Points & Prattle is a weekly round-up of noteworthy links and stories, first developed during my time at the “Voice of the Saints” blog. Expect some sports, some pop culture, and some general thoughts.

I spent a long time this week thinking about what I wanted to write about the Roger Clemens decision that came down on Monday. I have a lot of conflicting opinions on it, and it doesn’t start and end with Hall of Fame worthiness.

Mainly, I’ve been thinking about the calls from people that it was a waste of time and taxpayer money to investigate him in the first place. On one hand, I don’t think Congressional pressure on the major sports leagues is altogether a bad thing. Without it, baseball and football would likely still be in the Dark Ages of steroid and drug testing. On the other hand, it probably WAS a waste for them to go through the perjury trial, not because it inevitably came up empty, but because Clemens had already been tried – by the court of public opinion.

Whatever the decision, Clemens was not going to escape that trial with his reputation clear. People still today and will continue going forward to believe that Clemens took steroids, whether it’s true or not. Whether this should affect Clemens’ Hall of Fame candidacy is a discussion for a different day, but it’s unfortunate that as soon as the word “steroids” is attached to an athlete, there’s no getting out from under it.

Now, on to the links:

• Congrats to the Miami Heat on an NBA Championship. Everyone can criticize LeBron James for having to “join someone else’s team” in order to get a ring, but his MVP Trophy leads me to believe that he made it HIS team.
• I’m not going to nitpick San Francisco 49ers running back Brandon Jacobs’ kind gesture to a young New York Giants fan who tried to bribe him back on the team, but I can’t help but feel with his possible $2 million income next season, he could do a little more.
• ESPN has made some questionable decisions in the past, but this may be inexcusable.
• I have a hard time believing this woman’s lawsuit alleging a little leaguer intentionally hit her with an overthrown ball will hold up in court. Or at least, it better not.
• As someone with tattoos, I’m not one to judge others for their choices of ink.  That being said, it doesn’t surprise me that someone with this particular tattoo would be responsible for shooting someone on his balcony. Or, more accurately, that they’d be able to identify him so quickly.
• Wrestling link of the week: The Masked Man does it again, this time reminding us why strong female characters can help the industry and why A.J. is setting the standard for this generation of “Diva.”
• There’s an old game when it comes to weird web stories, asking whether the story is from “Florida or Ohio?” But here in Minnesota, we often assume they are from Wisconsin. This time, we’d be right.
• Those who don’t follow the NHL very closely may be surprised to hear that its entry draft is tonight at all, let alone that the Edmonton Oilers have the #1 overall pick for the third straight year (Very Lions-esque). Live, on-going coverage is available here.

Enjoy the weekend, sportsfans.

Joe Hansen is the Blogger-in-Chief of Eye Exam Sports. He is a 2011 graduate of The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota and a published author of short stories. He can be reached on Twitter via @thejoehansen.