[Fox Sports] Roger Clemens isn’t the first athlete to be accused of cheating on his wife. But the dirt in his alleged case is especially rich.

Country music star Mindy McCready [pictured] was 15 years old when she met Clemens, who was 28 and married. The New York Daily News fills us in:
“After the teenage McCready met Clemens at a Fort Myers bar called The Hired Hand, she returned with the Rocket to his hotel room, but there was no sex that night, sources told The News. It wasn’t until later, after McCready had moved to Nashville and become a country singing star, that the relationship turned intimate.”

Attorney Rusty Hardin denied the relationship was sexual in nature, but McCready later confirmed the affair to the newspaper — saying “I cannot refute anything in the story.”

Clemens is pursuing a defamation suit against his former trainer, Brian McNamee, over allegations of steroid abuse. Clemens complained about the toll the allegations took on his reputation and the strain it has put on his wife Debbie and his four sons.

But now McNamee’s attorneys are ready to summon McCready if this case reaches court.

“The point is whether he was damaged by the allegations that he used steroids — he claims he was hurt,” attorney Richard Emery told the Daily News. “But if there are other women — and there’s not just one case, but many — and he holds himself out as a family man and an American paradigm, it’s relevant.”

All things considered, this qualifies as one of the Ten Most Embarrassing Sports Affairs of modern times. Here are the others:

Wade Boggs/Margo Adams
Mistresses have been an institution in sports for, well, as long as sports have existed. But Adams became a pioneer in the field by suing the Hall-of-Fame third baseman for $6 million (later upped to $12 million) and doing a tell-all interview with Penthouse Magazine in 1988.

She spent four years traveling the major league circuit as Boggs’ companion. Wade settled the suit, owned up to the infidelity, used the novel “sex addict” defense and somehow saved his marriage.

“I think in my case, everything fell into place for me to want to stick it out,” Debbie Boggs told the St. Petersburg Times. “I never had that feeling (of wanting to leave him) because of the way Wade handled it. We had an agreement that he would tell me everything. Even to this day. It’s an open subject with us.”

Michael Jordan/Karla Knafel
The former NBA superstar sued his former lover, claiming she was trying to extort additional money from him. She counter-sued, airing out much dirty laundry in the process.

Knafel, a singer by trade, became involved with Jordan just three months after his wedding. The Smoking Gun broke it down:

“When Knafel asked Jordan about his marriage, the basketball star allegedly responded that he had a ‘business arrangement’ with Mrs. Jordan, that he considered Mrs. Jordan to be ‘hired help’ and that his agent and manager, David Falk, advised him to marry Juanita in order to maintain his favorable public image.’ Knafel alleged that she became pregnant during the affair, and that Jordan ‘demanded that she abort the baby.’ Knafel said she refused to terminate the pregnancy, which resulted in a stillborn birth …”

Ugly stuff for sure.

Steve Garvey/assorted women
Garvey’s ex-wife, Cyndy, did not go quietly into the night after divorcing Steve in 1981. She wrote a tell-all book in 1989 that detailed his extramarital affairs. Steve dismissed the book as “vicious criticism, lies and innuendoes.”

However, Garvey was involved in two paternity suits when the book hit the stands. David Letterman joked about his philandering relations with his top 10 list of “Least Popular Exhibits at the Baseball Hall of Fame.”

Number 4? “Steve Garvey’s bed and on-deck circle.”

Bill Belichick/Sharon Shenocca
At a glance, the New England Patriots coach looks like a poor candidate to make this list. He is a famous workaholic. His sideline attire is as drab as his news conference demeanor.

But while separated from his wife of 28 years, Belichick had a starring role in Shenocca’s divorce proceedings with her estranged husband Vincent. Vivid details of their relationship came to light in the courtroom.

Reported the New York Post: “Belichick has been supporting his alleged mistress — a New Jersey housewife in the midst of a divorce — by sending her envelopes stuffed with cash and buying a secret $2.2 million Park Slope town house for her use, court papers allege.”

(No word on whether former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh possesses anything relevant to this matter.)

Alex Rodriguez/Joslyn Noel Morse
The dalliance between the Yankees third baseman and an exotic dancer/model provided more fodder for New York Post.

The newspaper was the first to publish candid photographs of the couple and it stayed on Stray Rod’s case: “Morse’s secret identity came to light yesterday as the naughty Rodriguez was spotted strolling through Boston with his pretty, petite wife, Cynthia, who repeatedly flashed a grin. She held his arm outside the Ritz Carlton hotel. Cynthia, who bore the couple’s only child, Natasha, in 2004, said nothing as the powerhouse third baseman scribbled his name on paper and baseballs for fans.

“‘It’s been enough,’ A-Rod sighed in frustration as he signed autographs.”

David Beckham/Rebecca Loos

Victoria Beckham and Rebecca Loos (left) take in a soccer match during less contentious times. (Shaun Botterill / Getty Images)

The soccer megastar denied he had a romantic relationship with Loos, his personal secretary, while married to the former Posh Spice in 2004. But Loos has made a second career out of discussing their alleged relationship.

“In a way they should be glad it happened — it’s made them stronger,” Loos said last year. “They even went on to have another kid. Everything happens for a reason, even bad things.

“I think their marriage is stronger than ever and it’s like Victoria says, it’s bad things like the affair that have made it stronger. Victoria’s stuck by David and that’s the main thing.”

Barry Bonds/Kimberly Bell
An angry ex-mistress can make a powerful enemy, especially for a high-profile athlete tangled in a criminal investigation. Bell claims she had a nine-year relationship with Bonds; it ended in 2003, right before the BALCO investigation.

She did a tell-all, show-all deal with Playboy and granted myriad interviews during a media tour. She detailed allegations of Bonds’ steroid abuse, discussing his loss of hair, bloating, violent rages and testicle shrinkage. She characterized him as a mediocre lover and admitted faking her, um, excitement.

“When you’re dealing with somebody who’s that selfish, with that kind of ego, you learn to exaggerate your reactions to make him feel better,” she told Playboy.

Julius Erving/Samantha Stevenson
The sports scene is cluttered with the offspring of famous athletes. And many of them were conceived during extramarital activities.

Tennis star Alexandra Stevenson fell into that category; her mother, sportswriter Samantha Stevenson, had a fling with NBA Julius Erving while covering the team in 1980. His paternity wasn’t revealed until Alexandra broke onto the international tennis scene — and initially Erving denied it, until confronted with her birth certificate.

“I don’t like people saying ‘the doctor’s daughter’,” Stevenson told Barbara Walters on 20/20 after the story broke. “Because I’m really not the doctor’s daughter. I’m my mother’s daughter. And when you think about a father … a definition of a father is someone that takes care of you and is paternal. And he wasn’t really that. So, I just don’t think of him as my father.”

Derek Lowe/Carolyn Hughes
Liaisons between athletes and female reporters crop up in sports, much to the consternation of female journalists just trying to do their job.

In this case, Lowe’s involvement with TV reporter Carolyn Hughes came to light during contentious divorce proceedings. “We didn’t leave our spouses for each other, which people believe we did,” Lowe said, according to the Associated Press. “She was going through a divorce. It wasn’t a fling. There’s no guarantee, but it wasn’t just a fling.

“The main people in my life, they knew what was going on for months upon months upon months. They knew we were having a hard time for a long time. That was the 100 percent thing. It wasn’t anyone else that led to the breakup — absolutely not.”