Say it ain't so Rocket. It's hard enough for me turning 40 Saturday, and now I have to deal with this!

82 references were made to Roger Clemens in today's Mitchell report. Of course, Clemens, through his attorney, denies all allegations that he took steroids. It makes sense. I deny all allegations that I eat my kids treats at night when they are sleeping. But if you believe the former Yankees strength and conditioning coach or my wife Kristine, then Clemens and I are both guilty as charged.

But our vices have one distinct difference. My late night eating habits are not illegal and only inflate my waistline. They do nothing to inflate my career stats.

Before taking steroids in the 1998 season (see the Mitchell report), Clemens, in my opinion, had already put together a hall of fame resume with the Red Sox and Blue Jays. The four Cy Young awards he won at that point spoke volumes. But now, thanks to the Mitchell report, we understand how Clemens kept his hall of fame numbers well into his 40's and ended up winning 7 Cy Youngs. And it's those added years of brilliance that made Clemens arguably the best pitcher ever, not just another really great Hall of Famer. Now, some will question if he even belongs in Cooperstown.

Clemens let us down. Period. As President Kennedy once said, to whom much is given, much is expected. I expected more from Roger Clemens.

When I interviewed him a few years ago at Yankee Stadium, for what I thought was a retirement piece, he could not have been more personable. We talked about his days in New Britain with the Red Sox and an eagle he once made at a GHO celebrity pro-am. Funny, steroids never came up.

Sure, there had been allegations in the past linking Clemens to steroid and performance enhancing drugs, but nothing was ever proven. The Mitchell report is the dagger for me.

It taints a brilliant career. It also ruins the best press clipping I will ever get. My senior year in high school, 1986, I struckout 13 batters in one game. It happened just a few days after Clemens set the Major League record with 20 k's in one game. My school paper wrote something to the effect of this: that I pitched Andover's version of a Roger Clemens game.

I keep those old scrapbooks tucked away in my basement. Maybe this weekend as I turn 40 and get a little nostalgic I will pull them out and show my kids who have never seen them. If I do, I will skip past the Clemens reference. This former 5'8, 83 mile an hour throwing southpaw does not want to be mentioned in the same sentence right now as Roger Clemens. It was hard enough explaining to my 10 year old son Ryan today that one of his heroes let him down because I felt let down too.