Seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, who recently attended a Houston Astros game at Minute Maid Park, finds himself fighting a losing battle against former trainer Brian McNamee. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Fans are aware of how the Steroid Era in Major League Baseball has compromised the overall honor and integrity of America's pastime.
The media tends to overreport on anything and everything pertaining to the infamous 2003 anonymous list all the way to the Mitchell Report.
Every now and again, former New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays strength coach Brian McNamee and former New York Mets clubhouse employee Kirk Radomski resurface in the tabloids.
Jose Canseco stated on 60 Minutes and in his tell-all book Juiced that as many as 85 percent of players were using steroids, including himself for the duration of his career. Also, Ken Caminiti admitted to steroid use during his 1996 NL MVP season.
Today's superstars, such as Alex Rodriguez, have admitted to personal use of performance-enhancing drugs. We can go down the list and single out alleged users such as Jason Giambi, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Sammy Sosa and Miguel Tejada.
And then there's seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens.
The ongoing feud between Clemens and McNamee has become somewhat of a soap opera over a substantial period of time.
McNamee was notably employed by Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte while serving as the strength coach for the Yankees and Blue Jays. When former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell launched his investigation March 30, 2006 regarding the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball, McNamee fully cooperated.
The Mitchell Report alleges that McNamee helped acquire performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids, amphetamines and HGH for some or all of the players he personally trained.
One of those players was believed to be Clemens.
For nearly two years, the back-and-forth saga between the former friends has resulted in defamation lawsuits in Texas and New York.
Clemens hired top-notch Houston attorney Rusty Hardin, who's notably represented professional athletes such as Rafer Alston, Wade Boggs, Rudy Tomjanovich, Steve Francis, Warren Moon, Calvin Murphy and Scottie Pippen.
On the flip side, McNamee hired attorney Richard Emery of the Manhattan firm of Celli, Emery, Brinckerhoff and Abady.
With Hardin's reputation, one would think that Clemens, especially with his financial resources, would slam dunk McNamee in court.
However, that has not been the case.
According to the New York Daily News, Keith Ellison, a federal judge of the U.S. District Court, dismissed the remainder of Clemens' defamation lawsuit Aug. 28 against McNamee in Texas, thus shifting the focus to New York, where the former trainer filed his own defamation lawsuit against the 11-time All-Star right-hander.
Ellison dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning Clemens cannot file the suit again, but the three-time World Series champion retains the right to file an appeal. Hardin originally filed the defamation suit Jan. 6, 2008 in Houston, citing McNamee as "malicious and grossly negligence" in his remarks about Clemens to Mitchell and SI.com.
The majority of Clemens' lawsuit was dismissed in February 2009, stating that the Southern District in Houston did not have jurisdiction and that McNamee's cooperation in regard to Mitchell's investigation was protected by his immunity deal with the government.
"Brain has defeated Clemens in Texas," Emery told ESPN.com. "And now the battleground moves to New York."
Currently, McNamee is suing Clemens for defamation in a separate suit, which seeks unspecified damages, filed with a New York court. The suit claims that Clemens has "humiliated McNamee, destroyed his reputation, both personally and professionally, and caused him severe emotional distress."
Furthermore, McNamee claims that Clemens "waged a defamatory public relations campaign against McNamee...intended to deceive the public and Congress into falsely believing that McNamee is a liar."
Clemens' name was mentioned 82 times in the Mitchell Report. To this day, the former standout pitcher denies any use of performance-enhancing drugs.
On Feb. 13, 2008, Clemens appeared before a Congressional committee, along with McNamee, and swore under oath that he never took steroids, discussed HGH with McNamee and never attended a party at Canseco's house where steroids was the topic of conversation.
Clemens further stated that he never informed Pettitte of any HGH use, which contradicted the All-Star left-hander's sworn testimony Feb. 4, 2008, in which he informed Congress that Clemens once told him that McNamee had injected him with HGH.
Based on his Congressional testimony, Clemens is under investigation by a grand jury in Washington for perjury of his denial of steroid use.
The retired superstar right-hander would have been better off flushing his money down the toilet rather than hand it over for legal fees. Now, he's fighting a losing battle with a high-priced attorney against McNamee.
Prior to the Clemens/McNamee feud, few outside the state of Texas had ever heard of Hardin. At the same time, most people outside New York City are unfamiliar with Emery. Now, both lawyers names' often appear in nationwide articles pertaining to Clemens and McNamee.
In a way, both Hardin and Emery are the real winners in this case.
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