Like the Dress? Or Like the Glove?

It is not uncommon in society for people who are in the public eye to lie. But what we are seeing right now in the public feud between Major League pitcher Roger Clemens & his former trainer Brian McNamee feels different. How often is it that we have two different personalities going to such great lengths to assure the public that the other party is lying? And not only does each side say that other side lying, but that they are in fact pathological!

This is rarefied air.

Clemens has gone to such lengths to clear his name as to appear on 60 Minutes in an interview by Mike Wallace & hold his own press conference where he played a tape of a recorded conversation (that contained little of anything substantive) between he & McNamee from a few days prior. He even waived his right to plead the 5th when he was deposed by Congress a few days ago.

And now McNamee has trumped everything by now possibly having provided the proverbial smoking gun. Brian McNamee supposedly kept medical materials (e.g. needles, syringes, vials, gauze, etc.) that he used to inject Clemens with steroids & HGH back in 2000 and 2001. He says that he kept these materials because he had a hunch that Clemens might turn on him one day. That's an interesting theory -- we'll see if it holds up to scrutiny at the Congressional Hearing next week. Anyway, McNamee kept all these materials in a SHOEBOX, and has now turned them over to federal investigators who will in turn turn them over to forensic scientists to determine if they can find trace amounts of Clemens' blood and HGH/steroids. And supposedly, according to ESPN reporter T.J. Quinn, these forensic scientists can generally determine if the evidence is genuine or fabricated.

If these tests come back positive against Clemens, he will go down with Rafael Palmeiro ("I never used steroids -- PERIOD.") and Bill Clinton ("I did not have sexual relations with that woman") as the biggest liars in recent memory. And maybe even worse, because federal authorities now have his denials under oath. He might go to jail for perjury. In fact, it could be argued that Clemens has a lot more to lose than McNamee right now. This is a dangerous game he's playing here.

Everything really rests on this new evidence now. Will this shoebox full of needles be the downfall of Clemens as was Monica's stained blue dress for President Clinton? Or will it go down with evidence like O.J.'s bloody glove as clues that don't stand up well to scrutiny?

I know this much: I'll be glued to whatever CSPAN channel is carrying this hearing next week!