Apparently, Fernando Vina is interested in keeping his analyst job at ESPN and staying in the public eye. To do that, Vina had to come clean and discuss his appearance in the Mitchell Report ... and that's exactly what he's done in an interview with Bob Ley (loose quotes): In 2003 I did use HGH ... in '01 I played over 150 games, in '02 I played over 150 games, in '03 I had some issues with some injuries, my knee and my hamstring injuries that set me back ... I tried everything rehabbing, and it came to a point that I had to, I was desperate. And you get a lot of pressure, not only do I put a lot of pressure on myself because I wanted to be in every inning of every game, and it came to a point that, whenever I did rehab, I couldn't get back on the field. And I was getting pressure obviously from the team to get back out there. (...)When asked by Ley about the lines in the report where Radomski sold him steroids such as Deca-Durabolin, Vina responded:
And it got to a point that I got desperate and I ended up trying HGH to try to get back and heal myself. It wasn't to try to hit home runs or get an edge, I mean for me, it was to try to get back on the field ... Was it right? No. Obviously it was wrong, because it was the wrong thing to do. I'm embarrassed by it.
I never bought steroids from him, all I used was HGH.Looks like Vina is taking the Andy Pettitte route, saying that he would never use the evil steroids, that it was only HGH to recover from injury. If two makes a trend, then expect more and more on the report to take this tact. The entire interview contained Vina explaining that he didn't want to talk to George Mitchell because he didn't want to get involved, and that he didn't know enough about what was going on. Vina seemed a bit nervous to me around that portion of the interview but I might be reading too much into that. You'd be best served to come up with your own opinion after watching the interview for yourself.
Previously on FanHouse:
Vina's Future at ESPN Unclear
Andy Pettitte Admits to HGH Use
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-18-2007 @ 8:46PM
johnny said...
try to heal from injuries ? these guys come up with the most obvious excuse except well.............i didnt know wut i was taking...please......................idiots.....
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12-20-2007 @ 10:57AM
Brian said...
You know we'll never get a straight from any of them.
They will all have some BS excuse. These guys are all cheats and liars. The Babe would be ashamed.
Reply
12-29-2007 @ 1:14AM
LNSMDRFTR said...
We got some pretty straight answers from Jose Canseco. He revealed all and got this whole doping issue to the forefront. For whatever reason he did it is still up for debate but it is very compelling that he named Rafael Palmeiro as having used steroids and then was called a "liar" by Curt Schilling at the Congressional hearing. Now Schilling is condemning Roger Clemens and telling him to return his Cy Young awars. I think Schilling should have learned his lesson and keep his trap shut now. Soon after Palmeiro was suspended for testing positive and now again has been named in the Mitchell report. I really liked Palmeiro for his low key approach as a player but I think his chances for the Hall of fame are blown completely since his positve test and the subsequent events. What should come from all this is that we again view Roger Maris, Hank Aaron and the Babe as the real home run kings and let a new , undoped generation of players take a shot at their legitimate home run records.
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