The Sports Frog

Despite mounting legal troubles regarding his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs, Roger Clemens apparently hasn't decided whether he will retire, one of his former owners told MLB.com on Thursday.

The right-hander, who will be 46 years old on Aug. 4, is an unsigned free agent, but missed the first few months of the season the past two years before returning to action. Drayton McLane, the chairman and chief executive of the Astros, said he spoke with Clemens briefly at a game in Houston as recently as three weeks ago.

"We have a personal services contract with him and it's not activated until he tells us he's ready to retire," said McLane, just after this week's quarterly owners' meetings drew to a conclusion. "Well, he hasn't said that. I think if he was ready to retire, and that was clear, he would have already said that to us. But that has not happened."

I wish I could credit for the title of this post, but I lifted it directly from the article.

The deepest, darkest secret harbored by the New York Yankees first baseman is that whenever he is in a prolonged hitting funk, he wears a gold lamé, tiger-stripe thong under his uniform. "I only put it on when I'm desperate to get out of a big slump," he confides.

Over Giambi's checkered career in the Bronx, he has left the "golden thong" in the lockers of slumping teammates Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Johnny Damon, Robin Ventura, and Robinson Cano. "All of them wore it and got hits," he reports. "The thong works every time."

The way he is hitting I think he should go for the garters, crothchless chaps and a push up bra.

I bet his parents are proud.

Newly minted NYU grad William Lopez turned a day of pomp and circumstance at Yankee Stadium into a day of cop and gown when he took off his pants, dashed onto the field and tried to steal home.

Ignoring warnings to stay off the field, Lopez gave in to a spur of the moment impulse and, wearing just boxers, beige socks and brown laceups under his purple gown, he hopped the fence behind first base and raced across the diamond.

Lopez tagged third, hung on to his cap and chugged down the baseline toward home - cheered on by many classmates.

A security guard tackled him before he reached the plate.

"As I was on the ground and they were holding me, I was literally trying to crawl toward the plate," Lopez told the Daily News. "What I think is really funny about this is I got arrested for trespassing at my own graduation."

Lopez, a 21-year-old aspiring filmmaker from Manhasset, L.I., said cops asked him if he had been drinking.

"I told them it's nothing like that," he said. "It wasn't an act under the influence of anything except happiness and spontaneity."

He said it'll be a great story for his "grandkids."

Lopez said he had no idea what he was about to do when he arrived at the park.

A "huge baseball fan" who roots for the Mets, Lopez said he was just excited to be sitting in the third row on the first-base side of the storied stadium.

"When I got to the Stadium I realized how close we were to the field," he said.

That's when the seed was planted.

"Me and my friend looked at each other and said, 'Wouldn't it be funny if someone were to streak across the field," he said.

"About 15 minutes from the end of the ceremony, there was this musical number, a medley of New York songs, and I said, 'If there was a moment to do it, this would be it."

Then, said Lopez, they played "New York, New York" and "I said, this is it.

"I handed my keys to my friend and I gave my pants to my friend," but he kept on his boxers, Lopez said. "I didn't want to go all the way down because I thought they might nail me for public indecency."

Then, when the security guard was looking the other way, "I just made a break for it."

Seems to be a little trouble in the Mets clubhouse. And in the dugout and definately on the playing field. The team that was going to represent the NL in the World Series (on paper) has seen their plans go haywire. Last night things boiled over a bit, at least for Billy Wagner.

"You should be talking to the guys over there," he snapped to reporters in the clubhouse.

He apparently, according to The New York Times, then gestured toward the lockers of Carlos Beltran, Luis Castillo and, especially, Carlos Delgado.

"Oh, they're not there. Big shock," he said.

The 36-year-old reliever later added to his furious finger-pointing of teammates during his weekly radio appearance, voicing frustration that he is one of only a few players reporters can interview after a crushing loss.

"I didn't even play today, I was not a participant in the game and the guys that had participated were gone," Wagner said in his interview with ESPN Radio 1050's Michael Kay. "David Wright is always there, the same guys are always there. But there needs to be other guys that are accountable. It gets a little old when the same people keep getting interviewed even when they don't participate."

I have always loved the round mound of rebound, the mouth of the south. Charles Barkley is a modern day Will Rodgers, who tells it like it is, with his own unique style and flair. He also is one of the few people to have claimed to have been misquoted in his own autobiography.

When not throwing annoying fans through bar windows or appearing on TV, he can usually be found gambling.

"Do I have a gambling problem? Yeah, I do have a gambling problem," Barkley said. "But I don't consider it a problem because I can afford to gamble."

He said he never bet on basketball and only bet in casinos. He called it a bad habit but said he intended to continue.

Charles Barkley acknowledged he owes a $400,000 gambling debt to a Las Vegas Strip casino and promised Thursday to repay it after a prosecutor said the retired NBA star faced criminal charges.

"My mistake," Barkley said in an interview at a pro-am golf tournament in Hoover, Ala. "I'm not broke, and I'm going to take care of it."

are retiring like flies. Or like 65-year old professionals. Or something that retires.

It's a damned oyster carnival in here.

Annika Sorenstam plans to retire at the end of the season. A season in which it appears she is back on track, as she and Lorena Ochoa were forging a rivalry, the two having combined for nearly all the wins on the LPGA Tour this season.

Curious, indeed.

But this quote sticks with me:

"I want to thank Tiger for not being here...that always makes things a little bit easier."

That quote tells you what you need to know about Garcia, if not the rest of the Tour. At some point, you have to quit worrying about The Man. Garcia has all the talent in the world and may have the best game tee to green on Tour. If he can ever get a handle on his putting (which he showed in flashes this weekend) then he would be a rival of Tiger's. The rest of his game is that good.

And also, don't give me the crap that Paul Goydos gave it away. Sergio hit it to four feet. He was winning that tournament. He actually willed this one, which is nice for a guy who hasn't shown the mental strength he needs to if he wants to be among the game's best.

Jemele Hill:

"It's hard to tell which is more astonishing -- that (Karl) Malone actually feels this way, or that (Demetrius) Bell was able to overcome the heartbreaking reality of being rejected by a parent."

Really? You have a hard time figuring out which is more astonishing? I'll help. The second isn't astonishing at all. It's called life. It's realizing that relying on a parent who could do such a thing would be folly.

Is Demetrius Bell the only guy in the NFL draft who has had little to no contact with their father? I'm going out on a sturdy limb and saying not a chance. Before anyone thinks that's got anything to do with any racial/socioeconomic issues, I'll say that I'm in the same boat as those guys, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Certainly there are situations where growing up without a father creates situations that must be overcome. However, not having a father around doesn't mean you've got a lot to overcome in and of itself.

I didn't have a father growing up. Still don't. I have a Dad, though, and she did a wonderful job of making me realize that it wasn't me who had anything to overcome.

Happy Mother's Day (a bit early), Mom.