FanHouse Richard Emery

If reading last night's news about Barry Bonds got you all nostalgic for Roger Clemens' legal nightmare, you're in luck: both the New York Times and New York Daily News have updates today on where things stand.

Remember how Brian McNamee, Clemens' former trainer turned federal informant, turned over syringes and gauze that he claimed were used to inject Clemens with steroids several years ago? It seems that the feds may have obtained a viable DNA sample off the items -- at least if you're willing to connect some dots.

While the government hasn't made any official announcement, a source confirmed that investigators requested and received DNA samples from McNamee and three of his lawyers, who took possession and photographed the items before handing them over to authorities in January. From the Daily News:

"It suggests that they found DNA on the items, they want to determine who came into contact with the material," said a source with close knowledge of the matter.

The third-place Yankees are in no position to deal with yet another distraction (Hank said what?! A-Rod is sleeping with who?!), but it's possible that Andy Pettitte, the team's best and most reliable pitcher this year, may be called in to testify in the defamation suit brought against Brian McNamee by Roger Clemens.

According to the New York Daily News, one of the claims Clemens is making against McNamee is that McNamee defamed Clemens by telling Pettitte Clemens used PEDs. McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, wants the judge to determine if the statute of limitations on that claim has passed, and doing so may require a hearing in which Pettitte will be forced to leave the Yankees and testify.

Sounds bad for the Yankees, right? It could get even worse. Emery has also requested that the defamation suit be moved from Houston to New York, which would allow Emery to subpeona a long list of witnesses, which includes Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, Mariano Rivera, as well as team trainers and doctors.

All of a sudden, dealing with paparrazi on the A-Rod/Madonna beat doesn't seem too bad.

Yesterday's news about Roger Clemens' alleged affair with musician Mindy McCready (I never heard of her before yesterday, so I refuse to call her a "star") was so far out of left field that absolutely nobody could have expected it. Was it too strange to be true? Was a Cy Young pitcher really lovestruck by a 15-year-old girl he met in a karaoke bar?

Clemens lawyer Rusty Hardin came out swinging with a strong denial, telling the Houston Chronicle:

"There's no question in my mind that this is a really filthy smear campaign orchestrated by [Brian] McNamee's lawyers clearly intended to do anything they can to ruin Roger's reputation. ... I'll let Roger speak for himself on the matter, but it is clear that the Daily News throughout this entire episode has been the house mouthpiece for McNamee's lawyers, and this is just one more example."

Um, Rusty, perhaps you should have talked to your client. While Clemens has yet to officially address the issue, McCready did, admitting it was all true.