Roger Clemens

Rev. Jeremiah Wright

With apologies to Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens is probably the greatest pitcher in the last twenty plus years of baseball history. Clemens has won 354 games and lost 184 in his 24-year career. He won the Cy Young award seven times. The Cy Young award signifies that during that season, Clemens was the best pitcher in his league. Clemens has won three games and lost none in his World Series appearances with the New York Yankees.

Clemens has always presented himself as a “real man’s man.” He is an articulate, college-educated athlete and appeared to represent the best, baseball had to offer. During his career, Clemens made more than $100 million dollars in salary from his teams. He has also been very successful in endorsing products and services of corporate America. He has been in demand for speaking at events and memorabilia and card shows.

The Mitchell Report Changes Lives

Clemens’ life and reputation changed dramatically on December 13, 2007. On that day, the Mitchell Report was made public. In the report, Roger Clemens was identified as a player who had used performance-enhancing drugs. Brian McNamee, a former trainer, said Clemens used performance enhancers on several occasions. McNamee also identified Andy Pettitte, as another of his clients who used banned substances. While Clemens denied McNamee’s claims, Pettitte admitted to using performance enhancers.

Clemens and McNamee went “toe to toe” before a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. McNamee forcefully repeated his accusations. Clemens vehemently denied that he ever used banned substances. Republicans on the committee seemed to believe Clemens while Democrats on the committee seemed to support McNamee. In the end, the committee voted to ask the Justice Department to investigate both Clemens and McNamee to determine which one had committed perjury. Clemens compounded his problems by appearing on the CBS television program “60 Minutes“. In his “60 Minutes” interview , Clemens suggested that everyone is lying but him.

Making the Beast with Two Backs

Clemens reputation took another hit when the New York Daily News reported that Clemens had a number of extra marital affairs with a variety of women. The first woman identified as “making the beast with two backs” with Clemens, was Mindy McCready a troubled, country singer whom Clemens first met and invited to his hotel room when she was fifteen years old. Clemens denies having an “inappropriate relationship” with McCready.On the other hand McCready, seems to suggest that her sexual relationship with Clemens did not occur until after she turned eighteen. The Daily News has identified several other women, including one of golfer John Daly’s ex-wives, who were intimately, involved with Clemens. For Clemens who often declared that his wife and family were the most important parts of his life, these revelations are particularly damaging.

Jeremiah Wright – Another Successful Career

Like, Roger Clemens the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has had an outstanding career. Wright a decorated member of the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Navy was riding high .In Chicago, as pastor, preacher, teacher, scholar, and community activist Wright was one of the best. He helped build the ministries of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago to the point where this church became one of the most important and vital churches in the city. Oprah Winfrey and other local movers and shakers were often members and visitors in Wright’s congregation. For African Americans visiting Chicago, Trinity was a must stop in the same way that Rev.T.D. Jakes’ Potter’s House is in Dallas.

In 2007, Jeremiah Wright was about to retire from the active pastorate. A successor was in place and Wright was about to be honored and recognized by churches, seminaries, and civic organizations across the nation. Wright was being honored for his outstanding body of work. On top of these accolades, one of Wright’s congregants, Barack Obama, was becoming the first African American with a serious opportunity to become the nominee of his party for President of the United States.

YouTube Changes Lives

For Jeremiah Wright, YouTube changed his life. Snippets of Wright’s sermons form several different dates appeared on YouTube. In those snippets, Wright blasts America for its treatment of African Americans. In one clip he suggests that the American government may be responsible for the spread of AIDS among African Americans. For many the most disturbing clip involved Wright saying,”Not God Bless America but God Damn America.”

Wright the decorated former Marine was now seen as “unpatriotic”. The pastor who helped develop a dynamic program to address the issues of HIV/AIDS in the African American community was now called a “nut case.” The spiritual adviser to a potential U.S. President was now being called “a dangerous old man”. The national media descended on Wright’s church and congregants looking for more examples of Wright’s “inappropriate words and deeds.”

Wright compounded his problems with speeches he made before the Detroit NAACP and the National Press Club. These were nationally televised speeches and Wright seemed intoxicated by the presence of the television cameras. Following these speeches, Barack Obama felt it necessary to totally repudiate Wright’s words and to some degree distance himself from Wright the man. Obama said that Wright was now a caricature of a once talented and distinguished pastor.

The Tragic Flaw in Clemens and Wright

To see two men who have had such successful careers fall so far in the estimation of the public is deeply disturbing. Roger Clemens the great pitcher and competitor is now the butt of jokes about sex and drugs. Jeremiah Wright the great preacher and pastor is now a racist “madman” in the eyes of many Americans. For many African Americans the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is now a “dream killer”.

In both cases, the body of work that was celebrated not long ago will be forever tarnished and in some cases dismissed. Both these men are exceptionally talented but their flaws have brought them to this difficult time in their lives. In the Greek tragedies, it was hubris that brought great men down to their knees. In today’s world, it is the television camera and hubris, that can bring great men down to their knees.

“The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves…..”