Yesterday–Wednesday–may have been the saddest, weirdest, WORST day in the history of American sports. It started with baseball: pitching great Roger Clemens testifying before a Congressional panel as to whether he used steroids and human growth hormone.

It continued with football: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell  summoned to the office of Sen. Arlen Specter to discuss  the details of the New England Patriots  illegally videotaping  other teams’ defensive signals.

Even the NBA got into it: a potential blockbuster trade set to send future of Hall of Fame point guard Jason Kidd to the Dallas Mavericks for a collection of complimentary players, flotsam and draft picks was derailed when Maverick–and former Laker–player Devean George invoked the no-trade clause of his contract and killed the deal that was sure to affect the balance of power in the arms race that has become the NBA Western Conference (Gasol to the Lakers, Shaq to the Suns.)

The biggest loser of the day was Major League Baseball. How grateful do you think the NFL is that the  sight of its commissioner summoned to Capitol Hill and be excoriated by a U.S. Senator for destroying evidence in the Patriots case was completely overshadowed by the sight of Clemens testifying before Congress sitting just eight feet away from Brian McNamee, the trainer who accused him of using steroids?

Clemens and McNamee gave diametrically opposed stories which meant someone, yesterday, was lying to Congress. Not good. While McNamee was found to have lied several times in 2001, he seemed to have a bit more credibility who clumsily tried to explain that teammate Andy Pettite, who, in a sworn affidavit, said Clemens had talked to him about HGH use, had “misheard” him.  It didn’t help that Clemens had denied McNamee’s claim that he, McNamee, had provided HGH to Clemens wife only to be presented with another sworn affidavit, this one from Clemens’ wife, admitting she’d used HGH.

Clearly it did not go well for the seven-time Cy Young Award winner, generally considered the greatest pitcher of the last 50 years. Clemens acknowledged as much when he told the panel that no matter what happened there, his name will never be fully rehabilitated. True. In fact, it sets up a bizarre scenario to take place five years from now. Consider:

In five year, Clemens and Barry Bonds, also accused of steroid use, figure to be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame–both of their careers to be over and a player become eligible for induction five years after retirement. But because of their alleged steroid use each figures not to be elected on the first ballot. That would mean, in five years, though eligible, the Baseball Hall of Fame would not contain baseball’s all-time hit leaders (Pete Rose), all-time home run leader (Bonds) and the pitcher with the most Cy Youngs (Clemens.)

Ouch.

Tags: Barry Bonds, Devean George, Jason Kidd, nfl, Pete Rose, Roger Clemens, Roger Goodell, steroids