Mike Freeman

WASHINGTON: Great quote from Roger Clemens: "Someone is trying to break my spirit in this room. They're not going to break my spirit."

WASHINGTON --

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney went to a great line of questioning that has long bothered me. She asked Clemens: why didn't you speak to George Mitchell? Clemens has given some unbelievable excuse. Why he didn't go to Mitchell and declare his innocence I just don't get. If I was a player and Mitchell called me and said he wanted to speak and I had never done steroids, I would speak to him. What would you have to hide if you didn't do the drugs? If you're concerned that Mitchell might trick you or ensnare you in a trap, bring a lawyer with you. The bottom line, as Maloney was trying to state, is that if you have nothing to hide, why not speak to Mitchell?

A lot of talk about the injured butt of Roger Clemens. Now I'm just getting uncomfortable. Too much talk about a man's butt. Can we talk about the butt of Debbie Clemens?

Congressmen are now grilling Brian McNamee. What bothers them is that McNamee kept needles and gauze he claims is proof Roger Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs. They're portraying him as a creep. And a liar. Congressman Dan Burton read from several published articles in which McNamee claimed he had nothing to do with HGH and admitted that his words to media at the time were a lie.

Burton exploded and seemed to blame the media for a "circus" atmosphere. Of course, Burton is using the media to get his face on TV.

One piece of news I had not heard before. McNamee just testified he kept alleged DNA evidence from Chuck Knoblauch, a performance-enhancing drug user. It is apparently similar to the gauze and needles he kept in the Clemens situation.

Congress has learned from past hearings of this type where there was much more grandstanding and speech-giving. That isn't the case now. The grandstanding has been kept to a minimum. So far.

One other point. I thought the committee might be star struck by Clemens but they are being pretty tough on him.

It is startling to see even the smallest of differences are between Brian McNamee and Roger Clemens. Clemens says he was injected with the vitamin B-12. McNamee, sitting just several feet away from Clemens, said he had not heard of any B-12 injections until Clemens went on "60 Minutes."