Andy Pettitte is still explaining and apologizing about his use of steroids, this time with the support of his teammates.
Roger Clemens said in his congressional testimony that Andy would 'always be his friend' (paraphrasing), but I can't see how their friendship wouldn't be affected in some major way by this whole issue...
"TAMPA, Fla. â€" Were the
New York Yankees inclined to lavish their new billion-dollar stadium with their version of a modern-day Mount Rushmore, the four men stationed Monday under a tent â€" and under the gloaming that accompanies performance-enhancing drugs â€" may well have composed it.
To the side sat
Mariano Rivera,
Jorge Posada and
Derek Jeter, paragons, stalwarts, pinstripe lifers and, on this afternoon, intended distractions. Not that their unified presence could divert every camera trained on the front of the room where
Andy Pettitte occupied the center seat.
In fact, Rivera, Posada and Jeter's appearance, a clever little ploy meant to show support for their embattled teammate, illuminated the Yankees' desperation to make the worn-off luster on their great dynasty of 10 years ago look instead like a well-hewn patina. As Pettitte spent 59 minutes admitting his guilt over using human growth hormone, talking about its repercussions, saying that he considered retirement and hoping the truth absolves him of further scrutiny â€" ha! â€" Rivera, Posada and Jeter sat in a row, and you well expected one to cover his eyes, another his ears and the third his mouth.
Rather, they were stone-faced, as though they'd been hit with buckshot of truth that, goodness, their championship teams really had been an epicenter of performance-enhancing drug use. More than 20 percent of the names that appeared in the Mitchell Report had played on the Yankees during the Joe Torre era. Pettitte and
Roger Clemens and Chuck Knoblauch and
Jason Giambi and Kevin Brown and
Gary Sheffield and
Jason Grimsley and on and on, all the way to Dan Naulty. "
...more in the article...
Original Story:
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