Actually, I thought he looked like he had lost weight in another photo of him.

Honestly, if the media ran pictures like this of me, I'd hate them as much as he does.

I'm sure this will be a favorite picture of his for a long time to come.

Also, Dice-K, please reconsider. Thank you.

When I saw that the Inside Track ladies had taken the time to write up an actual article about that picture, I wondered what had happened to lead up to that. Like, when the photographer sent that picture in to the Herald, were people freaking out about it over there?

Deer sausage has a lot of calories, y'all.

Well it was the talk of local morning radio today as well. But they failed to mention how the "spies" say he's not fat. They all just went off on how out of shape he was. I have to say I was a little freaked out when I saw it...praying it was all an illusion. I saw another picture with a tiny pot sticking out, but nothing like that picture shows. I'm thinking it was the angle, lighting and surroundings. HAHA

Josh's face always looks sort of pudgy, but I'd say his cheeks look like they've got more baby fat now than they did--at least at the end of last year, that is.

Also, I'm watching the MLB.com live feed of the Clemens/McNamee hearing--a congressman asked Clemens if he was anemic, senile, vegetarian, or vegan. He denied the first three and didn't know what the fourth was. (The "senile" comment got some chuckles from the people in the room.)

Liza, has anyone pointed out yet that lidocaine, as a local anesthetic, isn't injected into one's ass unless said ass is the injured body part?

I read a great clinical analysis of Clemens' account and was struck most by that obvious fact.

(I know a lot of people don't like him, but watching Henry Waxman raise hell about all kind of wonderful things--he was the politician who single-handedly got HIV/AIDS-related policy onto the national stage when no one else would--it's fun for me. A personal hero... that being said, I'm not interested in watching the hearing today...)

Waxman also broke every single rule of order and evidence by introducing non-sworn accounts and completely unsubstantiated "evidence" into the record today (in attempt to drop a proverbial bombshell), thus essentially rendering the entire legal foundation of the hearing worthless. If this was a trial, it would have been declared a mistrial and shut down.

So while I admire his pugnaciousness, he certainly knows better - and this issue deserves better - than to go throwing legal and Congressional rules to the wind to be sensational.

Agreed, very much agreed. Totally fair criticism.

I know he knows better because he's usually a huge stickler for parliamentarian stuff, and loves the auditing stuff with the GAO.

I get the sense that the whole thing is really frustrating for legal types... questionable jurisdiction, questionable statute, the fact that someone is obviously lying to their faces... that sort of lying they take as disrespect for their position, from my legislative experience at least.

He does know better, and it is no excuse, but that was my take.

The problem isn't that someone is lying, the problem is that most *everyone* is lying now or lied before.

I don't have any legal problems with the jurisdiction of Congress to hold these hearings- but I have a huge problem with the chair of the committee refusing to follow the rules he has sworn to uphold (all the while yelling at other congresspeople about parliamentary procedure... laughable). That environment offers none of the protections of a court of law, and all of the potential damaging outcomes -- so when the chair of the committee undermines the few rules that are in place to protect witnesses, it stinks of a personal vendetta.

And back on the subject above - is it too much to hope that Dice-K puts that mullet into a little mini-ponytail that sticks out of his ballcap?

OH JEEEEEZUS - Waxman is APOLOGIZING to McNamee now? SERIOUSLY? Give me a fucking break. That little display, even more than his blatant disregard of the rules when it suited him, totally undermines any credibility Waxman might have had with me.

UGH. I'm glad his little dog and pony show is over. I'm very happy we have NESN live tonight to wash this nasty taste out of things.

That last bit did leave a sour taste in my mouth. What was WITH that?

What was with the whole thing, actually? We basically got the two guys to repeat everything they've said over the last two months. But in court. So I guess now the stakes are raised--whoever turns out to have lied gets obstruction of justice AND perjury charges.

Also, if Dice-K gives himself a mini-ponytail, he will merit complete AWESOME!HAIR status, right up there next to Manny and '04-style Damon.

They'll never make any perjury charges stick - because any lawyer would have a field day ripping apart the legal legitimacy of that "hearing".

WHAT IF THE MINI-PONY HAD A BOW ON IT?!? That would increase the awesome.

Dice K is rocking the Tennessee waterfall! Too funny!
Josh looks like he was working at a pie factory over the winter!

Good point. The whole thing seemed almost as big an anticlimax as Clemens' press conference with the recorded phone call. Apparently, something should have happened, but in truth, it's just getting more and more tangled and I'm losing more and more interest.

If the mini-pony had a bow, I think the awesome would simply be too much to contain. Maybe it'd spontaneously combust. But then it would probably take our pitcher's head with it...

Silly Firefox--doesn't think "combust" is a word. o.0

THREE HOURS AND 20 MINUTES UNTIL NESN'S LIVE BROADCAST. EEEEK. I think I won't be able to hold in the awesome of spring training being ALMOST HERE.

... yeah, I have no idea what the hell was going on in Congress today. What is even worse is that they could easily be that bad about other topics too, like, say, I don't know, WAR, and we'd never know.

BTW, anyone know what Dice-K meant by his wife being in a delicate situation? Was this regarding her pregnancy? Is she in poor health/on bed rest/something else? Or is it just old-fashioned protect-my-pregnant-wife stuff? Are we worrying?

I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit when I saw that gut pic. Please, please let someone post another picture that disproves the beer gut photo!

Daisuke's hair totally makes me laugh. He can keep it just for the comedic value it brings. :)

That's quite the unflattering angle of Josh, isn't it? I don't get what the big deal is; it's clearly just one of those weird camera captures that all ballplayers fall victim to at times. Or do the media geniuses seriously not realize he looked basically the same last year?

Was watching the NESN broadcast (YAY)... they showed some footage of Josh and it looked, painfully, like he had a bit of a belly. It wasn't quite so bad as that picture made it look, though.

Re: Josh's gut....

Well, he hardly looks like David Wells.... I'd be thrilled if my tummy looked like that, especially after being stretched out by 14 pounds of twins.

In any case, who cares what his gut looks like as long as pitches like a beast.

Daisuke's hair? I absolutely love it, especially that jauntily-placed swath of coppery color. I want to put him in a sleeveless sweatshirt and parachute pants, hang a single earring off one ear, and push him retroactively onto the set of The Warriors, or the Beat It video.

Was Josh going for the Juno MacGuff look?? It looks like his belly button is going to eat his junk.

Shamefully, I admit to thinking about Josh's belly over the last 36 hours, when first I spied it in a Spring Training pix over at ProJo.

And, my thoughts are all defensive ones and they sound like this: it's Spring Training fat that will work it's way off over the long haul of the season; energy storage system is where I'm going with this. He's human after all. Who can blame him for living the high life? Whoa, what training regime are he and Randon engaging in in San Antonio? I wouldn't want to replicate it, and it'll never appear important in any future Congressional hearings.

Well, these rationalizations continue, and a few extra pounds won't matter if he pitches close to or better than last season. Just wish he was his fine svelte self to dazzle my fantasies, is all.