11.10.09
The Rocket’s Tweets : Of Skunks, Ditches & Wallet Chasers
Taking an entirely different approach than Mike Silva, Maury Brown has been monitoring Roger Clemens’ folksy words of wisdom via Twitter, and unlike the gentleman from NY Baseball Digest, actually engaged the Rocket (above, right) in something approaching a philosophical debate.
Clemens was asked, “What is the best advice that you ever got?” Here’s the answer:
Well…a down right to the point one came from my mother- “Never get in a pissin’ contest with a skunk” Mine would be “love and work hard at what you do” and Give time to others. Understand sometimes you will fail, pick yourself up and go at it again! One that always hit home and says it all came from our grandmother…”if your a ditch digger, be the best ditch digger you can be!”
OK, ignore the misspellings (I now have a better understanding of his use of “misremembered” now)… thinking of how Clemens might view McNamee, I saw what mother said, and latched onto it.
“I think you should have listened to mom. Certainly, not listened to Rusty. Get in front of it, like the others.”
“Getting in front of it” is a reference to the likes of Pettitte and Jason Giambi who realized that if they admitted – even vaguely – to using PEDs, the public (and more importantly, Congress) will get off your back and eventually move on. Look at Pettitte. His hGH use was barely mentioned during the World Series.
To which Clemens helpfully responds, “said from the begining, ‘how do you prove a negitive’ (sic). not much to do about wallet-chasers”
I’ve lived in Texas for more than 5 years (admittedly, in the cosmopolitan state capital) and have yet to hear anyone referred to as a wallet-chaser. I’m not quite sure what a wallet-chaser is, but I’ve been a wallet misplacer on more than one occasion.
