Take heart, Rocket

Rusty Hardin still seems to have his touch in the courtroom. But I doubt he had to break much of a sweat over this case.

It's been tough to explain to folks outside of Texas how successful and well-regarded an attorney Hardin is in Houston, given the early results from his work with Roger Clemens. Many observers have wondered if the Rocket wouldn't be better off without Hardin and have questioned some of his legal manueverings in the case.

But, make no mistake, Hardin is no rube. Check out this description from a New York Times profile of Hardin (taken from a profile in Texas Monthly magazine) in December: "He is all things a great defender must be — raconteur, showman, charmer, tactician, egotist — and he has a ferocious charisma that a rival once described as ‘slicker ’n deer guts on a doorknob.'"

And that, in part, is why I wonder if Clemens will somehow be able to work himself out of this whole mess. Make no mistake, Clemens has suffered almost irreparable damage to his rep and still remains in a world of trouble. But Hardin ain't no joke. Ask Warren Moon, Calvin Murphy or any other professional athlete who ran afoul of the law in Houston.

Disclosure: I'm good friends and a former high school classmate of one of Hardin's sons. I know Hardin pretty well from my high school days in Houston and later as a sports writer in my hometown, writing about more than a handful of guys whom Hardin represented.

That said, if I were in serious legal trouble, the first lawyer that I'd call would be Hardin. And Clemens probably felt the same way.