There are lots of thoughts to be had from the congressional hearings this week where Roger Clemens was the spotlight witness. One such thought is about remembering how little we know about the athletes we are so ready to place on pedestals.

We live in an age of communication where all matter of information is available nearly instantaneously with the event occurring.

We live in an age where everyone can “speak” on the Internet, including those who have nothing to say, which is the vast majority.

In sports, talk radio runs rampant with the latest gossip or titillation with few knowing or caring about substantive details.

We are so overwhelmed with a constant flow of stories that there is little time to examine what is being said before the next bit of flotsam comes along.

We are tricked into believing that in sports we are on the inside. Players and officials are miked on the playing field, analysts stand between hockey benches for insights, and blogs stream unending moment-by-moment coverage of sports stories.

It is all a mirage.

The only purpose for any of this is the attempt to keep viewers’/listeners’ eyes and ears on the current station or Web site so the ratings that count viewers by the quarter hour might be increased.

If the effort was for real insight, there would be time given to substance and journalistic reporting. In the sports media as elsewhere, there is little of either.

This all comes to mind when reviewing the hearings this week. If trainer Brian McNamee was so close to Clemens and so important to his preparing to pitch, where were the stories about this?

Was there ever one time prior to the Mitchell Report that Clemens or just about anyone else was asked if they used performance-enhancing drugs, even though rumors were running rampant around the game?

Where were the stories about the role of trainers in sports and how clubs hire and oversee their work? Where were the picture comparisons that showed players turning into hulks and the stories asking why?

Where are the stories now about the steroid home run era with guys hitting 60 and 70 homers, an era that appears to be over? How come it ended?

If we do not care about these things, then we do not care about the games and their history.

Worse, if we do not care that these issues are allowed to fester without timely questions, we do not care about the effect on our children who play the games and decide it must be all right to take drugs if nobody cares.

Where are the in-depth stories on the effects of performance-enhancing drugs over time? Surely, that is a vital story now.

We are left with congressional hearings where politics played a role in how Clemens and McNamee were questioned.

We are left with a sound bite here and another there, while the depositions and affidavits that weigh heavily in this case, and are online, go unread not only by the fans but by the talking heads who blather on.

We know so little and, worse, ask for even less.

bdnsports@bangordailynews.net