Dude in a dress steals show at SB media day
BY JENNA FRYER
AP SPORTS WRITER
The bride didn't bother showing
up Tuesday.
It's a good thing, too. She might
have been upstaged by the dude
in the dress.
The oddballs once again
crashed Super Bowl media day,
mingling among real journalists
and shocking some players with
the absurdity of their questions
and the audacity of their antics.
This year's crowd at the annual
rite seemed a bit tamer did
the weakened economy take
a bite out of this, too? and
the bride who so persistently
pursued New England's Tom
Brady and Bill Belichick last
year was a no-show.
No worries, gentlemen, a "fairy
godmother" picked up a lot of
the slack.
Only she was really a he, and
there was nothing magical about
him. Under the red evening
Grand jury looking at Clemens case
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP SPORTS WRITER
Nearly a year after Roger Clem
ens told Congress he did not use
performance-enhancing drugs, a
federal grand jury is being asked
to determine whether he should
be indicted on charges of lying
under oath.
The grand jury probe was con
firmed to The Associated Press
on Monday by two people who
were briefed on the matter. Both
spoke on condition of anonymity
because grand jury proceedings
are supposed to be secret.
Congress asked the Justice De
partment to look into whether
the seven-time Cy Young Award
winner lied last February, when
he testified under oath at a depo
sition and a public House hearing
that he never took illegal perfor
mance enhancers.
That contradicted the sworn
testimony of his former personal
trainer, Brian McNamee, who
said under oath that he injected
Clemens with steroids and hu
man growth hormone. Clemens
last played in the major leagues
in 2007, with the New York Yan
kees.
gown, long blonde wig and
layers of thick makeup was
Joel Bengoa, a reporter from
Telemundo Sports Network,
the NBC-owned U.S. Spanish
language network, looking for
a laugh.
Doing his best and we use
that term lightly Scarlett
Johansson imitation, Bengoa
teetered in his heels en route
to present several players with
boxes of chocolates.
"I'm from 'fairy godmother
land' and you need me to win the
big game," he purred to Arizona
safety Aaron Francisco.
Francisco was a good sport.
"They told me it was going to
be crazy, but I just thought it
was going to be a lot of media,"
Francisco said. "Then that he-she
gave me candy and I figured out
what they were talking about. I
think it was some Mexican dude
in a dress, and he tried to get me
to talk Spanish. But I'm from
Hawaii, so I just played along."
Bengoa had competition from
The Justice Department brought
the case to a grand jury which
is based in Washington af
ter an 11-month FBI inquiry. A
grand jury allows prosecutors to
get sworn testimony from wit
nesses and collect documents.
The investigation is being led by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel P.
Butler, the prosecutor in the D.C.
Madam case.
"It's standard operating pro
cedure for a prosecutor, and it's
probably been convened for
a while," Clemens' lead law
yer, Rusty Hardin, said through
spokesman Patrick Dorton.
The grand jury's involvement
first was reported by ESPN.com.
Barry Bonds, baseball's career
home run leader and a seven-time
MVP, is scheduled for a March
trial on charges he lied to a fed
eral grand jury in 2003 when he
denied knowingly using perfor
mance-enhancing drugs. That is
part of a separate investigation in
California that also ensnared star
Olympic sprinter Marion Jones,
who was sentenced to six months
in prison for lying about her ste
roid use.
McNamee's lawyer, Richard
Emery, said his client has not
been called as a grand jury wit
ness or received a subpoena. But
or:lDistvamnorssl*.l
his very own
network, which
also sent anchor
Mireya Grisales
to find her
"Dream Team."
Ines Sainz
was back for
her sixth Super
Bowl for TV
Azteca out of
Mexico City,
measuring
players' biceps
then comparing
them to her 27-
inch waist.
At the other end
ofthe festivities,
Entertainment
Tonight staged
a "Dancing with
the Super Bowl
Stars" contest
betweenhulking
defensive tackles: Arizona's
Alan Branch claimed the disco
ball trophy, claimed he'd keep it
forever, then accidentally broke
Emery does expect McNamee to
testify again.
"We will be cooperating. We've
been in contact with the federal
authorities for a year and a half,"
Emery said. "We look forward to
the results, which we fully expect
will show that Brian has been
telling the truth all along."
Clemens' former teammate,
Andy Pettitte, also has not re
ceived a subpoena. Pettitte cor
roborated some of McNamee's
claims in a sworn statement to
Congress.
Former New York Mets club
house attendant Kirk Radomski,
sentenced to five years' probation
last year after pleaded guilty to
distributing steroids and launder
ing money, led investigators to
McNamee.
McNamee told federal agents
and baseball investigator George
Mitchell that he injected Clem
ens more than a dozen times with
steroids and HGH from 1998-
01. Clemens' repeated denials
of those accusations drew Con
gress' attention and the former
pitcher then made more denials
under oath.
Clemens also filed a civil defa
mation suit against McNamee, a
case pending in federal court in
Houston.
the ball off the base.
It made for an amusing
morning, but not everyone loved
the attention.
Asked if there was anywhere
Shaun Kelley, owner of a Hous
ton training center, said he had
taken a polygraph test for FBI
investigators John Longmire and
Heather Young in April and that
he had denied meeting Clemens
or providing the pitcher or any
of the pitcher's associates with
illegal substances. Kelley said
he employed Clemens' stepsister
Bonnie Owens for about a year.
Kelley said neither he nor his
lawyers had been contacted by
the grand jury.
"It is just not fair for me, be
cause they just come down here
and throw me under the bus, and
I lose half-a-million of business,"
Kelly said Monday in a telephone
interview.
Rep. Henry Waxman, the Cali
fornia Democrat who chaired
the House committee that heard
the testimony of Clemens and
McNamee last year, declined to
comment.
It was Waxman's Feb. 27 memo
that outlined the reasons the pan
el asked the Justice Department
to investigate Clemens, summa
rizing "seven sets of assertions
made by Mr. Clemens in his tes
timony that appear to be contra
dicted by other evidence before
the committee or implausible."
Those areas involve Clemens'
28 2009
else he'd rather be, Pittsburgh
left guard Jeremy Parquet didn't
miss a beat.
"P.F. Changs," he quipped,
"eating some kung pao shrimp."
testimony that he has "never
taken steroids or HGH;" that
McNamee injected him with the
painkiller lidocaine; that team
trainers gave him pain injections;
that he received many vitamin
B-12 injections; that he never
discussed HGH with McNamee;
that he was not at then-teammate
Jose Canseco's home from June
8-10, 1998, when their Toronto
Blue Jays played a series at the
Florida Marlins; and that he was
"never told" about Mitchell's
request to speak to Clemens be
fore issuing the report containing
McNamee's allegations.
The investigation could pose
an interesting ethics puzzle for
President-elect Barack Obama's
incoming team at the Justice De
partment.
Lawyer Lanny Breuer is expect
ed to be announced any day as
Obama's pick to lead the depart
ment's criminal division. Breuer
was hired by Clemens last year
as he prepared for the congres
sional investigation that has now
resulted in a criminal investiga
tion.
When he was hired in Janu
ary 2008, Breuer said he was
"honored" to join the legal team
"representing one of the greatest
pitchers and athletes in history."