ALEX CHADWICK, host:
This is DAY TO DAY from NPR News. I'm Alex Chadwick.
MADELEINE BRAND, host:
And I'm Madeleine Brand. Sports fans and non-fans alike are still talking about pitcher Roger Clemens' testimony before Congress yesterday. The scene was dramatic, with Clemens repeatedly insisting that he never took performance-enhancing drugs.
Mr. ROGER CLEMENS (Baseball Pitcher): I've been accused of something I'm not guilty of. How do you prove a negative? No matter what we discuss here today, I'm never going to have my name restored.
BRAND: Clemens made these statements while sitting just feet away from his accuser, his former trainer, Brian McNamee. Baseball fan Nico Savidge, who's also a reporter for Youth Radio, watched the hearing yesterday and he joins us now. And Nico, welcome back to DAY TO DAY.
NICO SAVIDGE: Sure. Thanks for having me back.
BRAND: Before yesterday's hearing, did you have an opinion on whether Roger Clemens was telling the truth or not?
SAVIDGE: I do have to be honest. I kind of did think that he had taken performance-enhancing drugs and human growth hormone, just because of everything that you heard from this source, Brian McNamee. McNamee said that he injected Clemens' wife, and Clemens' teammates, and Clemens. And especially when we heard during the hearing from Clemens' teammate, Andy Pettitte's sworn affidavit, when we heard Pettitte say Brian McNamee did inject me and I'm pretty sure that Roger Clemens talked to me about using human growth hormone, I think that's pretty damning evidence.
BRAND: So you came away from the hearing not believing Roger Clemens.
SAVIDGE: No, not really. And I found it much easier to believe Brian McNamee, just because of all the baseball players who in the past have denied steroid abuse.
BRAND: Even though he was called by one congressman a drug dealer?
SAVIDGE: Right. And you definitely did see some congressmen went into that hearing with these conception that McNamee, who had Representative Burton saying, you know, there was lie after lie and that he didn't know who to believe but he didn't believe Brian McNamee. But I'd say if you kind of step back and take a look at it and all of the different people around Roger Clemens who Brian McNamee dealt with and the importance of Brian McNamee to Clemens' inner circle and to his training, you know, I've come to the realization that it's very hard to believe that he just allowed Brian McNamee to do all these drugs with his teammates and his family but didn't allow him to inject him.
BRAND: At the hearing, young fans were mentioned several times, that this wasn't about punishing players per se but this was about making sure that young fans weren't lured into using steroids by seeing their heroes use them. And I'm wondering, as a young fan, do you think that players your age actually do take into consideration what the pros are doing?
SAVIDGE: Well, I think certainly. If you see these - I mean Roger Clemens is a Cy Young Award winner. Barry Bonds just this season broke the all-time homerun record. When you see these athletes at the top level winning awards, doing the best in their field, and you can see that it's because of their steroid use, there's that necessity to using steroids.
BRAND: And after the hearing yesterday, what are friends of yours talking about? What are they saying about it?
SAVIDGE: Well, basically that - there's been a fairly uniform decision that Clemens is guilty from this. You know, a lot of people think that he's appeared way too defensive in what he's been talking about. And even though there are holes in Brian McNamee's story and some problems with his credibility, he comes off a lot more believable than Roger Clemens does in this.
BRAND: Will you still be a fan now and go to baseball games?
SAVIDGE: Oh yeah. I'll definitely still be a fan. I'm not going to let a bunch of cheaters ruin the game I love, because above all I'm a huge baseball fan. I've devoted quite a bit of my life and time to it. You know, I'm not going to let that take away what's been such a rewarding thing for me.
BRAND: Nico Savidge is a senior at Berkeley High School in Northern California. He's also a reporter for Youth Radio. Thanks, Nico.
SAVIDGE: Sure.
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