Somewhat shorter Ross Douthat: Gosh, Wally, wasn't the 1950s just swell? Sure they cheated at baseball back then too, but it was sports cheating at its best. Why don't we just forgive that scamp Roger Clemens for the sake of auld lang syne?
For a man who makes his living as a moral scold, it sure is odd to see him advocate ignoring the breaking of Charlton Heston's Ten Commandments. But maybe he just makes allowances for any situation that doesn't include a woman voluntarily having sex.
Also, Roger Clemens is a hyper-macho Texan and a huge, huge donor to the Republican party and a friend of the previous president.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone to junior high with him if he had moved to Texas a couple of years earlier. Weird.
ReplyDeleteI liked Nolan Ryan a lot. He seemed like a decent guy.
He should have let Charlie Pierce have the last word on Clemens -
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/pierce/2010/08/sorry_rog.html
But what brings up Ryan, other than his taking GWBs old job as show owner of the Rangers?
Ryan had a little ranch, I think, and stayed married to his wife and generally was low-key, comparatively speaking.
ReplyDeleteBesides, Clemens was from Ohio. Pffft!
My point being--Ryan, Texan. Clemens, not so much.
ReplyDeleteActually I think the somewhat shorter Ross Douthat this week is more like: "OMG, I don't have a single idea for a column this week but I'm contractually obligated to provide one. Let me rifle through the newspaper a bit - ah-ha, Roger Clemens. I can use that as a framework for my wankery about a Golden Age that never really existed except in reruns of 'Leave it to Beaver'."
ReplyDeleteBoilerplate Douthat wankery about a Golden Age in the past that never existed wrapped around a thread of current events to attempt to make it relevant. I wouldn't be surprised if he just has a stack of these things in a filing cabinet that he pulls out and fills in paragraphs here or there when he has a deadline to meet and no ideas...
wasn't the 1950s just swell? Sure they cheated at baseball back then
ReplyDeleteBut Bobby Thompson wasn't cheating. It wasn't against the rules to steal the signs with binoculars or a spy-glass or whatever the Giants used.
As for Roger Clemens, I think the jerkiest thing he did was give all his children "K" for a first initial. If I were one of his kids, I change me name to Homer.
What Roger Clemens wants — what he’s recklessly pursued, to the point where he’s facing perjury charges and possibly jail — is what Bobby Thomson enjoyed. He wants to be judged on what happened on the field, where pitches are thrown and swings are taken, and everything else fades into irrelevance.
ReplyDeleteThen he should keep his goddamned mouth shut off the field.
Heh. Those fake, trying to prove themselves Texan Texans are the worst Texans.
ReplyDelete