Even though the recent Congressional hearings featuring baseball pitcher Roger Clemens and his former trainer may have been a case of political grandstanding, we shouldn’t underestimate their value.

Without political pressure, there would have been no Mitchell Report, and Major League Baseball may still be denying it has a serious drug problem. On the other hand, professional sports can’t endure too many more embarrassing public hearings or government mandates. Instead of criticizing Congressional motives, they should undertake a serious effort to clean up their own mess.

Sports play too important a role in shaping social attitudes about fair play and integrity to trivialize decisions by high-profile athletes to cheat and then lie about it. We have a right to expect that our highest achieving athletes will pursue victory with honor, and those who taint the game and their careers should be exposed and held accountable.

Setting a poor example by cheating with unhealthy performance-enhancing drugs is bad enough, but lying under oath is a felony that can’t be dismissed with a cynical “who cares?” attitude.

I may be wrong, but I’m convinced Clemens, Barry Bonds, and others took drugs and then lied about it to protect their legacy. I suspect they justified their conduct because they knew many others were doing it and assumed if they got caught, their denials would be enough.

On one level we can sympathize and understand why they chose the well-worn path of moral compromise, but we can’t condone or ignore their choice.

Lying is a big deal. Ask media darling Martha Stewart, Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones, or Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling – all of whom were jailed for making false statements.

No one gets a free pass.

This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.