The possibility began to seem real as cold steel for the first time yesterday afternoon just as baseball's spring training was unfurling itself nationwide: Roger Clemens, maybe the greatest pitcher in the sport's history, behind bars.

Not just in trouble, but in prison.

The Congressional committee that recently heard Clemens deny under oath he had ever used performance-enhancing drugs joined most of the rest of the country in not believing him by formally seeking a Justice Department investigation into whether Clemens lied.

"Significant questions have been raised about Mr. Clemens' truthfulness," reads the committee letter to the attorney general.

This is a huge blow to the embattled player, the tarnished legend.

It means instead of letting go, the government has decided to go full bore.

A bet worthy of Las Vegas odds now is who will hear the steel door clang shut first: Clemens, or maybe the greatest hitter in the sport's history, Barry Bonds.

These are shameful but also hopeful days for baseball as the sport continues the process of purging itself of steroids, human growth hormone and the lying about them — the process of regaining the public's broken trust. The Mitchell Report implicated dozens of players but left the sense many more had eluded this one wide cast of net.

You know America's Pastime has hit a rough patch when the Pete Rose gambling scandal outlined in a prior decade's Dowd Report seems like the good ol' days.

That was one man's corruption.

This is the entire sport's.

The pending trial of Bonds and the criminal investigation of Clemens figure to loom like stink over the coming baseball season, but it's a necessary cleansing.

It suggests, down the road, a whole different debate about Hall of Fame standards as the sport (and society) reconcile how to deal with players whose obvious, first-ballot Hall of Fame careers have been rocked by scandal.

The neat solution is to admit to the Hall players who deserve to be there, but to acknowledge their controversy — for all-time — on the plaque that represents their induction. If Bonds, Clemens, Rose and the like are ever to make Cooperstown, let what is noted in bronze reflect not just the stardom, but the shame as well.

For now, it bears noting that neither Clemens nor Bonds is facing prison for the cheating part, the performance-enhancing drugs — but for the lying-under-oath part.

THE TRUTH

Would they really send a famous sports star to jail for that?

Ask Marion Jones — maybe the greatest track sprinter of her generation — who was sent to prison despite weeping for leniency.

Jones, like Clemens and Bonds, had a chance to diminish the damage and hasten the healing of her reputation by simply telling the truth, by owning up.

Just like Clemens' former teammate, Andy Pettitte, did so smartly.

Pettitte is seen almost heroically now. He played this brilliantly. His strategy was called "the truth." He should give a seminar.

Jones chose lying instead, and is imprisoned.

Bonds appears to have chosen lying, too, and faces four federal counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice — relegated to desperately seeking a dismissal of charges based on a typographical error in a recent government legal filing.

Clemens seems to have chosen lying as well, about his use of performance-enhancing drugs from 1998 to 2001, and now faces the same type of charges by sticking with his denials even as his former trainer, Brian McNamee, and Pettitte tell a different story.

Clemens could be basking today in credit given for honesty, had he chosen that path. He'd be seen as brave. Noble. His would be the face of the solution, instead of the face of the problem.

CELEBRITY STATUS

What "The Rocket" is learning instead is that the federal government is not impressed by your sporting resume, not even by your record seven Cy Young awards. We were reminded of that the minute the steel door shut on star NFL quarterback Michael Vick over those dog-fighting charges.

If anything, celebrity increases one's chances of being targeted for investigation and prosecution. That might not be fair. But that's real life. That's why the government goes after guys like Vick and Clemens rather than little players you've never heard of. It also is why the government, when targeting white-collar crime, tends to go after company CEOs rather than little shareholders.

With power comes responsibility, and consequences.

The spotlight on celebrity and wealth isn't there just to illuminate your greatness, athletes. It is also there to reveal your foibles and make them national news.

That spotlight is locked in on Clemens now.

It is high heat. And from it there will be no escape.