Yankees Close Ranks Around Clemens And Pettitte

No surprise here and I hold presumably clean players like Jeter just as culpable for the steroids era (in a different way) as the actual cheats. All the clean players and managers and owners and agents and trainers looked the other way, thinking it was manly to just back up your guy and not break the code of silence. Virtually none of them even condemned cheating in general. So no surprise Jeter says Pettitte is great and it was wonderful to see Andy be see honest and come forward (he didn't come forward; he was outed as a cheat and did some damage control). And Jeter says Clemens is a great teammate and we shouldn't rush to judgment -- as if a 20 month investigation is a rush to judgment. And Joba says Clemens is the man and has nothing to prove to him -- look at all those intense workouts -- to stupid perhaps to realize that steroids help you indulge in those intense workouts and get results faster. Too stupid or he just doesn't care. Nothing will change because the players don't care, the fans don't care and certainly the owners don't care. Meanwhile, the Texas High School Basketball Coaches Assocation is trying to go slow while deciding about Clemens, who was scheduled to speak at their annual convention about those same vigorous workouts. You'd think Clemens would give them an easy out and say he appreciates the offer but wants to devote himself to clearing his name and hopes they'll make the offer again down the road. But why should he? They're deluged with phone calls from people who rush to judgment -- the judgment that Clemens MUST be innocent despite the evidence. And Dan Hooton, whose baseball-playing son committed suicide while on steroids (one lovely side effect of abusing them is depression) and has devoted his life to warning kids about steroids? He's never been asked to speak at the convention and tells USA Today "Many of the [Texas] coaches have distanced themselves from me. Many don't want me talking at their events." Who thinks its perverse that high school football coaches might want to have a player immersed in a steroids scandal give a pep talk to their kids while they want nothing to do with a dad warning those same kids about the dangers of steroids?