Once upon a time, Roger Clemens' legacy was as the best pitcher of his generation, winner of 354 games and seven Cy Youngs, the indomitable Rocket Man.
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A Legacy Tarnished
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Roger Clemens denies having an "improper relationship" with country singer Mindy McCready when the two met when she was 15. Click through to revisit a difficult past year for Clemens.
Now Clemens has a new legacy. Future celebrities who find themselves under siege for any manner of impropriety will look upon Clemens, circa 2008, as the foremost example of how not to handle it.
If ever a sterling reputation has been sullied so rapidly, and so completely, I misremember who it might have been. OK, upon further review, maybe Elliot Spitzer, but he's in the Hall of Fame of crashes and burns -- first ballot. The rise and fall of Clemens just reinforces, once more, the fine line between national hero and universal laughingstock.
One day, you can be polishing your Cooperstown speech, and the next, you're the butt of jokes on Leno and Letterman. But beyond the levity and gallows humor, the downside for Clemens is very real and extraordinarily painful: immense distress for his family, the aura of his vast baseball accomplishments completely diminished, and even the possibility of perjury proceedings against him.
Crisis managers will teach seminars on the Rocket disaster of '08. Agents will urge their wayward clients not to "pull a Clemens." The hubris, missteps and poor advice that brought down Clemens will forever be studied by professional image-makers.
So where exactly did Clemens go so wrong? Or, to put it another way, how can future accused drug cheats and philanderers avoid the pitfalls that leave Clemens a battered and tattered man?
For starters, and perhaps most profoundly of all, they must remember the extraordinary power of contrition. Just contrast the status of the two once-fast friends and former teammates, Clemens and Andy Pettitte, both fingered by Brian McNamee in the Mitchell Report.
Clemens, in concert with attorney Rusty Hardin, came out with fists flying, denying the charges with force and aggression, in flamboyant public fashion. He filed a defamation suit against McNamee. He secretly taped and played publicly a telephone conversation with McNamee that Clemens seemed to feel would vindicate him, but didn't; all it apparently did, after discussions of the trainers' sick son became public, was turn McNamee into a mortal enemy -- one who knew some of Clemens' deepest, darkest secrets. And then, in perhaps the biggest blunder of them all, Clemens pushed for a Congressional hearing in which damning testimony from Pettitte turned public opinion against him.
Pettitte, on the other hand, humbly admitted to the HGH use cited by Mitchell, tried to explain his motivation, expressed regret -- and has been largely forgiven by the public at large.
Clemens' strategy would have worked only if the public believed he was truly innocent. But the statement by Pettitte, under oath, that Clemens had told him of his HGH use seemed to corroborate for many both McNamee and the report by George Mitchell, a respected former United States senator.
And when the tawdry accusations came out last week in the New York Daily News of various Clemens' infidelities, including a relationship with country singer Mindy McCready that allegedly began when she was 15, his adamant denials were again undermined by McCready's statement that "I cannot refute anything in the article."
Tampa Bay Rays' Evan Longoria, center, looks on with teammates during the ninth inning baseball action in Game 1 of the American League championship series in St. Petersburg, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. Boston defeated Tampa Bay 2-0. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Pitcher Justin Masterson #63 of the Boston Red Sox delivers a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning of game one of the American League Championship Series during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Devil Rays 2-0 to take a 1-0 series lead. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Justin Masterson
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Carlos Pena #23 of the Tampa Bay Rays flies out in the eighth inning of game one of the American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in Tampa, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Rays 2-0 to take a 1-0 series lead. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Carlos Pena
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Dustin Pedroia #15 of the Boston Red Sox scores a run on a double hit by Kevin Youkilis (not pictured) in game one of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Dustin Pedroia
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Kevin Youkilis #20 of the Boston Red Sox hits a RBI double against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning of game one of the American League Championship Series during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Kevin Youkilis
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Manager Terry Francona of the Boston Red Sox pulls starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka #18 in the seventh inning of game one of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Daisuke Matsuzaka;Terry Francona
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The Boston Red Sox players react after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-0 in Game 1 of the American League championship series in St. Petersburg, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
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Boston Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek reacts after Tampa Bay Rays' Dioner Navarro struck out to end the game in the ninth inning baseball action in Game 1 of the American League championship series in St. Petersburg, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008. Boston defeated Tampa Bay 2-0. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon #58 of the Boston Red Sox delivers a pitch in the ninth inning of game one of the American League Championship Series against the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Devil Rays 2-0 to take a 1-0 series lead. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jonathan Papelbon
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ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 10: Pitcher Justin Masterson #63 of the Boston Red Sox delivers a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth inning of game one of the American League Championship Series during the 2008 MLB playoffs at Tropicana Field on October 10, 2008 in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Devil Rays 2-0 to take a 1-0 series lead. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Justin Masterson
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So Clemens finally resorted, with evident reluctance and disdain, to the ever-popular apology. And here is our next bit of advice, which may sound facetious but most assuredly is not: Learn the fine art of saying you're sorry.
It can be a vital key to resurrecting one's reputation. Just ask the executives at Johnson and Johnson, whose quick and decisive action after eight deaths from cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules in 1982 is still considered the model of how to handle extreme adversity -- the anti-Clemens' M.O. The company took immediate responsibility (even though it eventually came out they were not at fault), the CEO apologized, and a full recall of Tylenol products was executed, at great expense to the company. Tylenol quickly came back as a thriving and profitable brand and remains so to this day. The outlook for the Clemens brand is not nearly so rosy.
Never underestimate the raw power of an apology that is perceived as sincere and heartfelt. The public has an inherent yearning to forgive. But also never underestimate the damage done by an apology perceived as perfunctory, half-hearted, forced and/or insincere (see Imus, Don).
Clemens's mea semi-culpa veers toward the latter. For one thing, just like former teammate Jason Giambi, he never quite says what he is apologizing for, other than vague "mistakes in my personal life for which I am sorry." And he mitigates the sympathy factor by throwing humanity under the bus: "Like everyone," he said, "I have flaws."
It's probably too late for Clemens to win back sympathy from the populace at large. But the next famous person staring at adversity might be wise to remember the simple virtues of humility, contrition and sincere remorse.
ROGER CLEMENS WAS MY HERE , HE DID IT ALL AND HE IS MY BIGGEST LET DOWN , I AM SO SO ASHAMED TO SAY I ADORED HIM AS THE BEST I EVER SAW BUT AS I SEE , DRUGS, STEROIDS WHO KNOWS WHAT , DID HIM IN . I NEVER WANT EVER TO HEAR HIS NAME , HE STOLE THE WINS HE GOT , AND SO BE IT RICH
Roger simply suffers from a severe case of believing he's above the law. People with the fame and fortune of Clemens lose touch with reality, and believe they're god like creatures. The sad thing is his children, wife, realitives, and friends will pay a large portion of the bill for Rogers infidelity!
I knew going after Barry leave more casualties than most thought. Barry still loves the game enough to NOT publish his TELL ALL memoirs. Don't know if Roger can handle it, though. Like I said.....The little rat didn't make the hole.
