Roger Clemens. The name suggests strikeouts and big-game pitching behind murderous fastballs for the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. It now denotes something else. The allegation of using performance-enhancing drugs.

HGH… steroids, the dirty little secret that is little no more. These days, when a baseball player is accused of playing with HGH and/or steroids, in addition to baseballs, he is brought to Washington to appear before Congress. That Congress should have better things to do with their days is another story.

Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire and now Clemens have all been called to answer to our Government, which has supplanted baseball apparently as the law of the baseball land. Clemens and Barry Bonds have become the poster children for what has gone wrong with baseball in the age of players being juiced. Although neither admit to any wrong doing up to this point, there are no answers to why a player, one who should be in the twilight of his career, can suddenly achieve more around the age of 40 than they did 10 years earlier.

Clemens had been given a pass in the media, and although there had been whispers about him and using, it was nothing in comparison to what the media had to say about Bonds. The reason is open to debate. I would say it is one part race, one part Bonds being the surliest dude in town towards the media, and one part Bonds daring to interrupt the sleep of home run legends, 755, and all that.

Clemens, like Bonds, had the talent to go to Cooperstown without any additives. Clemens, like Bonds, fell on the sword of avarice. Enough is never enough for their breed. Their fame is a drug, like steroids, that is addictive in the spoils it provides.

I grew up living, breathing and loving MLB. Before I knew about girls, or at least before I knew I would like them, there was MLB. Before I hated high school, there was MLB. Before the other sports came into my view, there was MLB. The scandal of steroids is the latest in a bath of player strikes, inflated salaries and inflated ticket prices that would test anyone's love and loyalty to the game.

To watch MLB in the age of steroids is to question everything. The shortstop that hits 10 more homers than the year before. Is he taking? The relief pitcher that suddenly goes two innings and doubles his saves. Is he on HGH? Steroids? Just coming into his prime naturally?

I like to write. If from a very early age, everyone around me helped me hone my writing skills, told me what a great writer I would be and catered to my wishes and needs in the process, needless to say I would have a lot of my value as a human being tied into being a great writer. Lo and behold, I get to a point where there are other very good writers that I have to compete against.

Let's say there was a little green pill that I could take, which other good writers with my level of ability and potential were taking to make us all better writers. This green pill would fill a writer with better storylines, enable a writer to stay up throughout the night pounding away on keyboards, and giving a writer a real edge in the world of writing. This green pill would be necessary to achieve my dream of becoming a great writer, or even becoming good enough to just keep up with the rest of the pack.

Well, what would I do? My life's ambition, training and sacrifice is tied into this. After all, it's only a little green pill… right? This pill does have its side-effects, particularly long-term. However, with my ability, plus the "greenies," I could be another Charles Dickens, or Mike Lupica, or Ernest Hemingway.

What about you? A pill or two a day, to meet all your professional desires. Money, respect, maybe even a touch of fame and what comes with it. Sell more than your competition. Out hustle your office-mates for that promotion. What would your choice be?

Clemens, Bonds and many others in the game of baseball made their choice and took a juiced stand – allegedly. Statistics, salaries, and yes, fan interest have gone through the roof, breaking records on all counts. So they are busted by the authorities. And what? No one will be taking away their millions. They still have their fame. Their health? Debatable, but if they didn't care about their own well-being, why should we?

So Clemens has gone to Washington to meet with our legislators, to deny allegations that he, and now it comes out, his wife, were involved in performance-enhancing drugs. Everyone wants to believe in their heroes, and when it comes to light that our heroes are not what we thought they were, or what we hoped they would be, we are disappointed. But, in this age, we are hardly shocked.

The asterisk to the achievements of Clemens and Bonds will not be found in a record book necessarily, it will be in the court of public opinion. Even with this, I am not convinced that they or many other players twisted in the scandal of steroids and HGH really care, truth be told. They have cast their die in this saga, and although it is great to be loved and respected, it was more important to them to be great.

MLB star pitcher Clemens, in his appearance before Governmental forces in Washington, was not the Clemens with the MLB lightning fastball. Trying to throw off-speed pitches by Congress, Clemens seemed confused and defensive in his attempt to clear his name away from HGH, steroids and anything relating to performance-enhancing drugs.

It was a bad event for Clemens, not just that his name will forever be linked to this fiasco, but that in trying to space himself from his problems, he directly tied in two of the closest people in the world to him, and that is not what heroes do. Andy Pettitte, Clemens' longtime teammate and close friend, was thrown under the bus by Clemens, as Clemens refuted what Pettitte had told Congress, that Clemens had admitted to him that he (Clemens) had used HGH (human growth hormone).

Clemens, although defending Pettitte as a friend, said that Pettitte "misheard." Worse still, what was it that Clemens stated he told Pettitte? That he (Clemens) told Pettitte that Clemens' wife had used HGH, and not Clemens himself.

So, let's get this straight. Clemens not only stated that his great friend Andy Pettitte did not remember what Pettitte clearly stated was Clemens' admission to a close friend, but on top of that Clemens used his wife's reputation in refuting the statement. The public can forgive a lot of things, and does when it comes to their heroes. However, one thing the public has a hard time with is a person saving themselves by using their closest ties as life preservers. Someone that trades in his family and friends for a way out is not someone that the public respects, even the likes of Roger "The Dodger."

Congress, famous for throwing softballs in such situations, had their patience beyond tested, and asked pointed, difficult questions to the MLB pitching star. Clemens has been traded to Washington, and even they don't want his kind around anymore. So we wait … and wonder.

Will the truth ever come out about Roger Clemens? It may have already, in terms of character and the true colors of a friend and family-man trying to save his reputation, by putting others on the frontline of the battle Clemens himself created.