CLEMENS HURLS A SPIT BALL?

Celiac disease sometimes comes up in the media in surprising, even shocking, ways. A recent example has to do with the animosity between sports trainer Brian McNamee and pitcher Roger Clemens, who has been implicated by McNamee as a steroid user.

As part of a campaign to defend himself and attack McNamee, Clemens—a notoriously aggressive pitcher—recently played a taped phone conversation between himself and McNamee in front of the media. I'm having trouble figuring out how this stunt could actually help Clemens, but maybe I'm distracted by the fact that the conversation includes references to the ill health of McNamee's son, who has apparently been diagnosed with celiac disease as well as diabetes. Regardless of the fact that New York is a state where medical confidentiality is supposed to be extremely protected, is it proper for Clemens to "out" McNamee's child in this manner? ESPN writer Shaun Assael doesn't seem to think so.

Also, in playing the tape, Fox Sports (and maybe other media outlets) saw fit to bleep some of the words, but went ahead with those related to the health disclosure. Is that right? I feel bad about posting the video here (the second part is here), but hopefully I'm not compounding any damage by bringing up the issue at this point.



Source (8:46)