Rocket Man

I have never been a fan of Roger Clemens. I respect his abilities as a pitcher, but over the years, his temperament and self centered demeanor indicated that here was a man I would not care to have a drink with. I think the man is an asshole.

I had no problem with his big ego. Years of watching sport heroes and their “I am the Greatest” mentality had inoculated me against most of their stupid bullshit.

What soured me on Roger the first time was when I heard he was charging $25 bucks for his autograph. He was making something like $10,000 for every inning he pitched, yet he would not give his signature away. Unapologetic and cocky with that “hit me face” sneer of his, he explained that for all he knew, these “fans” were just after his autograph so they could cash in later. And besides he went on, his image, thus his autograph were commodities and why shouldn’t he pocket some jingle from their exploitation.

Right Roger. You just be a jerk. Tell that poor ass kid who waited for hours to get you to sign a ball he scrounged up $5 for that if he doesn’t have another $25, he loses. You’re a real class act. If ever there was a poster child for the ultimate self centered loser, it is him.

So forgive me if I am having trouble finding sympathy for Roger’s recent troubles with steroids and whether he used or did not use. And forgive me if I have not one iota of concern over this threat to his installment in the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. I flat out don’t care what happens to Roger. And I imagine there are many folks like me who are short on sympathy. He has definitely reaped what he had been sowing all those years he took our adulation for granted.

I am not even disappointed in him like I was over many of my cycling heroes who were caught being stupid. As a matter of fact the evil Mike in me is taking some pleasure watching him try to weasel his way out of this one. The wind is blowing hard Roger. Watching you twist in it seems fitting.

Now then. What really pisses me off here.

That members of Congress would feel the necessity to put Roger and Doping in front of the job we really hired them to do. This is not anything that affects our safety, our security, or our rights. Well, maybe our rights. Our right to be stupid. But that's a rant for another day.

Congress should stay the Hell out of situations not directly connected to our National interests. Colossal waste of time, money, and energy in my opinion.

Because I just don't feel another "Winter Sucks" post is in me - a brief update will suffice.

~When I last left this subject, we had been through snow, sleet, a million zillion gallons of freezing rain and my spiffy digital fiber optic line Internet access went down somewhere.

~Valentines Day - Sun's out, some thawing begins. Happy as if I have a brain, I am confident the sump will keep the water out of my basement.

~After no Internet for 12 hours, it comes back online around noon. 20 minutes later we lose power. Shit!

~No electricity, no Internet, no heat, no sump pump happily keeping my basement dry.

~ 4 hours later, we have power. Whew! Close Call. Sump hole was almost overflowing. I go to bed later happy in the knowledge that I will wake up to a dry basement.

~6:00 AM today, my darling wife informs me the basement floor is flooded. Double Shit!! I had not even had that first coffee yet.

~Seems all that thawing I had been thrilled to see yesterday had a dark side. The tons of snow on my metal roof had become double tons of wet snow after the rain. When the roof warmed up, the snow came down. Yeah, that's right. Right the bleep on top of my sump hose. Which then froze up because my carefully constructed downhill gravity friendly water expulsion sytem had been compromised. And well, ..... I have wet shoes now, a really sour attitude, and this winter has gone beyond sucky to.........