Jose, I can see: the great author Canseco sure is deep—deeply jealous, bitter and hypocritical

It is in this period of time between football and baseball that I rest. Consider it my gift to you, the television sports fan.

If you are tired of hearing me talk, as I am, feel free to take a pass on this article--because my voice will come through loud and clear as I make my observations this March of 2005.

It would be far too easy to write a column filled with my picks to click in this upcoming baseball season now that spring training has begun. That would be boring, pointless and basically stealing from this magazine. It is too easy to say the Yankees are loaded and the Mariners are better as well as broker. It is simple to pick the Braves to make it 14 straight division titles while also pointing out that the Marlins may be the most well-rounded club in the National League. Who cares about my preseason guesswork? Not me.

What I care about this spring may not be what you care about. I do not care to dissect Jose Canseco's innermost thoughts. Why? In the legal world, Canseco's statements would be considered impeachable. Even Marcia Clark could destroy him on the witness stand. He lacks credibility because of what he stands to gain monetarily from his book deal.

Jose is a guy who feels he was blackballed from the game for whatever reason (certainly not because his skills had diminished so much he had a total of only 31 home runs in his final two years and no ability to play a position). Think he built up any animosity or jealousy as he had to stand on the sidelines with the rest of us while guys he played with and against were in historic home run chases and getting major metropolitan streets named after them?

Oh, yeah, and he is broke. Pawning his Yankees World Series ring from 2000? What would you pay for Canseco's jewelry from that classic against the Mets? He had as many hits as my grandma did in the Series and one more strikeout.

If he wants to be considered a hero, he should mark the time he started taking steroids and give back the money he made from that point forward from the game he is trying to destroy. I have a real problem with a guy who admits to having cheated, benefited from cheating as he made millions and then, because he is bitter and needs to sell a book, turns around and tries to take down everyone he can. Even such guys as Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, whom he admits he barely knows.

He is just "guessing" who is guilty, outside of a handful of guys, because of his trained, always blinking eye. It's too depressing. I just hope someone on his hit list is clean so he can take on Canseco legally. How will Jose try to raise that money? Sell organs? Not his own; they're tainted. I mean Baldwins and Hammonds at the mall.

These days, I would much prefer a conversation about the movie Napoleon Dynamite. Or to read the transcript from Bonds' first spring training news conference. Now that was funny. Who wrote that, Ezra Pound? And how about the whole A-Rod-Red Sox war of words? Good stuff. Seeing another movie trailer that features Uma Thurman asking John Travolta to dance? Magic. Those are happy things. But then again, what do I know? Remember, I am not a journalist. Hey, did you hear Randy Moss got traded?

COPYRIGHT 2005 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning