Is the Gig Up For Clemens?

There was speculation a week ago that Roger Clemens' buddy and fellow Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte would tell Congress that Roger Clemens indeed did use performance enhancing drugs. If so, all the attacks on Brian McNamee's integrity would be irrelevant. Pettitte was a good friend of Clemens and would have no reason to lie to investigators.

Now today, McNamee is claiming that he has physical evidence that Clemens used performance enhancing drugs. The evidence reportedly includes syringes with both traces of performance enhancing drugs and traces of blood which matches the DNA of Clemens.

We'll see just how credible these stories are in seven days, when Clemens, Pettitte and McNamee speak in front of Congress in a public hearing. All three have already spoken to Congress, but to this point they've done it behind closed doors.

The Mitchell Report has elicited some very bitter responses from some sports fans, not all. Many of those bitter fans have been Yankees fans. Upset at the news two of their most important players over the past decade have been caught cheating, many of them dubbed the report Mitchell Report the Red Sox Report. And I can relate to them on some level.

Roger Clemens was my childhood hero. I have his picture up on the wall of my dorm room as I type this. I was very disappointed to learn that he cheated, even if as far as we know he didn't do so when he was on the Red Sox.

But Yankees players being caught cheating is nothing new. What about Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield? Mitchell clearly had nothing to do with them being caught. When star, after star, after star, after star on the Yankees is caught cheating, eventually you have to wonder if the team itself is doing something wrong. The Yankees have long been proud of their "win at all costs" attitude. Perhaps now we're just beginning to learn how far some Yankees players took that to heart.