Keller @ Large: Is Roger Clemens Trial Worth It?
BOSTON (CBS) - It is, to me at least, one of the most uninteresting questions to have been the center of so much debate and costly legal maneuvering -- did former Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens use performance-enhancing drugs during his career?
His former trainer and some of his former teammates say yes; Clemens says no, and has risked just about everything he has on that insistence.
He didn't have to submit a deposition to the congressional committee investigating steroid use in baseball, and he didn't have to testify in person when they held their televised hearings.
But he did, and because his story is widely contradicted by others, he is now in federal court fighting off a possible criminal sentence for lying to Congress.
And based on what we're seeing early on, the trial promises to chew up hundreds of thousands of tax dollars and make many rich lawyers even richer.
So while I do consider perjury a very serious crime, and certainly don't condone lying to Congress, any more than I condone them lying to us, I have to wonder - is this really the best possible use -- or even a rational use -- of the court's precious time and the public's scarce resources?
I get it that Congress has a special interest in baseball's integrity because of the antitrust exemption, but I recall their steroid hearings as a forum for political posturing and celebrity star-gazing.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Podcast
I see no reason why baseball shouldn't just be ordered to clean up its act while Congress moves on to other matters far more worthy of their attention.
And I really see no reason why all this time and money should be spent crucifying Clemens, who should just take a polygraph test and if he flunks it, pay several million in fines and get lost.
Do we really want him taking up a prison cell from someone guilty of a more serious crime than being dumb?
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
