FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH:

•We think we know athletes.

We do not.

We see them on television, we read about them, we hear them interviewed. In many ways they live in the fishbowl of celebrity here in this 24-hour news cycle, and we think we know them.

We do not.

Roger Clemens is just the latest example. Rest assured he won’t be the last.

But what we’re now seeing is the public unraveling of an image, the destruction of the myth, the tarnish over one of the great careers in American sports, one that’s now being reduced to jokes. And history tells us that once it starts to rain, you better get ready for the flood.

This is the territory Clemens lives in now, and it all seems sad. More information than we have to know, one more reminder that we think we know athletes when we really don’t.

•But if the Yankees’ kid pitchers don’t pitch better than they have been, they can bring the Rocket back again for another July appearance, right?

•Last week I wrote that if the Hawks won a playoff game Atlanta should have a parade. Hey, now they can knock themselves out and have more than one.

•You know a series is humdrum when the big splash is whether Paul Pierce flashed a gang symbol or not.

•Speaking of which, odds are you’ll get a more menacing gesture just walking across Kennedy Plaza in the afternoon.

•What was the over/under on the fact that we’re the first state in the Northeast to be in a recession?

•Quiz of the week: How many of the Hawks from the ’88 team that lost to the Celtics in the playoff can you name? (Answer near the bottom of the column.)

•Line of the Week comes from Jim Calhoun, as reported on SI.com, on the news that his Curtis Kelly is thinking of transferring to either Iona or URI: “He doesn’t mind stepping down a level.”

Ouch!

•Did you see where Barbara Walters admits to once having an affair with former Massachusetts senator Ed Brooke? Talk about old news.

•New news? If she admits to having an affair with Clemens.

•Why do guys get NBA jobs without any head coaching experience, yet big-time colleges rarely give jobs to guys without it?

•Last week you couldn’t get the Red Sox out. This week they couldn’t score any runs. Ah, baseball. Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, it fools you again.

•Kind of like life.

•The word is Doug Wiggins is another UConn castoff who is looking at Kingston as his next stop.

•The Clintons couldn’t have dreamed of anyone better than the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who throws another body punch at Obama every time he opens his mouth.

•There’s no truth to the rumor that Clemens spent his career as if it was a baseball version of Weekend at Bernie’s.

•Or that if John Calipari makes any more money in Memphis he gets Graceland, too.

•Or that Brown is waiting for Barack to be their new basketball coach.

•Or that when people ask where Clemens is in the rotation they mean Mindy McCready’s rotation.

•My all-time favorite TV show was The Rockford Files.

•What were the odds two months ago that Big Papi was going to be below the Mendoza Line for April?

•Danny Ainge’s nephew, former Tennessee quarterback Erik Ainge, was a fifth-round draft choice of the Jets.

•Raise your hand if you’re shocked that Dennis Rodman is in trouble for allegedly slapping a woman in a Los Angeles hotel room.

•Or that teen supernova Miley Cyrus did a photo shoot as if she were doing a Lolita audition, which in the new Hollywood is called taking the Britney career track.

•Baseball played in the cold goes against the natural order of things.

•Keno Davis’ first huge challenge at PC is not next year; it’s replenishing the roster for the 2009-2010 season so that the Friars don’t drop into the Big East netherworld.

•Very few people write dialogue any better than Richard Price, and his new novel Lush Life is a gem.

•Kudos to Chris Iannetta, the former St. Ray’s All-Stater, who hit a home run — and played third base for the first time in his career — as the Rockies beat the Giants the other night.

•Trouble might not exactly follow Pacman Jones around like an afternoon shadow, but rest assured he always knows where it is.

•Prom night is the definition of anticipation being better than realization.

•Quiz answer: The top eight were Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers, Kevin Willis, Tree Rollins, Randy Wittman, Cliff Levingston, Antoine Carr and Jon Koncak. Spud Webb was on the team, too.

•Deception will keep you watching.

•Can we officially say that the Suns’ trade for Shaq didn’t work?

•Dave Stenhouse, the Rhode Island native who was the first rookie pitcher to start an All-Star Game, which he did in 1962, will be inducted tonight into the R.I. Heritage Hall of Fame at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet.

•Rhode Island, the “first in, last out” state.

breynold@projo.com