Seven Deadly Sins: Hubris

Barry Bonds has been accused of arrogance in his handling of the BALCO scandal. He rarely provided a straight answer to any of the allegations and instead allowed his lawyers to handle the case (which may even land him in jail for a few months). However, the secrecy surrounding Bonds is nothing compared to the hubris of Clemens. Clemens has repeatedly used his twenty five-odd years in the public eye as reason for MLB fans to give him the benefit of the doubt. In effect, he has attempted to shame the fans of baseball for doubting him! What Clemens does not understand is that virtually all of the non-Astros, Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays fans already disliked him before the Mitchell report. I already disliked him in part because he pitched for teams that defeated my teams and in part because I already disliked his attitude and his pitch-half-the-season-for-a-bajillion-dollars tactic he has employed for the past few seasons. But most importantly, I disliked him just like I disliked Bonds. I always assumed he was doing steroids. Perhaps this wasn't fair, but his size combined with his uncanny ability to continue to throw in the mid-90's always made me suspicious. Since I had no reason to like him and multiple reasons to hate him (his Astros knocked the Braves out of the playoffs two years in a row), I certainly didn't mind assuming the worst. Neither did legions of other fans who were looking for a reason, any reason to justify their hate for an opposing team's pitcher.


Now, after my suspicions have been confirmed (or at least as confirmed as they will ever be, most likely) and I have justification for my previously irrational dislike for the "Greatest Pitcher of His Generation," forgive me if I find it entirely laughable that he now asks me to give him the benefit of the doubt because he's been in the public eye for the better part of three decades. You've been in the public eye, all right. You've beaten my teams. You've milked the Astros and the Yankees for millions while only putting in a half-season's work. You've gotten bigger and better as you've gotten older (check out his career stats). Maybe you never touched HGH. Perhaps you never even knew that steroids existed. Yet when steroids becomes an issue so large it threatens to swallow the game of baseball, when your own teammate and friend admits to using HGH, when your once-friend-turned-accuser appears to be telling the truth about multiple other instances of steroids use, when Senator Mitchell already provided you with a chance to respond to his findings in the Mitchell Report before releasing his evidence to the public, when Palmeiro, McGuire and others have already gone down in flames, you better do something other than attempt to shame me, the lifelong baseball fan, for doubting you. Assuming he's innocent (or even if he's guilty), he could have used this moment to take a strong, public stand against steroids, explaining how the scandal is affecting the reputations of clean players and it's up to the sport to find some way to clean up the mess. He also could have remained entirely tight-lipped a la Bonds and accepted that the world will hate him while his lawyers fought on behind the scenes. He could even have vehemently denied steroids use, called McNamee a liar, and announced his intentions to fight all charges . . . had he done so without calling out the fans. I don't owe you anything, Roger. In fact, I don't even care anymore if the charges are true or false. You showed your true colors by rebuking fans who "rushed" to judgment in the face of seemingly reasonable evidence. Remember, most of the baseball world was already secretly (or publicly) searching for reasons to justify our dislike. My suspicions have been confirmed. You are every bit as arrogant as I have always believed.