Manny being a moron; latest MLB superstar embroiled in the steroids controversy

Only a few months after becoming the very first recipient of my Swag Award, Manny Ramirez is back on BDumasonline.com but for much different reasons this time. Ramirez has permanently damaged his legacy as one of baseball's best hitters as his name has been thrown in the pot along with the likes of Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez as prominent MLB players who have been implicated in the steroids controversy. 

Yesterday, Commissioner Bud Selig slapped a 50 game suspension on Ramirez for violating the league's drug policy after it became known that Manny had high levels of artificial testosterone in his body and tested positive for human chorionic gonadotropin or HGC. According to experts, HGC is a women's fertility drug and is often used by steroid users to restart natural testosterone production in the body after a cycle of steroids has been completed...How else can a man justify taking a women's fertility drug?? 

Damn Manny, people said you were a moron but I gave you the benefit of the doubt and like Barry Bonds, A-Roid and the like, you let me down. It remains to be seen how the sport will recover from this period but as I fan I feel cheated, and these revelations make it more and more difficult to justify paying ridiculous prices for tickets to see a bunch of cheaters. Yet another dark day for MLB.

Below is an ESPN piece on the prevalence of performing enhancers in MLB and its top athletes.

Performance-enhancers found on paraphernalia linked to Roger Clemens

Uh oh Roger. New information reported by the New York Times says that performance-enhancing substances were found on syringes that Clemens' ex-trainer Brian McNamee said he used to inject the pitcher.

Last month, The Times reported that Clemens' DNA was found on some of the syringes and other material that McNamee turned over to federal investigators.

First there was the DNA, and now the drugs, found on the same evidence...

If you'll remember, Clemens appeared on '60 Minutes' in January, 2008, and then in front of a congressional committee in February, 2008 to set the record straight and deny any allegations of his usage of performance-enhancers.

We all remember the interview A-Rod did with Katie Couric in 2007 for '60 Minutes' that we all know now was a bold faced lie. I can't help but wonder if Clemens' '60 Minutes' interview will eventually be viewed in the same light if it isn't already. 

The difference between A-Rod and Clemens is that A-Rod never took an oath and swore to be truthful in a formal setting. Lying to Mike Wallace and lying under oath are two entirely different things. This is why Barry Bonds is on trial for perjury..Once you take that oath, if evidence becomes available that can contradict your testimony, you could find yourself in some hot water. 

A federal grand jury has already convened to determine if Clemens perjured himself when he told Congress that he never used performance-enhancers. If indicted and taken to trial, Clemens' lawyers will try to argue that McNamee somehow doctored the evidence in the seven years between the time he injected Clemens (2001) and the time he turned the evidence over to the feds (2008).

This saga just took an interesting new twist, and I am curious to see how it all plays out. Clemens, who has achieved every imaginable benchmark and been awarded every imaginable accolade as a pitcher placed all of that in jeopardy when he testified in front of Congress. If it is found that Clemens did indeed perjur himself, an asterisk in the record books would be the least of his concerns...