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Hunter rethinking commitment to Irish
By BRIAN COSTA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/19/07
Buford defensive tackle Omar Hunter is having second thoughts about his commitment to Notre Dame, his coach said Wednesday.
Coach Jess Simpson said Hunter has not withdrawn his commitment to the Irish - yet. But he is giving strong consideration to both Florida and Southern California - with Florida being the more likely alternative to Notre Dame, Simpson said.
"I think he wants to take the holidays and reconsider things," Simpson said, "and possibly take a visit to Florida and [USC]."
The Irish just completed their worst year in school history, finishing 3-9. That's not the kind of season Hunter is used to, having just led Buford (15-0) to the Class AA championship. But Simpson said Notre Dame's 2007 performance is not Hunter's main concern.
"I don't think it was so much the season they had," he said. "I think he's just starting to reconsider where he's going to school and how far away it is and the weather and the climate, and how easy it is for his family to come see him."
There has never been a shortage of interest in Hunter, who is rated the second-best high school defensive tackle in the country by Scout.com. The 6-foot-1, 311-pound senior committed to Notre Dame in June, but has apparently become less certain in recent months.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis tried to firm up Hunter's commitment last week with a personal visit to Buford. And later in the week, USC coach Pete Carroll also showed up, urging Hunter to take another trip out west.
Hunter, who could not be reached for comment, did not have any visits planned as of Wednesday. He visited Florida and USC before committing to the Irish, and has enough time to see both schools again if he wants before signing a letter of intent in February.
"It's a good problem to have," Simpson said.
"Right now, Jessica Simpson is not a fan favorite in this locker room or in Texas Stadium," T.O. said. "I think with everything that has happened, and obviously the way Tony played and the comparison between her and Carrie Underwood, I think a lot of people feel like she's probably taking his focus away.
"Other than that, she was at the top of my list until last week."
Romo didn't make his usual Wednesday appearance in the locker room, so we didn't have a chance to get his reply to T.O.'s concern about Ms. Simpson. And T.O. isn't done dealing with her, either.
"I've got a message for her when we make the playoffs," T.O. said. "Just stay tuned."
"Late last night it was revealed to the media by a source outside the Falcons that we were close to reaching an agreement with Bill Parcells to lead the club's football operations.
Prior to the information becoming public, we had reached an agreement in principle with Parcells, and we met with him this morning to complete the contract. At that time, we were made aware by Parcells that he was considering a revised offer from the Miami Dolphins. He later informed us that he would not be signing a contract with us.
We remain committed to looking at every option for building a championship-caliber team for our fans. I have stated we will leave no stone unturned in doing so, and this effort is one example of that. We gave it our best shot, and it didn't work out.
We will continue down the same overall path, proceeding with plans to hire a general manager and a head coach. We will identify and consider every strongly viable candidate for these positions, with the goal of hiring the best. Rich McKay remains President of the club and will retain general manager responsibilities until a new GM is hired.
We will be making no further comment on the Parcells matter."
So how about that big Johan Santana trade? Oh yeah, it never happened. But don't get discouraged Red Sox and Yankees fans, I'm sure Bud Selig is working some back door plan in which you give up a couple of A level prospects for the game's best pitcher. It always seems to work out just fine for those teams and not the Twins. Actually from what I have heard from numerous sources is the Twins want two of these three in Jacoby Ellsbury, Jon Lester, and Clay Buchholz. The Red Sox and GM Theo Epstein are not budging and are willing to only give up one of those guys plus some other bits and pieces. The Red Sox are in an ideal position given they have a lot young premiere talent coming up through their system and already have a major league roster full of World Series winning depth. They don't have to make the trade for Santana but you know who would love to make the deal: the Yankees.
Wieters is a Scott Boras client and was deemed a hard signing for whomever drafted him. MacPhail knew he had to get him signed and more importantly knew the Baltimore faithful would lose all trust in him to get the ship turned around if he didn't. Fortunately for myself and many other Oriole fans they got a deal done at the last second. Let's just say if they didn't get him signed I would have been the first person to put flaming dog pooh in front of Angelos and MacPhail's house. I'm serious by the way. MacPhail next mission is to trade #1 ace Erik Bedard and All-Star secondbaseman Brian Roberts.
is off limits. Bruce is the #1 ranked minor leaguer and has star written all over him. I would love to see Bruce in the same outfield as current star Nick Markakis. In fact I would love it so much that I would be willing to trade Bedard straight up for Bruce. I know the O's would want more but there is no reason to get greedy. Bruce is the real deal. The Reds are trying to dump Homer Bailey, Joey Votto, and another lesser known minor leaguer for Bedard. I like Votto and think he could be a good everyday player at 1b but I'm starting to think Bailey is garbage. The Reds want to unload him and that tells me he isn't what everyone thinks he is which is a potential ace in the making. If the Reds want to offer up Bailey, Votto, and say Josh Hamilton I might do the deal. Hamilton is a wild card and we all know how prevalent heroin is around Baltimore. Yes it could be tempting. Just cough up Bruce and I'm good.
The Rich Rodriguez era at West Virginia ended early Sunday afternoon, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
In an early afternoon meeting with his football team, Rodriguez announced he was leaving to become the head coach at Michigan.
Rodriguez walked into a scheduled 1:30 p.m. meeting with his team and emerged 10 minutes later without comment and walked briskly back to his office. Shortly thereafter the players began to file out of the meeting room, somber-faced and generally without comment.
Rodriguez reportedly met with Michigan officials this past Friday in Toledo, Ohio.
There's a new twist in Michigan's ongoing search for a head coach: University officials are meeting with West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez, according to Sporting News Radio correspondent Michael Bradley.
Rodriguez and his agent are in Toledo today to negotiate with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin and university president Mary Sue Coleman.
Roger Clemens
Roger Clemens is a pitcher who, from 1984 to 2007, played for four teams in
Major League Baseball, the Boston Red Sox (13 seasons), Toronto Blue Jays (2 seasons),
New York Yankees (6 seasons), and Houston Astros (3 seasons). He has won more than
350 games, seven Cy Young Awards, and was the American League Most Valuable Player in
1986. He was named to All-Star teams eleven times.
During the Radomski investigation, federal law enforcement officials identified
Brian McNamee as one of Radomski’s customers and a possible sub-distributor. McNamee,
through his attorney, entered into a written agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the
Northern District of California. The agreement provides that McNamee will cooperate with the
U.S. Attorney’s Office. No truthful statements can be used against McNamee in any federal
prosecution by that Office; if, however, he should be untruthful in any statements made pursuant
to that agreement, he may be charged with criminal violations, including making false
statements, which is a felony.
As part of his cooperation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and at its request,
McNamee agreed to three interviews by me and my staff, one in person and two by telephone.
McNamee’s personal lawyer participated in the interviews. Also participating were federal
prosecutors and agents from the F.B.I. and the Internal Revenue Service. On each occasion,
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McNamee was advised that he could face criminal charges if he made any false statements
during these interviews, which were deemed by the prosecutors to be subject to his written
agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
McNamee attended St. John’s University in New York from 1985 to 1989,
majoring in athletic administration. At St. John’s, he played baseball. From 1990 to May 1993,
he was a New York City police officer.
In 1993, McNamee met Tim McCleary, the assistant general manager of the
New York Yankees, who also had attended St. John’s. McCleary hired McNamee as a bullpen
catcher and batting practice pitcher for the New York Yankees. In 1995, McNamee was released
from his duties after Joe Torre was named the new Yankees manager. From 1995 to 1998,
McNamee trained “Olympic caliber athletes” outside of baseball.
In 1995, McCleary was hired as the assistant general manager for the Toronto
Blue Jays. In 1998, that club hired McNamee as its strength and conditioning coach, and he
served in that position from 1998 to 2000.
Roger Clemens signed with Toronto in 1997, after spending the first thirteen
years of his career with the Red Sox. After McNamee began working for the Blue Jays in 1998,
he and Clemens both lived at the Toronto SkyDome (there is a hotel attached to the stadium).
McNamee and Clemens became close professionally while in Toronto, but they were not close
socially or personally.
Jose Canseco was playing for the Blue Jays in 1998. On or about June 8-10,
1998, the Toronto Blue Jays played an away series with the Florida Marlins. McNamee attended
a lunch party that Canseco hosted at his home in Miami. McNamee stated that, during this
luncheon, he observed Clemens, Canseco, and another person he did not know meeting inside
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Canseco’s house, although McNamee did not personally attend that meeting. Canseco told
members of my investigative staff that he had numerous conversations with Clemens about the
benefits of Deca-Durabolin and Winstrol and how to “cycle” and “stack” steroids. Canseco has
made similar statements publicly.385
Toward the end of the road trip which included the Marlins series, or shortly after
the Blue Jays returned home to Toronto, Clemens approached McNamee and, for the first time,
brought up the subject of using steroids. Clemens said that he was not able to inject himself, and
he asked for McNamee’s help.
Later that summer, Clemens asked McNamee to inject him with Winstrol, which
Clemens supplied. McNamee knew the substance was Winstrol because the vials Clemens gave
him were so labeled. McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks over
a several-week period with needles that Clemens provided. Each incident took place in
Clemens’s apartment at the SkyDome. McNamee never asked Clemens where he obtained the
steroids.
During the 1998 season (around the time of the injections), Clemens showed
McNamee a white bottle of Anadrol-50.386 Clemens told McNamee he was not using it but
wanted to know more about it. McNamee told Clemens not to use it. McNamee said he took the
385 Jose Canseco, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball
Got Big 211-13 (Regan Books 2005).
386 Anadrol 50 is the brand name for oxymetholone and, according to a reference book
targeted at steroid abusers, “is considered by many to be the most powerful steroid commercially
available.” See William Llewellyn, Anabolics 2006 99 (5th ed. 2006). It can harm the liver and
produce pronounced androgenic side effects. Id. at 100.
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bottle and gave it to Canseco.387 McNamee does not know where Clemens obtained the
Anadrol-50.
According to McNamee, from the time that McNamee injected Clemens with
Winstrol through the end of the 1998 season, Clemens’s performance showed remarkable
improvement. During this period of improved performance, Clemens told McNamee that the
steroids “had a pretty good effect” on him. McNamee said that Clemens also was training harder
and dieting better during this time.
In 1999, Clemens was traded to the New York Yankees. McNamee remained
under contract with the Blue Jays for the 1999 season. In 2000, the Yankees hired McNamee as
the assistant strength and conditioning coach under Jeff Mangold. According to McNamee, the
Yankees hired him because Clemens persuaded them to do so. In this capacity, McNamee
worked with all of the Yankees players. McNamee was paid both by the Yankees and by
Clemens personally. Clemens hired McNamee to train him during portions of several weeks in
the off-season. McNamee also trained Clemens personally for one to two weeks during spring
training and a few times during the season. McNamee served as the Yankees’ assistant strength
and conditioning coach through the 2001 season.388
McNamee first learned about Kirk Radomski through David Segui during the
2000 season. Also that season, McNamee obtained Radomski’s telephone number from Jason
Grimsley. McNamee wanted to buy a Lexus, and Radomski had a connection with a Lexus
dealer. Radomski recalled that Grimsley was a frequent customer for performance enhancing
387 McNamee stated that he showed the bottle to Canseco because he thought that
Canseco was knowledgeable and he felt comfortable approaching him. According to McNamee,
Canseco volunteered to take the bottle.
388 In his own interview, Mangold was reluctant to discuss McNamee in any respect.
Mangold said that he was not aware of, and never suspected, any player of using performance
enhancing substances.
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substances, and he produced nine checks written by Grimsley to Radomski during 2001 and
2002 and fourteen checks in total.
According to McNamee, during the middle of the 2000 season Clemens made it
clear that he was ready to use steroids again. During the latter part of the regular season,
McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone from a bottle
labeled either Sustanon 250 or Deca-Durabolin that McNamee had obtained from Radomski.
McNamee stated that during this same time period he also injected Clemens four
to six times with human growth hormone he received from Radomski, after explaining to
Clemens the potential benefits and risks of use. McNamee believed that it was probably his idea
that Clemens try human growth hormone. Radomski instructed McNamee how to inject human
growth hormone. On each occasion, McNamee administered the injections at Clemens’s
apartment in New York City.
McNamee said that he and Clemens did not have any conversations regarding
performance enhancing substances from late 2000 until August 2001. McNamee did, however,
train Clemens and Andy Pettitte during the off-season at their homes in Houston. Clemens often
invited other major league players who lived in the Houston area to train with him.
McNamee’s training relationship with Clemens and others has been described
publicly. Peter Gammons reported during spring training 2001:
Brandon Smith, an apprentice trainer with the Yankees, describes Roger
Clemens’ day as follows: “He’s one of the first players in every morning,
runs, does his program with Andy Pettitte, does the team program
workout, goes to the weight room, leaves, plays 18 holes of golf and
finally meets (trainer) Brian McNamee at 6 .. . . and a few other players –
for another workout. It’s incredible how much energy Roger has.”389
389 Peter Gammons, Indians Expecting Better Year, espn.com, Mar. 11, 2001; see also
Gary Graves, Clemens on Fire with Desire; Rigorous Workouts Keep 38-year-old All-Star
Sharp, In Shape, USA Today, July 10, 2001, at C3.
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According to McNamee, Clemens advised him in August 2001 that he was again
ready to use steroids. Shortly thereafter, McNamee injected Clemens with Sustanon or Deca-
Durabolin on four to five occasions at Clemens’s apartment. According to McNamee, he again
obtained these drugs from Kirk Radomski. McNamee concluded from Clemens’s statements and
conduct that Clemens did not like using human growth hormone (Clemens told him that he did
not like the “bellybutton shot”). To McNamee’s knowledge, Clemens did not use human growth
hormone in 2001.
McNamee was not retained by the Yankees after the 2001 season. After that
season, Clemens never again asked McNamee to inject him with performance enhancing
substances, and McNamee had no further discussions with Clemens about such substances.
McNamee stated that Clemens did not tell him why he stopped asking him to administer
performance enhancing substances, and McNamee has no knowledge about whether Clemens
used performance enhancing substances after 2001.
During the years that McNamee stated he facilitated Clemens’s use of steroids
and human growth hormone, McNamee’s discussions with Clemens about use of these drugs
were limited. McNamee assumed that Clemens used performance enhancing substances during
the second half of the season so that he would not tire, but they did not discuss this directly. It
was Clemens who made the decision when he would use anabolic steroids or human growth
hormone. McNamee stated that he tried to educate Clemens about these substances; he “gave
him as much information as possible.”
Clemens continued to train with McNamee after he was dismissed by the
Yankees, according to both McNamee and press reports. In October 2006, after the Los Angeles
Times reported that the names of Clemens and McNamee were among those that had been
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redacted from an affidavit in support of a search warrant for the residence of Jason Grimsley as
allegedly involved with the illegal use of performance enhancing substances, Clemens was
reported to have said: “I’ll continue to use Mac [McNamee] to train me. He’s one of a kind.”390
McNamee was quoted in a December 10, 2006 news article on steroids as
reportedly having said: “I never, ever gave Clemens or Pettitte steroids. They never asked me
for steroids. The only thing they asked me for were vitamins.”391 McNamee told us that he was
accurately quoted but that he did not tell the truth to the reporter who interviewed him. He
explained that he was trying to protect his reputation.
On May 15, 2007, the New York Daily News reported that Clemens had cut ties
to McNamee.392 McNamee denied that and told us that he trained Clemens after the article was
published. He added that Clemens now has a home in the New York area, and McNamee
personally installed a gym there.
McNamee stated that he has no ill will toward Clemens and “was always ahead
[financially] with Roger.” McNamee received money for expenses from Clemens’s business
representatives. They paid McNamee for training Clemens, and for his expenses. From time to
time Clemens also gave McNamee “extra money.” Clemens never gave money to McNamee
specifically to buy performance enhancing substances.
Kirk Radomski recalled meeting McNamee through David Segui. Radomski
confirmed that he supplied McNamee with human growth hormone and anabolic steroids from
390 Jack Curry, Cloud Over Clemens’s Finale: He and Pettitte Deny Report, N.Y. Times,
Oct. 2, 2006, at D1; Lance Pugmire, The Nation; Clemens Is Named in Drug Affidavit,
L.A. Times, Oct. 1, 2006, at A1.
391 See William Sherman and T.J. Quinn, Andy Totes Baggage to Bronx, N.Y. Daily
News, Dec. 10, 2006, at 56. McNamee’s interactions with Pettitte are discussed below.
392 Christian Red with T.J. Quinn, Roger Seeking Workout Help, N.Y. Daily News,
May 15, 2007.
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2000 to 2004. Although McNamee never told Radomski the performance enhancing substances
obtained were for anything other than McNamee’s personal use, Radomski concluded that
McNamee was distributing the substances to others based on the amounts he purchased and the
timing of the purchases.
Radomski knew McNamee was acting as personal trainer for Roger Clemens,
Andy Pettitte, and Chuck Knoblauch (among others), and he suspected McNamee was giving the
performance enhancing substances to some of his clients. Occasionally, McNamee
acknowledged good performances by Knoblauch or Clemens by “dropping hints,” such as
“[h]e’s on the program now.” McNamee never explicitly told Radomski that either Clemens or
Pettitte was using steroids or human growth hormone. According to Radomski, however,
McNamee asked Radomski what types of substances Radomski was providing to pitchers.
Radomski delivered the substances to McNamee personally. Radomski recalled
numerous performance enhancing substance transactions with McNamee. Radomski also
sometimes trained some of McNamee’s non-professional athlete clients.
Radomski produced four checks from McNamee that were deposited into
Radomski’s checking account and drawn on McNamee’s checking account.393 All the checks
were dated in 2003 and 2004, after McNamee said that he supplied Clemens, Pettitte, and
Knoblauch. McNamee said these purchases were for non-baseball clients.
McNamee’s name, with an address and telephone number, is listed in the address
book seized from Radomski’s residence by federal agents. Radomski’s telephone records show
twelve calls to McNamee’s telephone number from May through August 2004. Radomski was
393 One of the checks, in the amount of $2,400, includes a memo stating “Loan Repay
Sub.” Radomski confirmed that he never loaned McNamee any money and that the check had
been for one-and-a-half kits of human growth hormone.
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unable to obtain telephone records dating back to the time when, according to McNamee,
McNamee was injecting Clemens.
Clemens appears to be one of the two people associated with baseball – Andy
Pettitte is the other – who have remained loyal to McNamee after he left the Yankees.394
Clemens has remained a source of income for McNamee up to and including 2007.
Prior to my interviews of McNamee he was interviewed by federal officials on
several occasions, during each of which they informed McNamee that he risked criminal
prosecution if he was not truthful. I was advised by those officials that on each occasion he told
them about the performance enhancing substance use of Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Chuck
Knoblauch (Pettitte and Knoblauch are discussed below).
In order to provide Clemens with information about these allegations and to give
him an opportunity to respond, I asked him to meet with me; he declined.
Jeremy Maclin(Missouri)-Returned two punts and one kickoff for touchdowns this season as a freshman.
Darren McFadden(Arkansas Razorbacks)-I don't think I really need to explain this one. More than likely the best player in the country when he isn't taking games off, D-MAC should be the first pick in the NFL Draft. By the way, I like him more than Adrian Peterson coming out last year.
Michael Oher(Ole Miss)-This guy scares the living piss out of me. Just looking at his picture I had a little trickle come out. He is on this list strictly because I want to live for another 30 good drinking years of my life.