Here on day two of the Roger Clemens Infidelity Scandal And Schadenfreude Festival Of '08, it's becoming more clear that the brawny former Yankees ace pitcher and full time jerk did in fact cheat on his wife with the wild country singer Mindy McCready. Because now she's admitted it! McCready said the two did have an ongoing affair, although the sex didn't start until she was of legal age. They first met when she was only 15, (Miley Cyrus joke). But the most entertaining aspect of this scandal is how Clemens—heroic, honored... lire la suite
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Here on day two of the Roger Clemens Infidelity Scandal And Schadenfreude Festival Of '08, it's becoming more clear that the brawny former Yankees ace pitcher and full time jerk did in fact cheat on his wife with the wild country singer Mindy McCready. Because now she's admitted it! McCready said the two did have an ongoing affair, although the sex didn't start until she was of legal age. They first met when she was only 15, (Miley Cyrus joke). But the most entertaining aspect of this scandal is how Clemens—heroic, honored, self-righteous, dismissive of critics, a King of New York—is turning into an uncanny baseball version of another recently fallen hero: Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer, New York's Love Guv, and Clemens both had reputations as brawlers, who made tons of enemies on their way to the top. The people on their side loved them, but outside of their own teams they were widely despised. Clemens wisely spent his career in the American League, where designated hitters could take his turn at bat so he wouldn't have to risk getting beaned in retaliation for his frequent knockdowns of opposing batters. Furthermore, both men suffered from huge bouts of hypocrisy. Spitzer prosecuted prostitution rings while patronizing them at the same time. Clemens was always boasting of his hard work, diet, and exercise program, while (IN ALL LIKELIHOOD) being shot up with steroids by his trainer. When his trainer finally told the story, Clemens continued to deny everything, which he does to this day, even as most of the other players named have implicitly or explicitly admitted when the steroid allegations against them were true. And, he filed a defamation suit against the trainer, which brought Clemens' entire reputation under legal review. The Post reports today that the pitcher had at least two other women on the side in addition to McCready, so take your sanctimonious family man act and inject it into your buttocks along with lots of testosterone, Roger Clemens. An added bonus: like the lawyers who roped their careers to Spitzer's only to see them crumble along with him, Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, is going to come out of this looking like a bald-faced liar, like his client. Just yesterday he said there was no sex between Clemens and McCready; today, she's admitting it all over the place. Spitzer was at least fighting on the side of righteousness. For Clemens, that was only true if he was pitching for your team. Among those enjoying Clemens' downfall the most: this young man:
Roger Stone is a self-aggrandizing imbecile whose reputation for political dirty tricks is obviously patently exaggerated. This much we know. But he maybe had something to do with the downfall of Eliot Spitzer! It's still totally unclear, which is how Stone probably likes it. It's hard to tell if he acts like a buffoon because it throws people off the scent or simply because he is a buffoon. The New Yorker sent Jeffrey Toobin to investigate, but all he really uncovered was that Stone is a gross old pervert. The National Enquirer, in a story headlined "Top Dole Aide Caught in Group-Sex Ring," reported that the Stones had apparently run personal ads in a magazine called Local Swing Fever and on a Web site that had been set up with Nydia's credit card. "Hot, insatiable lady and her handsome body builder husband, experienced swingers, seek similar couples or exceptional muscular . . . single men," the ad on the Web site stated. The ads sought athletes and military men, while discouraging overweight candidates, and included photographs of the Stones. At the time, Stone claimed that he had been set up by a "very sick individual," but he was forced to resign from Dole's campaign. Stone acknowledged to me that the ads were authentic. So. He wrote a letter to the FBI about Spitzer's hooker patronage. We know that. Also he has advice on how McCain can win the election that would probably actually work, if McCain is smart enough to run a Nixon campaign. Stone also seems to have enjoyed Angels in America, as his description of legendary scumbag Roy Cohn closely matches a monologue the Cohn character delivers in that play. "'Roy was not gay,' Stone told me. 'He was a man who liked having sex with men. Gays were weak, effeminate.'" Glad we got that cleared up.
The good folks from the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association are having some second thoughts about having Roger Clemens speak at their annual session next month. Clemens, an avid Texas sports supporter, had been scheduled for the last eight months to discuss his methods on pitching and his health regimen. But following allegations in the Mitchell Report that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner used steroids, the Texas coaches are apprehensive. "A dark cloud has been put over Roger's head and 99.9% of the media says he's guilty even though he says he's innocent," said Jim Long, the president of the association and coach at Brenham High School.Suddenly, Clemens' name has vanished from the convention's agenda on the group's Web site, but they are expected to make a decision by 3pm Tuesday afternoon on whether he'll be invited to speak. Roger Clemens is still welcome at a convention of Texas high school baseball coaches. On Monday, the coaches said they found no reason to prevent the star pitcher from addressing their annual meeting next month.
Ruh roh, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is a master of whores! A Hebrew pimp? A baldilocks whoremonger? A fishmonger dabbling in whores, with a cod piece of cold ethical hypocrisy? O, such country matters. Anyway, just what exactly is this Spitzer doing with these sloppy whores? Let's liveblog his press conference... 2:50 -- Ooh look, Spitzer's victimized New York wife works for Hillary Clinton (PDF)! Now she can run for the Senate, after a listening tour. 2:53 -- A lady who wrote a book about Eliot Spitzer says, from London, that this is "very bad" for Eliot Spitzer. And that's why she's in London, where liars live. 2:59 -- But did Roger Clemens take steroids at Jose Conseco's house? 3:00 -- **A secret Wonkette operative in the New York Attorney General's office hears that Eliot Spitzer will resign.** But this may be false? 3:05 -- **Wonkette hears from its secret operative in the New York Attorney General's office that Spitzer is reportedly resigning. This is more substantive that the 3:00 entry, which also had two asterisks.** 3:08 -- Apparently, Spitzer may have been a client of "The Emperor's Club," where powerful men get their knob polished. 3:11 -- Spitzer is speaking! 3:14 -- WORST PRESS CONFERENCE EVER. He didn't resign here, but he did talk for a whole 35 or 40 seconds, and that he would be "reporting back" to us. Thanks, whoremonger. 3:16 -- Here's what Democrat-friendly Fox News says: "Sources Tell FOX News N.Y Gov. Eliot Spitzer Will Be Indicted, Resign Over Involvement in Prostitution Ring." 3:18 -- That's the end of this liveblogging, until Spitzer "reports back" to us. Will he resign? Is he gay? 3:22 -- Nevermind, the liveblogging will go on forever. Here's what the NYT has to say now: Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation. The wiretap recording, made during an investigation of a prostitution ring called Emperors Club VIP, captured a man identified as Client 9 on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a room. The person briefed on the case identified Mr. Spitzer as Client 9. 3:26 -- Sounds like a great time to check out these sexy whores that Eliot Spitzer's been screwing. Ooh, did Client 9 fuck this one?: Damn! Someone find a picture of the precise whore that Eliot Spitzer/Client 9 righteously fucked.
New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who built his crime-fighter reputation by taking on crime, corruption, and ironically, prostitution, was himself linked to a very expensive prostitution ring: Last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation called the Emperors Club. The club charged up to $5,500 an hour for one if [...]
Eliot Spitzer a annonce sa demission de son poste de gouverneur de l'Etat de New York, cedant aux pressions politiques de tous bords suite a son implication dans une affaire de prostitution.
Geez Roger Clemens, do you mind if we go a single day without being bombarded by news of yet another one of your past trysts with a Southern blond woman somehow vaguely connected to pop culture? Monday we learned that scowling baseball great Clemens, self-proclaimed paragon of family virtue, cheated on his wife with a continuously intoxicated country music star. More girlfriends came out in the subsequent days. And now we're battered with the news that the rich pitcher may have had a romance with the ex-wife of a fat, drunk professional golfer [NYDN]. Is nothing sacred? The newest name on Clemens "How to Creep" list is Paulette Dean Daly, the former wife of professional golfer John Daly. Since John Daly looks like this: You can see how even Clemens may have looked good to his paramour. The Daily News reports: "Clemens' relationship with Daly is said to have come after the end of her marriage to the hard-driving golfer. That was on the heels of a grim incident at the 1997 Players Championship, where the golfer was taken to a hospital with alcohol poisoning... News reports have described Clemens as being in attendance as recently as two years ago, dancing around the party with an 8-foot-long boa constrictor around his neck.
Chris Webber and Don Nelson Reunion? Tiger Dominates Buick; Roger Clemens Goes Damage Control; LeBron James Sends Kobe and the Lakers On ASlide Coming out of Michigan in ‘93 it seemed Chris was headed for the same success he’d had in college. The second sophomore drafted first overall (Magic), was in a position early to contend for a championship with the passionate Warriors. Remember how Spreewell was dunking on everyone? GS was amassing multiple 50 win seasons with the likes of Spreewell, Chris Mullin, multi-talented Billy Owens and current Mavs coach Avery Johnson. They were a dynamic bunch who stuffed the stat sheet with all around contributions from almost the entire roster. Webber put up 17 and 9 on his way to winning Rookie of the Year, but he often clashed with Nelson over defining his game. Nelson wanted Chris banging in the post and Chris wanted to show his versatility similar to Magic Johnson and fellow Detroit native Derrick Coleman. The 1993 NBA MVP, Barkley got him back in the playoffs putting up 58 in the first game of a three game sweep. Looks like Webb and his first NBA coach might be willing to give it another shot-as early as Tuesday. Chris has a crib out there and is also cool with Baron Davis and Matt Barnes. “Have you seen my roster?” Nelson said after the pregame shootaround. “I think you need to look deep at that roster and look at our schedule and when we start playing the West. Are we going to be strong enough? You don’t think that’s a concern to everybody?” “It would be a talented big person - a guy who has some skill that we don’t have,” Nelson said of Webber. “I see a big person. A need. And I see passing skills. I’ve got one passer only on the team (Baron Davis), and he can’t get all the assists. And the size factor, the fact that Al (Harrington) is not a good rebounder. ... “I think we need to look at a player, or anybody, who can play in an NBA game (who) has some size and can make me one player deeper. With (Austin Croshere) in and out, (Mickael Pietrus) not (playing well), it’s basically a seven-man team. And two of them are D-League players.” This most likely is the last hurrah for both. The only other active players from the 93 draft are Lindsey Hunter and Sam Cassell. Golden State is looking to get back the gold dust that allowed them to upset #1 seed Dallas in the first round of last year’s playoffs. Chris has always been one of the best passing big men in the game (22 triple doubles). Maybe he can help free up a very talented roster for open looks and therefore get this team get over the hump and do some real damage in June. With all the controversy swirling around Tiger Woods the last couple of weeks he still was able to run through Torrey Pines like Fuzzy Zoeller chasing him with a bucket of Kelly Tilghman’s fried chicken. Since 1991, he’s won an astounding 14 times on San Diego area courses, and defeated the field at the Buick for the fourth consecutive year. With yesterday’s masterful performance, Tiger has tied the legendary Arnold Palmer for fourth in all time wins. I’ll have a pretty extensive piece posted tomorrow asking five questions of journalists, athletes, bloggers as well as The Starting Five collective. Tiger’s response to Kelly Tilghman’s lynch remark and subsequent Golfweek cover definitely are addressed. I have to admit I haven’t read it all, but Roger Clemens and his lawyers are attempting to provide evidence Rocket’s career ebbs and flows were a product of a commitment to weight training-amplified by shoulder surgery in 1985-natural ability and the every day rigors of being a pitcher in MLB. Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, claimed in last month’s Mitchell Report on drugs in baseball that he injected the pitcher with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens vehemently denies the allegations, and Clemens and McNamee are among five witnesses scheduled to testify before a House committee on Feb. 13. Clemens also has sued McNamee for defamation. Hendricks’ report, which includes 38 charts, in some ways resembles a salary arbitration case. One of the charts shows Clemens’ ERA was lower than the league average in all but two of his 23 major league seasons. The report also compares variations in Clemens’ career with those of Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and Nolan Ryan, and maintains slumps often can be correlated with injuries. Clemens went 40-39 in his last four seasons with the Red Sox, and when the pitcher left Boston’s general manager at the time, Dan Duquette, said Clemens was in the “twilight” of his career. Clemens was 192-111 with the Red Sox and won three Cy Young Awards and an MVP, then went 162-73 with Toronto, the New York Yankees and Houston, winning four Cy Youngs. “Clemens was far from being in the ‘twilight of his career’ or ‘washed up’ in 1996, as some have speculated,” the report said. “During the 1996 season Clemens ranked first in strikeouts in the American League and tied his own record by striking out 20 batters in Detroit on Sept. 18, 1996. In addition, he ranked sixth in the AL in ERA, second in the AL in hits per nine innings, and fifth in innings pitched. This performance cannot be reasonably categorized as a ‘twilight.” Man, I could care less. I just want all of this to go away. The actual games matter to me most. All this drama is killing a love for the sport I’ve adored since Reggie Jackson signed with the Yankees. NBA leading scorer LeBron James is becoming deftly unstoppable. The difference between he and Kobe is Bron Bron’s ability to bully himself into the lane-after grabbing a rebound on the other end-and scoring while getting to the line in the process. I truly think the cat could average 30 and 15 as a power forward. In yesterday’s match up with Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, James scored 41 to lead the Cavs to a 98-95 win in Los Angeles. At times he overshadowed Kobe in his own house. The Lakers have lost three straight and have cause for concern considering how injuries are beginning to take their toll. Kobe scored 33 had 12 rebounds and 6 dimes. After LeBron hit two free throws to go up three, the Lakers inexplicably did not get off a potential game tying shot: “We ran our last-second play, I was hoping to get the shot off,” said Walton, who shot 4-for-8 for nine points and also had five rebounds, five assists and four steals. “I kind of fumbled the ball a little bit, wasn’t aware the clock was as low as it was, and as soon as I passed it back to Kobe, I realized that that was a mistake, and unfortunately it cost us big.” “It was designed for me to come up from the top of the floor and get a good look at a 3,” Bryant said regarding the last play. “We had to run a dribble weave in that situation and they both came with me, so I kicked it out. I don’t know if he had a clear look at the basket. I think they rotated to him pretty quickly. There’s always other options.” Although Kobe can shoulder the offensive load for multiple game stretches, this team is missing Andrew Bynum’s big time presence on both ends of the floor. Kobe led the team in almost every offensive category Sunday and it’ll be interesting if the Lakers will have the guts and pull the trigger to bring a big man in until Bynum returns. January is a lost month in the NBA similar to the dog days of summer in MLB. Players are tired and limp into the All Star break, so don’t make too much of team slides. On the other end, LeBron and the Cavs look to make a decent run to reclaim last year’s playoff luster. James is hovering around 30 points a game, almost eight rebounds and 8 assists-seventh in the league. Dude will average a triple double for a season in the next year or so. Don’t sleep.
Did Roger Clemens take steroids? Last week, Roger Clemens made the rounds on Capitol Hill to rebut charges by Brian McNamee, his former trainer, that he used steroids and human growth hormone late in his career. In addition, Clemens’s agents from Hendricks Sports Management have provided a report loaded with numbers - 45 pages, 18,000 words and 38 charts - to support his position. You can find the report at the Web site http://www.rogerclemensreport.com/. Report Backing Clemens Chooses Its Facts Carefully These four professors from the Wharton School argued that the stats - contrary to the assertions of Hendricks Sports Management — do not show Clemens is innocent. And this point was noted at ESPN.com in the following articles. While Wolfers and company were making their argument, JC Bradbury at Sabernomics appeared to be telling a different story. Bradbury argued in the following columns that the evidence did not indicate that Clemens was guilty of taking steroids. How Did Clemens Age Relative to Other Pitchers? Official Clemens Response to the NY Times Article A Critique of the Clemens Report So here we have two of my friends appearing to have a very public disagreement. And this led me to think of my role in life as a uniter (yes, I have always thought of myself as a uniter, not a divider). :) So last night I sent the following e-mail to both Bradbury and Wolfers. Justin and company are arguing that the statistics do not show Clemens is innocent. JC is arguing that the statistics do not show that Clemens is guilty. I agree that the statistics cannot exonerate Roger Clemens nor any other baseball player accused of using steroids. I also think they cannot convict. Alan Schwarz had a nice piece on this in Sunday’s New York Times. What we can do is look at certain metrics to see if the evidence leads us one way or the other. In Clemens’s case, especially considering the specificity of Brian McNamee’s allegations, I don’t think swings in the data support the current allegations. Clemens is one of the best pitchers in baseball history and he has aged well. But, I think the aging pattern is more consistent with someone who changed his style to compensate for the effects of aging. When I look at pitchers, I like to break down their stats into three components—strikeouts, walks, and home runs—that are not polluted by the contributions of fielders. Also, I would expect steroids to impact these areas performance measures differently. The effects of anabolic steroids ought to improve strength, speed recovery, and increase aggression; therefore, I expect the largest impact of steroid use would be visible in strikeouts. This effect also might manifest itself in walks if the drugs allow the pitcher to pitch within the zone more often. Home runs ought to improve, but given the variance of home runs, changes in this area are the most difficult to interpret. And in Clemens’s case, this metric doesn’t seem to yield much information, so I will ignore it here. The path of Clemens’s strikeout rate relative to the league average was in decline for the latter part of his career. There are two distinct jumps in this area: 1996-1998 and 2002 (maybe 2004, too). The only one of these jumps that fits with McNamee’s story is 1998. However, Clemens was already having a good strikeout season before McNamee alleges that Clemens became interested in using steroids. In fact, his strikeout performance looks quite similar to his excellent 1998 and 1997. This is an odd time for Clemens to decide that he wants to use steroids, but I can only guess at what might motivate him. Clemens did have a good second half of the season, but the change in performance is explainable from natural swings in performance based on his prior performance. The spike in 2002 occurs while McNamee is still Clemens’s trainer, yet he testified that Clemens was no longer using. In terms of ERA, 2002 was not a good year for Clemens because his walks and homers allowed were up. When we get to walks is when the story gets interesting. His aging pattern is in reverse. He starts out good, gets worse into his mid-30s, and then improves. Much of his success late in his career is because he stopped walking batters. And given that his strikeout rate was not improving, this leads me to believe that this reflects a change in the style of his pitching. It could the result of his work on improving his split-finger fastball, which is one of the explanations for his success put forth in the Clemens report, or possibly he was using his veteran knowledge to better exploit the strike zone. We also have the issue of the sample. I don’t think there is any denying that Clemens performance is atypical. Very few pitchers are effective into their 40s. But, it is not so atypical as to be unexpected by natural means. Including the comparable pitchers listed in the Clemens report, you could add John Smoltz and Jamie Moyer, who have excelled in the latter halves of their careers. I don’t think it is wrong to compare Clemens to these pitchers. All the Clemens team needs to show is that his performance is not without precedent. Finally, the good ERA years of 2004-2006, which are the post-40 performance spikes that initially made everyone so suspicious of Clemens, occurred while McNamee is still his trainer (and claims Clemens was clean), and after MLB had instituted random drug testing. I think that you have characterized our views correctly: We are arguing that Clemens’ career statistics do not show him to be innocent. My colleagues and I wrote our piece because we were thought the attempt by Clemens crisis management firm to spin the data were dishonest. This is not a case where the data can speak clearly enough to prove guilt or innocence, and this is not a point that the earlier sympathetic press coverage spoke to. As economists and statisticians, we thought this was a nice real world example we could use to help the public understand just what can and can’t be shown with statistics. So I think you are right to say that JC and I don’t disagree (or don’t disagree much). Beyond what the data don’t “prove” (both guilt and innocence), there is a tougher intermediate question: Are Clemens’ career statistics better thought of as evidence for the prosecution, or evidence for the defense? We see enough unusual patterns in his career trajectory that we think of them as being more persuasive for the prosecution than for the defense. Different approaches yield slightly different conclusions, but enough of them look somewhat odd that it is hard to see an honest presentation of the data helping Clemens’ case. In fact, I was a bit surprised that Clemens’ folks opened this can of worms. Of course, it is an old advocacy trick to simply try to bury an issue under a mountain of statistics, hoping that journalists are not well enough trained to dig deeper. There is so little in the Clemens Report that is actually analytically useful (read it and see!), that I’m pretty sure this is what was going on. (The fact that his agents are working with a PR crisis management firm on this issue largely confirms this.) So there you have it. Two academics looking at the same issue, and although at first glance it may not appear to be the case, each is reaching similar conclusions. The reason for the difference is that Bradbury and Wolfers, et. al, are addressing different audiences. Bradbury is concerned about people in the media and the general public who have already convicted Clemens. To these people Bradbury says “not so fast, the statistical evidence does not convict.” Wolfers et. al. are addressing paid consultants, who wish to say the statistical evidence clears their client. To these people, Wolfers, et. al. says “not so fast, the statistical evidence doesn’t clear Clemens.” Painting a Broader Picture I would like to emphasize something that Wolfers stated. As economists and statisticians, we thought this was a nice real world example we could use to help the public understand just what can and can’t be shown with statistics. you should be a bit suspicious. Does this mean that you can use statistics to say anything you want? No, but it does say that you have to be careful when you see consultants offer “definitive” answers. Often when you delve a bit deeper, you see that the consultant is just spinning the data. And if your not careful, all that spinning can make you just a bit dizzy.
In an effort to further our debate over what the statistics say about Roger Clemens’s possible steroid use, Dave Berri asked Justin Wolfers and I to address our disagreement on Wages of Wins. So here we have two of my friends appearing to have a very public disagreement. And this led me to think of my role in life as a uniter (yes, I have always thought of myself as a uniter, not a divider). So last night I sent the following e-mail to both Bradbury and Wolfers. Justin and company are arguing that the statistics do not show Clemens is innocent. JC is arguing that the statistics do not show that Clemens is guilty. Beyond what the data don't “prove” (both guilt and innocence), there is a tougher intermediate question: Are Clemens' career statistics better thought of as evidence for the prosecution, or evidence for the defense? We see enough unusual patterns in his career trajectory that we think of them as being more persuasive for the prosecution than for the defense. Different approaches yield slightly different conclusions, but enough of them look somewhat odd that it is hard to see an honest presentation of the data helping Clemens' case. I agree that the statistics cannot exonerate Roger Clemens nor any other baseball player accused of using steroids. I also think they cannot convict.... In Clemens's case, especially considering the specificity of Brian McNamee's allegations, I don't think swings in the data support the current allegations.... So, to put it in Justin's terms, I think the evidence supports the defense. Here is a graph of ERA and WHIP by age for Roger Clemens on that using connected scatter plots and quadratic fit curves. The metrics tend to move in concert (correlation = 0.9), and the small difference in quadratic fit seems to be explained by a few more-extreme deviations in WHIP. Thus, if WHIP has any advantage over ERA, it is slight; and I prefer to concentrate on the individual metrics. I think using WHIP to examine Clemens’s career is especially problematic because the reduction in walks was largely responsible for his late-career success, and it is his walks that cause his career WHIP to be upside down. I don’t walks are is a good marker for steroid use. Thus, I interpret the same data to support rather than damage the case for Clemens’s performance being natural. Thanks to Dave for setting this up, and thanks to Justin for participating. It is a pleasure to discuss a disagreement cordially—a rarity on the internet. Bradbury: What Do the Statistics Say about Roger Clemens's Steroid Use? Wolfers, et. al.: Report Backing Clemens Chooses Its Facts Carefully Bradbury: A Critique of the Clemens Report Wolfers: Breaking Down the Clemens Report: A Guest Post Hendricks: Official Clemens Response to the NY Times Article Wolfers: Analyzing Roger Clemens: A Step-by-Step Guide