We love to turn people into heroes. Sports figures are popular people to turn into heroes. If you've ever watched the opening credits for Monday Night Football, you'll see this phenomenom in action. On every team, there are one or two key players, each of which have overcome some incredible tragedy in their life just to get to this very game which is the most important moment of their career so far. Of course, you could turn the story of my life (or your life, or anybody's life) into this same sad tale of being knocked down, and getting back up, and overcoming adversity, and proving the nay-sayers wrong.

Roger Clemens was one of the best pitchers in baseball. Headed for the hall of fame. He had a comfortable life ready for him in retirement, and could just ride off into the sunset with a good solid name in the publics mind. But not any more. He entered a fight he had no hope of winning. And lost.

It all started I think with BALCO. BALCO was a drug laboratory that sold performance enhancing drugs to some of the world's top athletes. The U.S. government came down hard on BALCO one day, mostly for tax reasons of course, and investigators found a gold mine of evidence including names of athletes. This became excellent fodder for the news media, and athletes such as Barry Bonds and Marion Jones got intense scrutiny. Jones lost 5 olympic medals because of the controversy. Bonds is currently charged with perjury for denying his involement and is awaiting trial. Bonds home-run king totals will forever have an asterisk next to it because most people believe he has been using steroids. And certainly if you see a 1990's picture of him next to a 2000's picture, you'll see that he does not even look like the same man physique wise.

The BALCO controversy, and the dozen or so big-name athletes caught up in it and ultimately destroyed by it, created a media frenzy over drug use in sport. Politicians in Congress aren't blind to the publicity of this, and called many athletes and trainers in to testify. One of these trainers accused Baseball great Roger Clemens of using steroids, claiming to have personally injected him. And what does Roger Clemens do?

He sues the guy for slander.

And now? His former team mate Andy Pettit says he also heard him talking about steroids. He's been called before congress a couple of times. And he's been linked to having illicit affairs with 3 women, including one who was only 15 years old when he met her. And he's apparently admitting to one or more of those affairs with a public apology today. And its not over for him, is it?

Poor Roger Clemens. May have never even used illegal drugs, but when you're fighting against the media, you're always going to lose. What are you going to do? How can you prove your innocence? You can't.