(Reprise article)

Roger Clemens has not had a good 2008. Retired from baseball and named in both the Mitchell Report on Steroid Abuses and under investigation by the federal prosecutor U.S. attorney Matt Parrella for committing perjury by lying under oath in the trial of his former trainer and he countersuing that former trainer for defamation, The Rocket seemingly rehabilitated himself with an impressively indignant performance on Capitol Hill, also under oath, where he swore he’d never injected himself with HGH (Human Growth Hormone) steroids to help bounce back quicker from injuries or add muscle bulk/mass. It was so convincing a performance (at times he snarled into the camera as did Bill Clinton during his famous “I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky” line), that it brought some doubt into the credibility of the government’s key witnesses against him.

That is until last week when Christmas came early for Federal prosecutors.

“The Rocket” was linked romantically to “young” country and western star Mindy McCready by the New York Daily News. Mindy has been performing since 1996 when she turned 21 after leaving home at 18 to move to Nashville. Her hits include the Number One “Guys Do It All The Time and Top Ten hits “Ten Thousand Angels” and “A Girl’s Gotta Do (What a Girl’s Gotta Do)”. Her four albums have sold well and her personal life has been written about in volumes.

She was engaged to “Lois and Clark” star Dean Cain and her life has had its share of drama including 3-years probation for falsely buying prescription drugs, a drink driving conviction and an attempted murder by strangulation by ex-boyfriend C&W singer Billy McKnight.

Seems Mindy and The Rocket were introduced when Mindy was 15 and they became friends. The affair lasted for 15 years and Roger was married with two small children at its peak. It went public in a New York Daily News article.

Rusty Hardin, Clemen’s attorney issued a vehement denial of the story and also stated that Clemens would be bringing a(nother) defamation suit regarding this false allegation. Clemens’ attorney admitted that a relationship existed, but described McCready as a “close family friend”. He also stated that McCready had traveled on Clemens’ personal jet and that Clemens’ wife was aware of the relationship.

All seemed to be going swimmingly until Mindy revealed “there is nothing in the Daily News story I can deny.”

Ooops.

Looks like the ball is back in Roger’s suddenly very quiet court. Could one make up a better story line? Naawww. Hubris and pride always goeth before the fall.

Let’s script ahead shall we?

Lurid details will slowly leak about the affair. The press will encircle The Rocket’s compound. Rumour upon rumour will circulate in the tabloids. And then one day, in an attempt to silence the media hordes, in true Elliott Spitzer style, The Rocket will stand before the microphones, issue a terse, somewhat apologetic statement as his wife dutifully stands by his side (unless she is like most women I know from Texas and tosses his sorry butt out the door!). The media storm will subside (Elliott who? – ‘former’ governor of New York) and he then gets to await trial that will take forever. Roger will scale back, sell the jet and prepare to spend the next five years defending lawsuits.

Forget Cooperstown and welcome to the Black Sox, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds purgatory, that place reserved for those who excelled in the game but whose ego allowed them to bite the hand that fed them and discredited the game of baseball.

Sometime in 2010, he will, after spending about $3 million dollars on lawyers, be convicted of perjury and assigned for 3-5 years as a guest in a federal facility.

U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella, Merry Christmas in April.