Roger Clemens' Fall from Grace

"Can you help me? I can't inject in my booty." Those were the fateful words that began the friendship between legendary pitcher Roger Clemens and the trainer who would ultimately betray him, Brian McNamee. SI.com has published an excerpt from the upcoming book, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime by staffers of the New York Daily News. The book is sure to further sully Clemen's already tarnished reputation. In a sign of how pervasive steroids were during the late 90s when the pair began their friendship, McNamee witnesses Jose Canseco unabashedly gobble up three performance-enhancing pills in the middle of the Blue Jays' locker room. The excerpt paints a picture of two men desperate to maintain their position in America's pastime: McNamee—a former NYC cop—yearned to associate with the glamorous world of the big leagues. Clemens, having just been let go by the Red Sox, was desperate to affirm his reputation as the best in the game. So began a relationship that would crash and burn before Congress and the entire sports world.