Dan Gould

I am sure that you had an enjoyable time interviewing Eddie, who is truly a gentleman, but none of this is new to those who read my two-part Eddie Higgins interview that was published in Cadence, mentioned here. In fact, I didn't even have to nag him to get the full story about his declining to join the Messengers.

Issued under license from Upside Records (could that be what Paul was thinking of instead of Blueside?) and yes, Demon Records is in Brentford, Middx.

Well, the first day's testimony will be by Bud and Don (and I think a couple of other people but I am not sure) and they did the same thing last time around, so I think that Congress has at least to a tiny extent, gone after the ones who should have been on top of it. I do tend to agree with you that its more MLB's fault than the players/Union because it seems painfully obvious that MLB didn't want to know what was going on, especially in the aftermath of the '94 strike and the way that McGuire and Sosa "saved" the game. What I do find ridiculous is the idea that a guy who never rose above low "A" ball with a high-80s fastball is talking about leading a class-action suit against MLB for allowing steroids to give some players an edge and hurting those who didn't partake. You can read about his claim here.

(Now I really need to put on that record soon, if two members give it raves - as well as other Earl May recordings. And I have to take note that on my version, only "You Changed My Life" is missing. The other three tunes Paul mentions as appearing on one release but not on the other are all there.)

Baseball has an anti-trust exemption from Congress. That gives Congress an interest in how they conduct the business. Congress has for a significant period of time, increased the regulation of, and upped the penalty for, the distribution of steroids and other performance enhancers. When ballplayers who are looked up to by millions of impressionable kids, Congress has an interest in looking at steroid use in the game. And furthermore, the idea that Congress is somehow "wasting money" when there are more pressing national concerns is utterly ludicrous. There are 450 members of the House of Representatives. They are well capable of doing a whole bunch of different things (poorly) all at the same time.

One more observation, hopefully info will come out from Mitchell or his staff, what did they tell people when they gave them the opportunity to respond to allegations? Did they just say that there have credible information and you can come to talk to us about it, or did they give any other info about where it might have come from? That would go to whether or not he really would have come running to try to refute McNamee's statements if he knew about them.

Oh, Bunning made a big stink the last time they dealt with steroids - basically complaining about players who don't get worse as they age, they get better, and how unlikely that is without chemical assistance. Watching the start of the interview - Wallace starts reading from the Mitchell report, and Clemens nods along. I may be wrong but I believe that's a non-verbal cue that he agrees with the statements. If they were false, the impulse should be to shake his head throughout - and he only starts to shake his head a couple of minutes later, probably when he remembered what his lawyer told him to do. Who told him to claim that a "third ear would grow out of my forehead" if he used steroids? Does anyone else think it was suggested he say something ludicrous to imply that he really, really, doesn't know anything about steroids? Now he's talking about lidocaine and B-12 - someone has to ask Clemens tomorrow where those injections took place. If he says it was in the ass, the statement by the sports medicine Doctor quoted in New York Daily News proves he's lying, as the Doc says that you don't shoot it in your ass and you don't have a buddy shoot it either. If he says that McNamee shot him in the elbow, then the question is, why a non-medical professional?? As for that ludicrous answer about why McNamee would lie: Isn't it true that liars often have a little kernel of truth in what they say? "Evidently not going to jail" is the perfect answer why McNamee is telling the truth - and if he read the report, he knows precisely what McNamee's motivation is to tell the truth.

Not to ruin the suspense, but CBS has released the transcript of tonight's interview: Pretty pathetic performance from Wallace, who doesn't even bother to mention that he has described himself as Clemens' "friend" and is a regular guest in old George's box at Yankee Stadium. He can't even be troubled to directly challenge Clemens on McNamee's incentive to tell the truth and nothing but - and of course there is no follow up to Clemens' nonsensical reply: Excuse me, Roger, but the Feds told him "no Federal charges so long as you tell us everything you know and don't ever lie to us". How does he get that to "not going to jail"? The fact is that if the Feds generated their own evidence that McNamee shot Clemens up with steroids and HGH, he'd be up shit's creek sans paddle had he neglected to mention that he supplied Clemens with the stuff. And the claim that Pettitte's situation is "totally separate" - uh, no, Rog, it goes directly to McNamee's credibility. And that Vioxx shit and the story about his pain killer shot before his WS start? What the fucking hell is that about? Has absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand, and he thinks he's going to learn the oversight committee about what ... poor regulation by the FDA? I hope Roger thinks this was worth it. From this moment on, its downhill for him. Starting at 5 pm ET on Monday, he'll deal with journalists with a little more guts than Mike Wallace who are going to hammer him on all the reasons why he is losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the public. And then when it comes time to be sworn in and testify under oath, he better be ready to take it all the way to the end (minimum, libel suit; maximum, felony charge of lying to Congress).

Correct, the interview was pre-recorded, last weekend at his mansion in Texas, I believe. Then CBS put out a press release about denying PED use ("Swear?" "Swear." ) but acknowledging being injected with "lidocaine and B-12" and that got picked up and has been driving news coverage until the House Oversight committee made its announcement.

More on lidocaine from Lupica's column: Still sticking with that story, Roger?

TD, yes, it will run third in the rotation, so about 35 minutes or so after the football game ends. Might be as late as after 8:30 tonight. There is a terrific column about the art of being a tough interviewer and why Wallace is unlikely to even make Roger squirm a bit here.. Must read column, imo. As for the Congressional hearing, I would downplay the likelihood of a Sosa-McGuire farce. I would expect Randomski and McNamee to appear on one panel, answering questions and giving extensive detail on what they witnessed. Next will (or should) be Pettitte and Knoblauch. Pettitte, because he has already admitted that McNamee told the truth, and Knobby because he is another player that McNamee identified, iirc. With immunity and no pending legal investigation, Knoblauch can either A) Tell the truth, give McNamee more credibility, and put another nail in the Texas Con Man's coffin B) Take the Fifth, which will have the same effect as A) C) Take the Clemens approach and deny, deny, deny After that, out comes Roger for his own panel, to answer under oath and in front of a nation, the question of whether or not he used steroids and HGH, and if he denies it under oath, to explain why he should be believed when McNamee keeps getting more and more support (there's a very interesting interview with McNamee's lawyers in the New York Daily News in which they mention that McNamee actually predicted beforehand that Pettitte is an honest guy and he would tell the truth when the story breaks. They went on to say that there is more collaboration available than just McNamee's direct testimony about both Clemens and Pettitte.) I honestly think that in between the grandstanding by the politicians, there will be extremely compelling moments of testimony, a cut below famous moments like "At long last, sir" and the revelation about the Oval Office taping system ... but at least we can hope for an Iran-Contra "I am not a potted plant, Senator!" from Rusty Hardin.

What WAS that album? There's some other album with Harold Ousley on it on which Earl plays, but I can't think which. MG, its One More For The Road on Demon Records.

Sad news; his name was on my mind because I just picked up a Charles Brown LP from the mid-80s with May on bass, along with Billy Butler, Harold Ousley and Kenny Washington. Thought that was an interesting group with him so I snagged it. RIP.

Holy shit! I thought it just made their heads big!! More of a figure of speech. Testes shrink (yet more proof that Bonds had to know what he was using or he'd have run to his doctor in a heartbeat) but when it comes to displays of extreme arrogance, shrinking testicles didn't stop Bonds from being the same a-hole he's been his entire life. Now we'll see whether Clemens measures up.

Well, 60 Minutes and the press conference are just the aperitif, since McNamee, Clemens and Pettitte have now been "invited" to testify before a Congressional hearing on January 16th! Finally, the politicians step up to the plate and force these people to lay it on the line. Everybody goes under oath; everybody risks a perjury charge. Now we really will find out, long before a defamation lawsuit goes to trial, if Clemens has the Bonds-sized balls to lie under oath. I'd say that the press conference just got a little more interesting, but the real moment of truth is just a couple of weeks away. BTW, Randomski has been invited to testify as well, which means that he can testify to the fact that McNamee said things like "he's on the program now" in regards to Clemens - never said "he's on steroids" but it was understood what was meant.

Sorry, I meant "professional weightlifter" like Vasiliy Alekseyev, where Rog would wear a red bodysuit and walk up to a podium with his big belly hanging out and his nuts hanging low. Ah, memories from the Wide World of Sports from the early '70s. :g

Thank you for the friendly welcome. Do you mind if I ask you what "The Magnificent Goldberg" means? Finally - someone who asks the question that has been on my mind. I think I like her already.

No Editorial Comment Is Expressed Or Implied Here's a good way to waste ten minutes - explore the pull-down options, and if you prefer, enter a different URL.

Not sure about your first point though - since there is no positive test to refute, why even entertain the possibility that he received steroids inadvertently? As to your statement about Roger not being a weightlifter - I have a hard time believing that hardcore strength training wasn't a part of his iron-man fanatic workout, considering how much bigger his shoulders, chest, back, and thighs got after he left Boston. The legs might come to an extent from non-weightlifting work, but the upper body expansion mirrors that of Bonds and really only comes from strength training (+ what Bonds called "the shit").

Totally agree with 1-3; the NY Post column says much the same thing: Number 4 I am not so sure about, because it was Clemens who prevailed upon the Yankees to hire McNamee. I don't think that the Yanks were complicit, and at some point they are the ones who fired him (while Clemens continued to employ him privately). BTW, Canseco's book mentioned the fact that "B-12" shots became known widely as the code word for getting steroid shots. And of course it was Palmiero's explanation for his positive test when he threw Tejada under the bus (and Tejada was fingered in the report now as well). I'm guessing that Roger thought back, said "we called them B-12 shots - that's what I'll say he injected me with." Its ridiculous and just goes to show what I said earlier - admitting his trainer injected anything only further establishes McNamee's credibility while casting doubt on the likelihood that he would inject anything unless it was an illegal substance that he couldn't obtain through team trainers or his own doctor.

I can't recall Clemens ever having a knee injury (it wass always leg/groin problems), and I'm pretty sure elbow issues came later in his career. Even if its anesthetic properties make it useful as a pain-killer, why not say that he had such pain. Its surely not regarded as something like glucosamine that is promoted as something that helps the joints. I'm not sure that Sheffield is going to get in trouble as he was at least forthcoming in his grand jury testimony. I don't think he actually used the "my trainer gave me this shit" excuse - if I recall correctly, it was Bonds who recommended BALCO so who knows what he knew ahead of time. Not sure at all what the public believes at this point. Has there been a poll or even a lot of man-in-the-stadium interviews? I've yet to see a columnist who hasn't said that Pettitte's admission is a major blow to Clemens' credibility. BTW, the more I think about the 60 Minutes interview the less I am concerned about how Mike Wallace treats him. Supposedly Clemens will hold a press conference on Monday, once his short "exclusive" with CBS ends. At that point, I expect all gloves to come off and that he will get a lot of direct, challenging questions about what incentive McNamee has to lie, why he would tell the truth about Pettitte but lie about him, why he is giving his attorney freedom to slime him, etc., etc. In fact, the Globe's Gordon Edes had a great list of ten questions that Wallace should ask; I'm sure that the reporters will come up with similar ones, and Clemens will find out that it isn't so easy to intimidate people when they've got an insider spilling the beans.

Anyone else think that its risky for Clemens to go with the "he injected me, but not with steroids" defense? I mean, it acknowledges first and foremost that he submitted himself to injections by a trainer. Then you've got this ludicrous sounding choice of supposed drugs that were used. According to the NYT: So why does Clemens say that lidocaine is for his "joints" if its a local anesthetic? There's nothing whatsoever in the wikipedia entry to indicate lidocaine as serving any purpose for his joints. And Roger the workout warrior needs B-12 shots? If he's going for the Bonds "if I used them I didn't know what they were at the time" excuse its pretty ridiculous because we already have interviews from other McNamee clients stating that when asked about steroids, he counseled against them.

When I rejoined the modern age after my trip north to visit the folks, there was an email notification of a message from Weizen - but when I clicked on the link, I got an error message and there was no new PM listed. Is the board deleting stuff if you don't open it soon enough? Or is it possible it was a message I'd received and discarded some time before the notification email was sent? That would explain the error message and the lack of a new PM but in all honesty, I cannot recall the last time I received a PM from Rolf - certainly it was before the notification system went wonky.

Happy birthday to one of my favorite Yankee fans. Someday I am sure they'll hoist a trophy again ... maybe after Theo retires.