Dan Gould

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.

It sure does.......I remember some REALLY bitter winters in Chicago. I had some gigs in Fargo and Duluth (in January) some years ago, and it was RIDICULOUSLY cold. Like 100-below-zero wind chill, it just burned to try to breathe. Well, are you enjoying the first bitter cold temps in Tallahassee? I saw mid-20s this morning, there were snow flurries in central Florida, and 48 right now in Palm Beach county. See? I told you it would get cold in the winter.

I want to say it was issued with the Kenny Drew New Faces, New Sounds reissue - but AMG isn't helping.

Now I've seen it all. Reading the comments, I see that he admits that most are Liberty-era BNs, but even though I can't believe he's throwing them around like that, and apparently never heard of a poly bag either. But really the most mind-blowing part was reading this comment: I mean, damn.

If you aren't averse to paying them money, I am pretty sure that the Andorran thieves have some good Lou Levy Trio recordings available, as well as the Stan Getz recording that Paul mentioned.

Now wait a minute. If this was Sheena Easton circa "Morning Train" then OK, but if it was Sheena Easton when she was singing "Sugar Walls" and doing spots for a chain of gyms, then I have to say that I wouldn't have cared what she sang - I'd have dumped the date if she couldn't compare to the talent on the stage.

Well, Clemens has gone on the warpath but no one has commented so far. For once, Murray Chass wasn't a complete dumbass in his column in the NYT today, which focused mostly on the problem that Clemens and his high-priced mouthpiece should have with the fact that Pettitte admitted that the trainer's statements were true while Roger is sticking with the deny, deny, deny response. I can't wait to see this 60 Minutes interview on January 6 but I have serious doubts about Mike Wallace as the interviewer. As has been noted in reports about the interview, not only is Wallace a regular fixture at Yankee Stadium, he's described as a "friend" of Clemens. So why does he do the interview instead of someone without any potential conflicts of interest? It will really suck if its a puffball interview - Mike Wallace in his prime would have wiped the floor with Clemens. The bottom line is that it is obvious that he is going to have his lawyer try to slime his former trainer to somehow prove that he is not trustworthy. But that Pettitte confession will always be out there. I am still amazed that Pettitte even issued the "If I did something wrong" pseudo-apology, when he had to know what he was saying would be devastating to Clemens. I really hope that Clemens goes too far and McNamee's attorneys file suit for defamation. Then we'll find out if Clemens has the Bonds-sized balls to lie under oath, too.

hey, you just gave me a great idea for another thread ! I shudder to guess what it will be .....

By a landslide, it was the blues more than any other genre this year for me. Most significant artists, in chronological order: Lowell Fulson Jimmy McCracklin Junior Parker (who I now cannot get enough of and am deeply distressed that he died so young - in the early 70s)