I remember thinking just the idea of Roger Clemens and the two Mikes as being insufferable radio.

Alex, I think I disagree, though I take your point. Yes, it is amusing to see someone that brazen (remember Maury Wills when he SAW his pitcher's nail file and said 'What nail file?') but there's an ugliness behind it, for me, and I touched on it in my earlier post about the savagery A Rod gets hit with every at-bat. I doubt Manny will get it, nothing even close. And Rodriguez is the only one who talked to press and public: and is still reviled for THAT, even by some here.

In other words, I think 'loving' Clemens' denial and bullying bluster leads to a message that we still prefer to deny, ourselves. A Rod eliminated the ability to deny. Clemens is still working it. I dislike the defiance, though I agree it is in-line with a truly unpleasant persona. (I formed that opinion in good part from his conduct during the hearings, haven't read the book, and won't.)

In my opinion, Clemens has become a mixture of Peter Rose and OJ, without drawing a moral equivalence to latter.

I listened to that interview and I thought Clemens had gotten his story straight and his act together. He seemed a lot more matter-of-fact, as opposed to indignant and pissed off.

He's still full of sh** though.

If I learned one thing from that interview its that hereditary health conditions can apparently be passed on from step-parent to step-child. Thanks for the lesson Dr. Rocket!

Pearlman can't like the sales of his book either. He should be ecstatic that Clemens took the time to address the claims made in another book because made it will help sell one or two more copies of his own.

I am glad Clemens spoke out, even though he really had little to say. As much as everyone likes to condemn the accused, Clemens has no positive test, so until the Federal Government decides to pursue a perjury a case (presumably one better than the fiasco involving Bonds), his claims of innocence have not be refuted.

If you're looking for more Clemens, check out Pat Jordan's piece that was in the collection Alex edited. It's a real classic.

Will Carroll today (hope it is okay to copy this):

Jeter wasn't back on Wednesday, but he's saying he'll be back on Thursday. If you think about this, you'd rather have a "rolling tomorrow" expectation than a "Chipper Plan" of coming back too soon and exacerbating the problem, thereby costing more time overall. Jeter's oblique wasn't yet good enough to allow him to play, and his optimism, while trite, is the best indication that we have that he's not getting worse or merely staying the same. It's not likely that he'll get Pipped even if he needs more time, but Jeter does very well with injuries and seems to thrive on others underrating him. It's seldom discussed, but he does have a preternatural knack for being in the right place at the right time on a baseball field, and a mild oblique strain won't change that.

I was at Borders on my lunch hour and looked at both the Pearlman book and "American Icon". Just from my cursory skimming, it seems like American Icon is a much more in depth chronicle of Clemens from his arrival in Toronto right through his appearance on The Hill last year.

I don't know if I'll read either, but the Pearlman one seems a little more trite. And just for the record I've read and enjoyed Pearlman's first 3 books.

his claims of innocence have not be refuted

Except for his DNA on a dirty syringe and a meek guy, with little to gain but a lot to lose, testifying that he injected him.

I can't front about Clemens, I think I always had some sort of inkling about him doing something unkosher and I didn't really care.

I loved the Wells trade when it was made, spent '99 and the first 2 months of '00 defending him to everyone I knew, and then loving him from that point on.

I just enjoyed that we had some manic Texan that would throw at Manny Ramirez, I wasn't asking the guy to move in with me or anything.

[11] I enjoyed Clemens "warrior" mentality because I knew he cared as much about his start as I did. You knew Clemens was going to "battle" for better or for worse. Maybe he did or maybe he didn't use PEDs. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other for various reasons, which we have beaten to death here over the past few years. Regardless, I still consider him one of my favorites over the past 10 years and look forward to a day when he'll make an appearance back at the Stadium.

So are we are assuming...nay, guaranteeing that Rog is guilty? I will say if he is, his behavior has gone way past 'ordinary' denial, and puts him in the category of seriously disturbed.

I mean, considering the climate of MLB over the last 2 decades, doing PEDs is not that outrageous a crime. I'm not condoning it, but we all know that many, many were guilty of the same 'crime'.

However, the court cases and the ongoing adamant denials will never be forgotten or forgiven. If he is proven guilty, his loathing factor will be 10 times greater than that of the ordinary PED user.

[13] I am assuming that Pettitte is telling the truth.

I've always thought Roger Clemens is one of the more repugnant people in baseball..and recent events just confirmed that. The guy sold out his own wife!!!! What kind of man would do that??

[1] Agreed, that's a terrifying combination.