Strong Denials from Clemens, Pettitte

This Just In ...

Don't Expect Any Marion Jones-Like Apologies
From Those Two Frauds Anytime Soon

Gammons: Drug Culture Leaves Ugly Feeling

"You can blame the Players Association and you can blame Bud Selig, but the fact remains that the players who were truly clean did not exercise their power to avoid this, nor did their owners care to know as the business went from a $1.3B industry to one that topped $6.2B in 2007. Not that most owners had enough time to really understand this, which is why it's fortunate that Mitchell did not go back to the period when George W. Bush owned the Texas Rangers -- which Jose Canseco and others have fingered as a performance-enhancing Wal-Mart -- because there is no way Bush had any idea what was alleged in Canseco's book.

"The problem is that the history of the 20-something years of steroids, HGH, etc. is written by Canseco and clubhouse gophers, fired trainers and gym rats. Many of us have a problem with Mitchell throwing out names based on little to no proof other than hearsay, but he was left with few alternatives. Baseball wanted him to look at the period? He did, as best he could, and emptied it like a box of trash, with little differentiation between Roger Clemens and Brian Roberts, whose name was revelaed without evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever. In this era of vigilante journalism, if it's a name, it's got guilt, and the fact that some "news" services ran with a phony report with 76 names Thursday morning puts "news" right there in the culture of the sewer rats.

"Mitchell's landscape is an ugly portrait, but probably generally accurate, and he gave baseball ideas on how to move forward towards a level playing field. Maybe baseball will turn to independent, stringent Olympic blood testing, maybe this will turn into a holy war with the union. Maybe the majority of players and agents will rise and take control of their sport.

"It may be that the testers will never catch up to the chemists, but in addition to the Mitchell recommendations, here are four more... " -- 12.14.07, Peter Gammons, ESPN.com blog (by subscription)

Reluctantly, Roger Enters the Hall of Shame

After Struggling to Win Only 40 Games in His Last 4 Years with the Sox,
Roger Decided He Wanted to Be a Rocket Man Again...

Rocket Man
by: Paul Paliotta (with apologies to Bernie Taupin)

As performed by Roger Clemens in the winter of 1996/1997

I packed my bags last night pre-flight
My pitching days, were near an end
And they said it was the twilight of my career by then
I miss my curve so much, I miss my strikes
I'm loading on some weight
So I think the time is right

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
Till Mitchell comes around and then they'll find
I'm not the man they think I am at all
Oh no, no, no
I'm a Rocket Man
Rocket Man, striking out my foes on anadrol
But I think it's gonna be a long, long time

This ain't a young man's face, I'm not a kid
In fact I'm old as hell
But I got a plan to change that, and I think I will
And all the science, I don't understand
It's just a shot into my cheek
And I'm a Rocket Man, a Rocket Man!

And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
Till Mitchell comes around and then they'll find
I'm not the man they think I am at all
Oh no, no, no
I'm a Rocket Man
Rocket Man, striking out my foes on anadrol
But I think it's gonna be a long, long time