While appearing on “Mike & Mike in the Morning� on ESPN Radio on Tuesday, Roger Clemens bashed the new book “American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime,� written by four New York Daily News reporters, and once again denied being injected with HGH by former trainer Brian McNamee.

When asked about the physical evidence reportedly handed over by McNamee to federal investigators and whether it had his DNA on it, Clemens said “Impossible, because he’s never given me any [performance-enhancing drugs], it’s as simple as that. He’s never given me HGH or any kind of performance-enhancing drug, so it’s impossible.”

Later in the interview, he said McNamee “… never injected me with HGH or steroids.” Pointing out that his family has a history of heart conditions, Clemens said “It would be suicidal for me to even think about taking any of these dangerous drugs.”

Asked about Pettitte’s testimony that Clemens had told him he used HGH, Clemens repeated a line that he uttered during his congressional testimony: “Andy misremembers.” He said he’d only talked to Pettitte a few times since then because of the legal issues.

“I still consider Andy a friend,” Clemens said.

One of the biggest crocks in Clemens’ testimony is his claim that ‘Andy misremembered.’ I find it incredibly hard to believe that Andy Pettitte (or anyone for that matter) would have a conversation about HGH and not remember that one of his friends and teammates told him that he had taken the drug.

If I was having a beer with a buddy of mine and he confessed that he was taking HGH, had cheated on his girlfriend, had stabbed a panda, had stolen a car or whatever, I would remember the pertinent details. It’s not like that kind of information would go in one ear and out the other, you know?

Clemens is going to get his in the end, because McNamee has cooperated with investigators this entire time. Whether or not Clemens eventually gets busted for lying depends on the evidence, however.

Turns out, Roger Clemens might have been lying all along about not taking performance enhancing drugs. Who would have thought?

Federal authorities investigating Roger Clemens on perjury charges have found performance-enhancing substances on the drug paraphernalia that his former trainer said he used to inject Clemens, according to people briefed on the case.

The discovery of the substances could bolster the claims of the trainer, Brian McNamee, that he used the various items — including syringes, vials and gauze pads — to inject Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone.

If the federal prosecutors move to indict Clemens and seek to use the substances found on the drug paraphernalia as evidence, Clemens’s lawyers are expected to question their authenticity and the chain of custody. Clemens’s lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said Monday night that he was not surprised to learn that performance-enhancing substances had been found.

“Duh,� he said with exaggeration. “Do you really think McNamee was going to fabricate this stuff and not make sure there were substances on there? The fact is Roger never used steroids or H.G.H.�

Clemens has been an arrogant S.O.B. the moment his name was linked to banned substances so even though it’s painful to back a weasel like McNamee, I’m rooting for the evidence to prove the Rocket has been lying this entire time. They’re both liars, but Clemens has just been so smug this entire time that it would be nice to see him put in his place. By the looks of the comment above, Clemens’ lawyer is arrogant and smug, too.

Roger Clemens’ former trainer Brian McNamee is set to appear on the Howard Stern Show, but apparently plans on not discussing his former client.

Hardin will get to listen to more of McNamee’s statements. The trainer is scheduled to appear on The Howard Stern Show on Monday.

McNamee is not expected to talk about Clemens but he could react to being called a “gate crasher” and a “hustler” by former pitcher David Cone in The Yankee Years. The just-published book is by former manager Joe Torre and Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated.

“Brian is tired of walking on egg shells,” said Steve Cardillo, a friend of the trainer’s. “He won’t discuss the ongoing stuff with Clemens, but there is no reason why he can’t talk about Joe Torre driving the bus over him. He’s a little tweaked at that. He’s a little tweaked at (David) Cone, too.”

Does McNamee truly believe that Stern is going to have him on his show and not talk about Roger Clemens? Why even have Brian McNamee on a radio show (any radio show) and not talk about Roger Clemens?

Stern is going to pick this fool apart.

While every year has its own host of surprises, there are always those stories that simply fit the trend. Sure, it can get repetitive, but if we don’t look back at history aren’t we only doomed to repeat it? Every year has its fair share of stories that fell into this category, and 2008 was no different.

Our list of things we already knew this year includes the BCS’ continued suckiness (Texas-Oklahoma), how teamwork wins championships (KG, Pierce and Ray-Ray), and the #1 rule for carrying a handgun into a nightclub – don’t use your sweatpants as a holster. (Come on, Plax. Really? Sweatpants?)

Don’t miss the other two parts of our 2008 Year-End Sports Review: “What We Learnedâ€� and “What We Think Might Happen.â€�

Brett Favre can’t make up his mind.

The biggest story of the summer was all the drama surrounding Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. This saga has been covered to death, but there’s one detail that never seemed to get that much play. At the start, it looked like the Packers were making a bad decision by moving on so quickly even when Favre decided he wanted to return. But when the news broke about Favre’s near-unretirement in March, the Packers stance became much more clear. They were ready to take him back after the owners’ meetings, but he called it off at the last minute. At that point, the Packer brass was understandably finished with Brett Favre, much to the chagrin of a good portion of the Packer faithful. – John Paulsen

The Chicago Cubs’ title drought is not a fans-only phenomenon.

The 2008 Cubs were easily the best team the franchise has assembled in decades, but they still couldn’t win a single game in the playoffs, and the reason is simple: the pressure finally got to them. Sure, they said the right things to the press about how they didn’t care about what had happened in the past, but don’t believe a word of it; there wasn’t a single person in that dugout that wasn’t fantasizing about being part of the team that finally, mercifully, ended the longest title drought in sports history. Once ESPN picked them to win it all, however, they were doomed. Ryan Dempster walked seven batters in Game 1, which matched his total for the month of September. The entire infield, including the sure-handed Derrek Lee, committed errors in Game 2. Alfonso Soriano went 1-14 with four strikeouts in the leadoff spot, while the team as a whole drew six walks and struck out 24 times. The team with so much balance in the regular season suddenly became the most one-dimensional team in baseball; take Game 1 from them, then sit back and watch them choke. And now that this group has lost six straight playoff games (the team has lost nine straight dating back to 2003), it isn’t about to get any easier. Get a helmet, Cubs fans. – David Medsker

If you’re going to wear sweatpants to a nightclub, leave the gun at home.

If winning a Super Bowl is the pinnacle of an NFL player’s career, than shooting yourself with your own gun in a nightclub has to be rock bottom. Case in point: Plaxico Antonio Burress. Just 10 months after helping the New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg while at a nightclub. Apparently the (unregistered) gun was slipping down his leg and when he tried to grab it to keep it from falling, the lucky bastard wound up pulling the trigger and shooting himself. And that wasn’t the worst of it because as Plaxico found out, New York has some of the toughest gun laws in the nation. He was arrested, but posted bail of $100,000 and is scheduled to return to court on March 31, 2009. If convicted of carrying a weapon without a license, he faces up to three and a half years in jail. He shouldn’t expect special treatment, either. The mayor of New York wants to be sure that Burress is prosecuted just like any other resident of NYC. The Giants, meanwhile, placed him on their reserve/non-football injury list and effectively ended his season. While “Plax� definitely deserves “Boner of the Week� consideration for his stupidity, what’s sad is that in the wake of Washington Redskins’ safety Sean Taylor’s death, most NFL players feel the need to arm themselves when they go out. Maybe players can learn from not only Taylor’s death, but also Burress’s accident so further incidents can be avoided. – Anthony Stalter

Brian McNamee, the former trainer who alleges he gave Roger Clemens performance-enhancing drugs, is suing his former client for defamation.

Brian McNamee, who told federal investigators that Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs, claims the Rocket libeled and slandered him following the release of George Mitchell’s report on drug use in baseball. McNamee is seeking $10 million from his former client, according to a summons filed in Queens Supreme Court last week.

Clemens filed his own defamation suit against McNamee in January after the trainer said in the Mitchell Report that he regularly injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens later told a congressional committee under oath that he had never taken steroids.

In the federal case in Texas, McNamee’s attorneys claim the trainer was forced to talk to investigators under threat of prosecution, rendering him immune from any defamation lawsuit. A federal prosecutor backed up McNamee’s claim, but a judge has yet to rule on his request to toss the case.

Clemens has one month to respond to the Queens lawsuit.

Would anyone else like to see both of these guys locked up together in a jail cell with some brute named “T-Bag�?