Ex-wife puts Johnny on the spot

His book, ''Idiot:" Beating 'The Curse' and Enjoying the Game of Life," hasn't been released yet, and already Johnny Damon may be wondering why he wrote it. In an impromptu press conference in Fort Myers, Fla., yesterday, Damon addressed claims made the day before by his ex-wife, Angie Vannice, in a Boston Herald story. Vannice, who divorced the Sox center fielder last year, said her husband cheated on her with his current wife, Michelle Mangan, and was so full of rage during their marriage that she sometimes wondered if he was using steroids. ''Number one, my ex-wife is a great mother to my beautiful kids and she is going to remain that . . . But as for the story about [Mangan] being a homewrecker . . . I knew Michelle as a friend, but I didn't actually start dating her until [later.]. . . I thought Michelle was definitely the person I wanted to date. Who knew it would have ended up being a great thing." About steroids, Damon had this to say: ''[Vannice] questioned whether I had ever done steroids, and it was just a question . . . It was not a definite thing, but whenever you throw that word 'steroid' around these days, it doesn't get looked at well. As I've said many times, I've never done the stuff. It was offered to me when I was 13, and I said, 'No.' I just happen to be a freak of nature." Make that super freak. Damon, who'll appear on the cover of next week's Sports Illustrated, said he's proud of the book. ''It tells my story. It tells how I felt. Nobody else knows how I felt, and that summed it up pretty good."