Another letdown
This morning, my fellow BEE Morning Coffee Clubbers disected the report that Roger Clemens had had a ten-year affair with country music has-been, Mindy McCready. Now, to me, it is not so much about the fact that this affair began when she was 15 years old, or, that it went on for over ten years.
No.
To me, this is about another one of my sports icons letting me down.
The first time that happened was when attended my first-ever big league baseball game. I was at Fenway Park in Boston…age six. My dad and I were sitting in the fifth row behind the visitor’s dugout on the third-base side of the field. When the Red Sox third baseman bobbled a ground ball, I shocked to hear him yell at the top of his voice “bull@*$%!” That’s right…he swore! And, at the age of six, I could not comprehend why a Major League baseball player would yell on obscenity. I, obviously, never forgot it. I even remember the player’s name…Billy Klaus.
Fast forward to the early 1980s, now, when I was an entry-level sportscaster in Boston. Red Sox slugger Carl Yastrzemski let me down. I always saw him as the perfect ballplayer…a future Hall of Famer. But, then, one night after a game, I saw him smoking in the lockerroom. Yaz? Smoking? Another one I never forgot.
And, now, Roger Clemens. When he arrived on the scene in Boston, I, again, was in awe. Now, at this stage of my career, I may now have moved past having icons in sports, but, this one also hurts. Hey…I’m one who still thinks he may be an innocent victim in this steroids scandal. But, ten years with Mindy McCready on the side? Mindy McCready?
It makes you realize that, often, it is not the first impression that endures. It is just one bad impression. From Billy Klaus to Roger Clemens…with a handful of others in between…I remember them all.
Do you? Let me know at shausmann@entercom.com
Steve