First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I hate to sound like Scrooge on a day like this, but I’m sorry, I am not buying Roger Clemens’ video defense any more than I’m buying the idea that my Starbucks giftcard under the tree came from the North Pole, delivered by a fat guy in a red suit who somehow got through my squirrel-proof chimney cap.

The thing is, with guys like Clemens and David Justice and all the other deniers who were outed in the Mitchell Report, they probably will never be proven to have used these drugs more than the investigation revealed. They weren’t tested for some of these drugs, some of these drugs are undetectable by testing, and the results of those tests aren’t available.

But the obvious question everybody raised to Clemens’ denial is this: If Brian McNamee told the truth about Andy Pettitte, why would he lie about Clemens? Why would he lie anyway, when all Sen. Mitchell and the feds asked him to do was cooperate and tell the truth? By the way, I’m not buying Pettitte’s story, either, that he used HGH only twice. The only reason he copped to two times is that McNamee said he used two times. It could have been three or a hundred for all we know. Pettitte’s reps were smart enough to know that it will not likely ever be proven he used more than twice.

Pettitte, though, obviously tossed Clemens under the train.

Now it’s time for Congress and the FBI and all the other investigating bodies to go to work, using the Mitchell report as a starting point, not as an end. If the government is serious about forcing baseball’s (and sports’) hands, there are plenty of leads out there. The report only opened the door slightly, and the Yankees were the unfortunate ones who were front and center. The fact that the two prime sources of information in the report came from the Yankees and Mets clubhouses shows only how deep this thing must really go, once sources are ratted out from other clubhouses.

Anyway, Clemens and Pettitte and Justice and everybody else named had the opportunity to give his side of the story to Mitchell, and declined.

Until the whole thing gets washed a lot cleaner, the only player I will believe never used steroids or HGH or whatever is Frank Thomas, who has long been outspoken against drug use, and who was the only major leaguer to voluntarily participate in the investigation. Big Hurt, you’re going on my Hall of Fame ballot the minute I get it, five years after you retire.