondered aloud about why Andy Pettitte was not taking questions, too.

Where was he?

I've got nothing...

Happy belated Super Fat Tuesday, folks! Here's hoping everything turned out just the way you wanted ... The Super Bowl is over, the start of spring training is just one week away and there really isn't much else to talk about. Well, there's the weather... it's early February and it's 60 degrees, but the word on the street is that it will be just 10 degrees come Sunday night.

That Mother Nature... she's just so fickle.

Capriciousness aside, there really isn't much to say. The Flyers are in first place, which is cool. However, it seems a little too early in the season for the Stanley Cup chatter to heat up. The Sixers are... well, let's just hope they get the right portion of ping-pong balls.

Since I don't have anything new to write about (pertaining to Philadelphia and its sports teams), I'll just do a little hit-and-run on a few items.

• So trainer Brian McNamee reportedly has physical evidence that Roger Clemens used performance enhancing drugs. What, is this the blue dress of the sporting scene? Did McNamee really save the residue from giving the Rocket a shot in the derriere? Wow.
• Though I'm no football expert, I suspect the Giants' victory in the Super Bowl indicts the Eagles' inability to win the big game in some way. I just don't know what that is.
• How come the Giants can win the Super Bowl and the Eagles can't?
• After Bill Belichick abandoned his team and left his defense on the field so he could go into the locker room and sulk after the loss in the Super Bowl, it's fair to say, "Thank God Bill Belichick is a football coach." After all, the delicate genius that is Bill Belichick could be using all his wisdom and grace to be doing unimportant things like solving poverty, designing programs for world peace or delve into cancer research. But instead - and lucky for us - he's a football coach. We should all knee down and soak in the aura that such men emit.

As Tom Cruise said to Craig T. Nelson in the epic Western Pennsylvania football film, All the Right Moves, "You are just a football coach!" Then he ran away. Fast.

• Aside from not having updated spy films, perhaps the Patriots lost to the Giants because it was the first time they played a good team twice. All of the other teams the Pats played twice were in the AFC East, who combined for a 12-36 record.
• Is Kris Benson a low-risk, high-reward possibility or is he simply a potential annoyance for the Phillies? Oh, it's not Benson who is annoying. By all accounts he's nothing more than a typical baseball player, which means he's just like everyone else only more entitled. The "problem" with Benson is the baggage he brings - that stuff is all fine and dandy when it happens somewhere else like Pittsburgh, New York or Baltimore. We have enough to deal with as it is already.
• I really enjoy eating with chop sticks.
• Now that Sen. Arlen Specter has decided to take on the Patriots' alleged spying in his role as de facto commissioner of the NFL, it's quite interesting how there is quite a bit of bad press. Suddenly, sports media types are indignant and calling upon Congressional leaders to "focus on more important issues." Well, yeah, Congressional involvement is sports seems more than a bit silly. It's silly that leagues have antitrust exemption just as it's ridiculous that government funded agencies can suspend athletes without proper due process.
  But perhaps the biggest reason why sports media/fans don't want Congress involved in the Patriots' alleged spying or steroid use in baseball is because they don't want to know the truth. No, Congress is hardly the beacon of trust or the arbiter of truth and justice, but the fact is they are smart enough to take on cases and issues they know they can't lose. Congress likes sure things and because it looks like they have one with baseball and maybe even the Patriots, maybe some folks are worried that the curtain will be pulled back for everyone to take a good look.