[ETWolverine]

The NY Post reported this morning that Congress (House of Reps) wants Roger Clemens to testify to the fact that he didn't take steroids. Apparently two House sub-committees, The House Government Reform Committee and the Sub-committee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection, both want to hear testimony from Roger Clements.

Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) says "I think Roger Clemens might have some interesting explaining to do."

And Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ken.), who is himself a former pitcher and a Hall of Fame inductee, said "I think baseball owes it to the players to have a judicial hearing and a system put in place so that Roger Clemens of the world and Andy Pettitte and all the others named in the report have a legitimate way to clear their name.

Regardless of what you think in terms of whether these players did something wrong or not, regardless of whether you agree with the Mitchel Report or not, my question s this:

Why in the hell is this a Congressional issue?

Why are Senators, Representatives, and other government officials getting involved in baseball? Does Congress have nothing else on their plates besides calling committee hearings about a GAME? Why is Congress wasting time with this?

I can understand a retired Senator like Mitchell being involved in the investigation. He's retired, and his activity isn't wasting Congressional time. I can even understand Bunning commenting on the issue as a former pro baseball player. His personal comments don't waste Congressional time and assets. But why would Congress as an institution want to waste its time on this nonsense by calling committee hearings about it? Since when is it Congress' job to reform baseball?

Elliot

[Emland]

I fully agree, Elliot. If MLB wanted to stop the use of steroids they could do it in a hearbeat, but they don't want to stop records being broken because it brings in the big bucks.

I will support Congress investigating MLB when the budget is balanced and all of the other business of the country is complete. What a waste of time and taxpayer money.

[shygrneyzs]

Congress cannot even find their own hind end without assistance - they need to leave baseball alone. Let MLB take care of this - they have the money and resources to dig into this steroid use and abuse. Maybe they do not want to dig too far though. What would happen anyway? Are any records going to be taken away - such as Mark McGwire's breaking of Roger Maris' record?

[tomder55]

Let me say at the outset that I am suspicious of Sen. Mithchell's report based on his previous ties with the Boston Red Sox organization .He serves as a Director in the front office for the Boston Red Sox.

To answer your question ; Congress thinks they have a role in the conduct of Major League Baseball because a long time ago they granted the game anti-trust exemptions. It was an unnncessary step when it happened and they should reverse the decision... but they won't . They love these show hearings that they conduct in lieu of doing anything constructive.I don't know ;maybe they get a cut from C-Span.

I think all professional sports should adopt IOC standards regarding performace enhancing methods .

[speechlesstx]

Elliot, while I can understand congress investigating steroid use, I don't get how it has the right to name names and potentially ruin careers of people that as far as I know, were never up for trial, and for activities that were not yet a violation of MLB rules. It's kind of like Ronnie Earle indicting Tom DeLay for violating a Texas law that wasn't on the books at the time of the alleged violation.

I'm not defending steroid use, but I don't see how congress should have a free hand to ruin people not under investigation for any crime, and if anything MLB should be taking the hit for their failure to take action for all those years.

Steve

[Emland]

I'd be more interested in a study of drug and alcohol use done on the Members of Congress.

[NeedKarma]

Damn it, there are still some places on this earth where the US has not established democracy! Isn't that more important than big muscles?

[speechlesstx]

Damn it, there are still some places on this earth where the US has not established democracy! Isn't that more important than big muscles?

What, do we need to conquer Canada? :D

[NeedKarma]

We're happy here, please don't ruin it.

[tomder55]

Steve ; I wouldn't bother . We tried twice before and found it wasn't worth the effort .

Invasion of Canada (1775 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Canada and The War of 1812

[NeedKarma]

Thank you.