by RYAN ALBERTI/Bleacher Report, Special to FOXSports.com

Updated: May 8, 2008, 5:24 PM EST 52 comments

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It's been a long fortnight for Roger Clemens. Last week, he was linked to a teenager and John Daly's ex-wife. This week, he was telling fans that we've all got our flaws. In between, he took the sort of media pounding that no battery of B-12 boosters could ever possibly ease.

But sometimes the real story's the one nobody has the heart to tell.

And sometimes the real target's the one nobody has the guts to face.

I'm not out to defend Clemens here, mostly because I know a lost cause when I see one. Getting busted for infidelity is bad. Getting busted for infidelity when you've already got Jeff Novitzky on your jock is worse. Still, some sinners get punished for crimes they never committed, and it's hard not to feel for a guy who winds up on the business end of a ceremonial civic bloodletting.

Is Roger Clemens worthy of reproach?

Yes, obviously, of course.

Is that why we're so keen on seeing him go down in flames?

That, Bubba, is another question entirely.

There's a point at which principle becomes pathos and censure becomes sacrifice. I think we're there with the Rocket. Initial reaction to the Mitchell Report was somber, even mournful. Now we seem to be rooting for the fall. Somehow, something tells me it's not because we've been losing sleep over Brian McNamee's legal fees.

When times are good, the faithful are quick to saint their heroes.

When times are bad, they're even quicker to smash their idols.

God save that poor bastard who happens to screw up during a housing slump.

The ancients conceived of evil as a tangible force, a scourge from which the only hope for salvation lay in elaborate ritual to expel it. Thus, then, did scapegoats get slaughtered; thus, now, do pitchers get pilloried. Maybe it's the war that's gnawing at the American psyche, or the economy, or the fact that those cutthroats at Costco won't sell anyone more than four bags of rice. In any event, We are very much a People on the Edge — and if one of Us has to take the plunge, it might as well be The Rocket.

To err is human.

To forgive is divine.

To crucify in the name of some cheap and fleeting catharsis probably falls somewhere in the middle, which is about the best you can hope for when all your oaths amount to only just saying, is all.