Last night, Repoz linked to a T.J. Quinn interview with Rusty Hardin at ESPN. Repoz quotes part of the story in which Quinn claims McNamee, in the Mitchell report, indicated Roger Clemens used steroids before 1998. TangoTiger, at The Book, notices that part of the conversation is now gone. That original set of questions makes this passage seem to come out of the blue:

T.J. Quinn: But his career did change. I mean, he was...

Rusty Hardin: No.

T.J. Quinn: You talk to those scouts about when he was finishing up in Boston, and one after another, they say, "This guy's done."

Rusty Hardin: Back up a moment there. I tell you what. Why don't you wait till next week or so to, to so comfortably... Randy and them have been doing a study of his career and stuff -- and see. And, and if you talk about his career being stalled, which year was it stalled, in '96?

T.J. Quinn: It would've been end of '96, right, before he went to Toronto.

Rusty Hardin: He goes to Toronto in '97. Is the contention that -- when McNamee says he started before then. When are people saying he started using them? If McNamee is saying -- and I really didn't realize what you're saying, I have to go back and look at that now. Uh, if McNamee's saying -- when was he supposed to start it? Was he supposed to start it in '95, '94, '92? When did -- when is he supposed to have been using steroids, if McNamee says he had done it before? Uh, and if you look at his 1996 record, did anybody look at what was going on then? Has he started strong every year, or is he starting slow every year? And what standard are people using? I think what you're going to find is they're using the worst standard. They're using win-loss record. And, and, you know, 2005 will tell you why that doesn't make any sense. I mean, I watched him over here at this ballpark, and he pitched his heart out every time and he was losing. And, and he was pitching as well as anybody in the league, and he didn't have a win-loss record reflect that. Does that mean he's pitching worse? I don't think so.

I've reread the section on Roger Clemens in the Mitchell report and there is nothing about Roger using steroids before 1998. Quinn was wrong in part quoted by Repoz. The way the transcript looks now, Hardin comes off suggesting that the Mitchell report indicates Clemens used before 1998. ESPN should return the original section to the transcript with a note that Quinn was wrong about the Mitchell report.

Update: McNamee is willing to talk more about Roger Clemens.

According to a source close to the trainer who says he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone, McNamee answered questions from the government and former Sen. George Mitchell's office truthfully, but "he tried not to hurt Roger" in the process. Now that Clemens has sued him for defamation and has mounted a ferocious attack on McNamee, "stuff is pouring out of him." According to Ward, "Brian knows a lot about Roger's moral character and knows a lot about his extracurricular activities. ... There's a lot that he could say to damage Roger's reputation, but we plan on taking the high road. ... If some of this stuff were to come out, Roger Clemens would look very, very, very bad."

Pretty soon the two will be duking it out on the Jerry Springer show.