Roger Clemens goes on the offensive....

Roger Clemens, just before going on 60 Minutes to deny all of the charges against him regarding the use of steroids and HGH, Clemens' lawyer filed suit NOT against either the author of the Mitchell report nor against Major League Baseball, but against his former personal trainer McNamee who said he injected Clemens with HGH.

And then we were subjected to a very odd press conference where Clemens played for the nation, a taped phone conversation between McNamee and himself regarding the situation.

First, I applaud Clemens for going on the attack and trying to defend his name as hard as he can. But there are SO many unanswered, or more accurately, UNASKED questions about this situation that it is hard to determine whether to believe Clemens or to think that he is really just trying to cover up his actions.

No, at this point there is NO direct evidence that Clemens has taken steroids or HGH, other than what one witness said he did. But the questions about the situation that have not been asked and answered by Clemens have not led us to any real conclusion other than to scratch our heads and try to figure out what the turn of events really are.

First, why did it take SO long for Clemens to come out and deny these charges? The report was out in early November, and it took nearly two MONTHS before Clemens said or did anything. Why?

Here are questions that have been asked, but answered in ways that make very little sense.

When asked what possible reason did McNamee have to lie about Clemens, but not about Andy Pettite, Clemens answered, "I don't know." Ok, maybe he does not. But he can not even venture a guess? (BTW, lost in all of the media circus surrounding Clemens is the fact that Pettite admitted taking steroids, and yet NO ONE is talking about that? It seems that the media could not care LESS about players admitting taking performance enhancing drugs, as much as they do creating a circus about a player denying taking them.)

Other questions not even asked have been:
Why did you wait so long to address these allegations?

Why when McNamee during the phone call conversation when he asked you, "What do you want me to do?", did you not just say, "Tell the truth." Why did you leave that hanging out there, causing some doubt?

Clemens said that he WILL be at the congressional hearings this month to defend himself and directly address the allegations before him. He better be. But he ALSO better be able to give more articulate and definitive answers than the ones he has so far, because I can assure you that the questions asked of him will not be as easily dismissed with sound bite answers as what he has given us so far.