Why Red Sox fans owe Clemens respect

I have just about had it with the embittered sports writers for the Daily bashing the Yankees, especially Roger Clemens, on a regular basis, and the trash-talking has to stop now. I can no longer brush off the dirty looks that I get as I traverse the campus proudly in my midnight blue Clemens jersey. It is about time somebody spoke out on behalf of the Rocket, and I accept that responsibility willingly and with great pride.

For the record, Roger Clemens is not a traitor. After the 1996 season, the then general manager of the Red Sox, Dan Duquette, whom Red Sox fans can attest to loving ever so dearly, told the Rocket that he was washed up. I believe the exact words used were "in the twilight of his career." He then offered Roger a contract that could only be described as insulting. Things in Beantown were bad, and between the Red Sox management and the Boston media, Clemens was sincerely uncomfortable with the Sox.

All Red Sox fans know in their heart that Duquette was at least equally as responsible for Clemens' departure as the Rocket himself -- just look at how things were handled only two years later with then-superstar Mo Vaughn. During the 1996, Red Sox players complained about Duquette on nearly a daily basis. Sox fans are lucky that Larry Lucchino and the new Sox ownership team had the sense to fire Duquette last year. Naturally, Clemens accepted the deal offered him by a team that would appreciate his talents fully, the Toronto Blue Jays, and worked with all of his might to make the shortsighted Duquette sorry that he'd ever let him go.

Since leaving the Red Sox in '96, The Rocket has gone 103-40, won three Cy Young Awards, two of those coming off of Triple-Crown winning seasons, set a new record for best record to start a season by a starting pitcher (20-1 in 2001) and assured his position as a first-ballot hall of famer... so much for being washed up. Clemens belongs with the Yankees, because he has a winning attitude. When he heads to the mound, Clemens is intensely competitive, and any opposing batter can attest to the fire that the soon-to-be 41 year old still has in his eyes.

Every year when the Yankees open their season, they have but one goal in mind -- to win it all. They are not stuck with their heads in the sand (or the water, for that matter), like the self-defeating Red Sox, who continue to dredge Willis Pond in Sudbury for a piano that Babe Ruth submerged there back in 1918. Mark my words: in the end, the Red Sox will still be losers, only losers with a very old, very wet piano.

Even the most devoted of Red Sox fans have to acknowledge that few pitchers in history have accomplished as much as The Rocket. He holds a record six Cy Young awards, one league MVP, two World Series Championship rings, and is on the verge of winning his 300th game, and notching his 4000th strikeout. They don't build pitchers like Clemens anymore. No, not even the 5'11", 170 pound Pedro Martinez, who the Red Sox, suspiciously enough, are very hesitant to sign to a long term deal past next season.

As of yesterday, Clemens is 4-0 with a 2.12 ERA, and is only three wins away from the big number 300 (which, incidentally, he will probably be the last pitcher, excluding Greg Maddux, to reach), so it would be silly for any Red Sox fan to still argue that he is over the hill. The only reason this season will be his last is because he wants to spend more time with his family and watch his kids grow up -- is that the mark of a good man or what? Sure, his personal record may be a little spotty, he may not be the nicest man to ever play the game, but he is certainly no Barry Bonds when it comes to the media, and he truly loves and appreciates his fans.

What it all comes down to, however, is that Clemens is simply the best of his generation, and one of the best to ever play the game. Knowing that this is his final year, Red Sox fans need to suck it up, and just admire Clemens for the athlete that he is. As he continues to collect accolades and reach the milestones during his last year -- the true "twilight of his career"-- try to look past the bitterness, and give him the credit he deserves as he rides off gloriously into the sunset.

Craig A Convissar is a freshman who has yet to declare a major.