Sports

The prosecution's star witness underwent a withering cross-examination on Thursday at Roger Clemens' perjury trial. Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, is charged with lying to Congress when he testified that he never used performance-enhancing drugs. Brian McNamee, his one-time trainer, is the only witness who has firsthand evidence that contradicts the baseball-pitching ace.

Earlier this week, guided by the prosecution, McNamee testified in agonizing and repetitive detail about how he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone between 1998 and 2001.

The key witness in the perjury trial of baseball star Roger Clemens is on the stand this week testifying that he injected Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs. Nina Totenberg talks to Melissa Block.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Drew Brees says he's frustrated by a lack of communication with the New Orleans Saints in his ongoing contract negotiations and believes the club should show more urgency to get a long-term deal done.

In an interview with WWL radio in New Orleans on Wednesday night, Brees says he's extremely frustrated that he still is not signed and could miss the Saints' first organized offseason practices next week. 

Politicians love to boast about American exceptionalism: how special we are from all the merely ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill countries around the globe. I would say that what sets us apart, more all the time, is that we Americans don't like ties.

I don't mean four-in-hands or bow ties, but the ties in games, the ones that somebody once said are "like kissing your sister." Boy, do I agree — and I never even had a sister. Nothing about me is more American than that I don't like ties.

In Los Angeles at the Staples Center, it may be a case of too much of a good thing. Two NBA teams and one NHL team all call the Staples Center home and now the Clippers, Lakers and Kings have all made it to the playoffs. That means this weekend, the three teams will play a total of six home games in about 80 hours. Robert Siegel speaks with Lee Zeidman, senior vice president and general manager of the Staples Center, about the challenges of converting from ice to wood, stocking concessions and making sure there is parking for all those fans.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Fans of the Chicago Cubs come up with all kinds of explanations for the team's epic ineptitude: the curse of the Billy Goat, Steve Bartman's 2003 foul ball catch, and generations of incompetent management. In the Wall Street Journal today, Rich Cohen comes to a different conclusion: Wrigley Field. Destroy it, annihilate it, he wrote. Implosion or explosion, get rid of it, not merely the structure but the ground on which it stands.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana Legislature is asking the NFL to reconsider the penalties imposed on the New Orleans Saints because of its bounty program.

The formal request received final legislative passage with a 28-1 Senate vote Monday.

In the resolution, lawmakers say there is "widespread public opinion throughout the state of Louisiana and beyond that the penalties imposed upon the Saints are too harsh and should be reconsidered."

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The New Orleans Hornets will continue receiving a tax break that saves the NBA team $37 million over 10 years.

The Senate sent the tax break bill to the governor's desk Monday with a 28-7 vote. The measure is part of the state's deal to the keep the Hornets in Louisiana.

The tax break ran into sharp criticism in the House, where lawmakers bristled at the idea of giving a multimillion dollar tax break while also weighing budget cuts to colleges and health services.