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Clemens relationship with teenage girl more appalling than steroids story
Michigan
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in Sports Talk
From the Boston Herald:
Now Roger Clemens wants us to believe he was just friends with a country music starlet he befriended when she was just 15 years old.
Right. Because 28-year-old men have lots in common with teenage girls. They can talk about, like you know, boys and school and stuff.
It is bad enough the disgraced former pitcher wants us to believe he is not a steroid-fueled freak. But the recent report in the New York Daily News about his 10-year relationship with Mindy McCready is even more devastating for his reputation.
Because if the report is true, Clemens is worse than a liar. He is just like teachers who develop relationships with their students, whether emotional or physical. Or male coaches taking advantage of their female athletes.
Through his lawyer, Clemens admits to having the relationship but says it was not sexual in nature. McCready said in her own statement, "I cannot refute anything in the story." But the details here are irrelevant. The question is - what would drive Clemens to start his relationship with McCready?
Common sense tells us the idea of a 28-year-old hanging out with a 15-year-old is completely inappropriate. But for many people, making the intelligent decision to stay away from someone underage is not so easy.
Perhaps they identify with the younger person or feel an emotional bond that is missing in their adult relationships. When it comes time to decide whether to enter into a relationship that they know is clearly wrong, these feelings can cloud better judgment.
Dr. Rick Aberman, a sports psychotherapist with the Lennick Aberman group in Minneapolis, said the famous are often further disconnected from their values and principles because of "all the external factors that are involved around them, like the limelight."
Knowing Clemens and McCready had a 10-year relationship is enough to compare them to other similar situations.
"This is like teacher-student in school, coach-athlete, it’s the over identification," Aberman said. "It’s crossing a boundary. It’s getting one’s personal needs met in an inappropriate way. It’s not for the good of the student. We can’t blame the 15-year-old because they don’t know any better."
Especially a 15-year-old girl, who could be smitten with an older man, who also happens to be rich and famous, paying her attention.
None of this excuses Clemens. I still have no idea what he was thinking. But what galls me in reading some of the responses to message boards and columns is all the people wondering, "Why are we making this story such a big deal?" Athletes cheat on their wives, they cheat with steroids. Nothing new there.
No, but when an athlete is accused of having a relationship with an underage girl, then the story becomes relevant, whether they had sex when she was a teenager or not.
This report illustrates his character even more than stories about taking drug injections in the butt. Even more than using his wife, Debbie, as a shield, saying she was the one who took HGH, not him. Even more than saying how much he loves and cares about his family.
Here was a married man with two young children at the time he met McCready, carrying on a relationship with some hotshot blonde who was not allowed to legally drink, drive or vote when they met. I wonder what Debbie was doing all the times they were together. Maybe putting her two kids to bed and telling them how much daddy loved them.
This is a serious allegation, more serious than anything Brian McNamee ever said about steroids and HGH. For all the debating we have done over whether or not Clemens did steroids, it would be much better to be labeled a drug user than a candidate to meet Chris Hansen.
Now Roger Clemens wants us to believe he was just friends with a country music starlet he befriended when she was just 15 years old.
Right. Because 28-year-old men have lots in common with teenage girls. They can talk about, like you know, boys and school and stuff.
It is bad enough the disgraced former pitcher wants us to believe he is not a steroid-fueled freak. But the recent report in the New York Daily News about his 10-year relationship with Mindy McCready is even more devastating for his reputation.
Because if the report is true, Clemens is worse than a liar. He is just like teachers who develop relationships with their students, whether emotional or physical. Or male coaches taking advantage of their female athletes.
Through his lawyer, Clemens admits to having the relationship but says it was not sexual in nature. McCready said in her own statement, "I cannot refute anything in the story." But the details here are irrelevant. The question is - what would drive Clemens to start his relationship with McCready?
Common sense tells us the idea of a 28-year-old hanging out with a 15-year-old is completely inappropriate. But for many people, making the intelligent decision to stay away from someone underage is not so easy.
Perhaps they identify with the younger person or feel an emotional bond that is missing in their adult relationships. When it comes time to decide whether to enter into a relationship that they know is clearly wrong, these feelings can cloud better judgment.
Dr. Rick Aberman, a sports psychotherapist with the Lennick Aberman group in Minneapolis, said the famous are often further disconnected from their values and principles because of "all the external factors that are involved around them, like the limelight."
Knowing Clemens and McCready had a 10-year relationship is enough to compare them to other similar situations.
"This is like teacher-student in school, coach-athlete, it’s the over identification," Aberman said. "It’s crossing a boundary. It’s getting one’s personal needs met in an inappropriate way. It’s not for the good of the student. We can’t blame the 15-year-old because they don’t know any better."
Especially a 15-year-old girl, who could be smitten with an older man, who also happens to be rich and famous, paying her attention.
None of this excuses Clemens. I still have no idea what he was thinking. But what galls me in reading some of the responses to message boards and columns is all the people wondering, "Why are we making this story such a big deal?" Athletes cheat on their wives, they cheat with steroids. Nothing new there.
No, but when an athlete is accused of having a relationship with an underage girl, then the story becomes relevant, whether they had sex when she was a teenager or not.
This report illustrates his character even more than stories about taking drug injections in the butt. Even more than using his wife, Debbie, as a shield, saying she was the one who took HGH, not him. Even more than saying how much he loves and cares about his family.
Here was a married man with two young children at the time he met McCready, carrying on a relationship with some hotshot blonde who was not allowed to legally drink, drive or vote when they met. I wonder what Debbie was doing all the times they were together. Maybe putting her two kids to bed and telling them how much daddy loved them.
This is a serious allegation, more serious than anything Brian McNamee ever said about steroids and HGH. For all the debating we have done over whether or not Clemens did steroids, it would be much better to be labeled a drug user than a candidate to meet Chris Hansen.
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