Roger Clemens, a major league pitcher of some note, or so I hear, was in the national news yesterday because he was questioned by some of our legislators concerning whether or not he has used performance enhancing drugs. That was their issue. If I were to learn that Clemens had been on steroids long ago when I saw him on a 60 Minutes report, that information might well answer my question about his inexcusable behavior on that program.
With his pregnant wife in a batter’s box before him, Clemens threw fastballs very near her protruding abdomen for our viewing “pleasure.” I don’t recall the clip in exact detail (and it’s not worth researching because I recall my revulsion to the scene vividly enough, even if my memory of the details isn’t 100% accurate). I could swear that he “brushed her back” with one of the pitches. That abdomen was protruding because, as I stated above, she was pregnant. Pregnancy--and someone should probably explain this concept to Roger Clemens--is a word we use to describe the process by which women conceive, carry, and give birth to children. In a civilized world, people in general take special pains to protect any woman carrying a child; and a man, in particular, would do a thousand things to help and nothing at all that could possibly harm the woman and the unborn child. How can one explain his unsettling piece of aggressive stupidity? One, was he trying to impress the TV audience with his skill as a pitcher or his macho confidence? (So he was more concerned with our image of him than of the health of his wife and child?) Two, was he in overdrive and not thinking clearly because of his drug use?
I couldn’t care less what his baseball stats are. As a grown man wearing a kid’s cap, he’s made himself rich and famous playing a kid’s game. All his awards added up couldn’t mean any less to me than they do now--whether the legislators find out for certain whether he was using drugs to enhance his performance or not. But as far as I’m concerned, he is, as a man, a hall of fame asshole if for no other reason than this one dangerous episode.
It’s too bad for our culture that so many people worship this kind of loser and probably found this stunt impressive or, even worse, one worth trying.
