I just read in the Post that Roger Clemens' mom's last wish was for him to retire. I'm wondering now if it was her advice he's been following all along: "Remember, son, friends and loyalty and telling the truth are important, but, when in doubt, follow the money." In fact, maybe she told him to reire as her "dying wish" a few years ago, when he fooled Dunbar fans into thinking he was going out in a blaze of glory (where glory equals losing the World Series to the Marlins), but then she didn't die, so he kept playing. [Edit: I seriously am trying to avoid even talking about this, but for the record, I'm 100% against Roger coming anywhere near my team. It's just a rumor anyway, always has been. But, I'm just saying, put that money into some youth. I'm just never forgiving Roger. Not gonna happen. Ever.]

Johnny Damon's loyalty lies in an only slightly less confused place. He says his real loyalty lies with his family. (Read: so screw any other people who may consider me family.) I wonder how his dad's Vietnam battallion would have felt if he told them, "I've gotten a much better offer from the VC, so I'm gonna switch over and fight for them now. But thanks for everything, it's been an honor and a privelege. But--I'll still be loyal to my blood relatives, so it's okay."

And I didn't believe Michelle had anything to do with Johnny's moving to the Big Apple, formerly Fun City, but only because I don't live in Boston and am not constantly getting the wife updates lot a lot of you, but then I read that she's "enjoying fashion week" here in NYC with some friends. So, maybe it was partly her call. And I'm not one of those guys who thinks Yoko broke up the Beatles. I'm down with Ono.

They're talking about Varitek making the US WBC team like it's some new thing, but I saw Varitek USA shirts for sale at mlb shops a week ago. (I'm only looking because I want to get an Ortiz Dominican T-shirt, which I'm still waiting on.)

I heard from a Boston-area person that NESN showed a "classic" Red Sox game yesterday, one which the Sox lost to the Dunbar crew last season, in a pitching duel between Captain Tall 'N' Fugly and Tim Wakefield. Addd this to the '75 and '86 World Series' that were shown last winter on NESN, and that makes, well, several Red Sox past losses shown on NESN. I give them so much credit for this. The YES, aka HELL, NO Network will not so much as admit that the yanks have ever lost a game, let alone show an entire nine-inning loss, regardless of how "classic" the game was.