Today in Pictures: Friday, Mar. 18, 2005

FIRST PERSON: TIME's Sean Gregory at the steroids hearing

Washington, DC—After a certain point, the gallery just laughed. Every time he repeated his favorite lines, even the Congressmen giggled. That's what Mark McGwire became yesterday, in front of the House committee probing steroids in baseball — a laughingstock. A svelte version of his former 70-home-run self, he we was ducking questions, and ducking them badly. Did you see the impacts of steroids on friends and former teammates? "I'm not going to talk about the past." Did you see the impact of steroids on yourself? "I'm not here to talk about the past." What does he think of the current baseball drug policy? "I'm a retired player." Not a whole lot of hits from this one time slugger.
—By Sean Gregory