Thoughts on Canseco & "Juiced"

Yesterday I listened to an interview on a local sports radio station in which former major league baseball player Jose Canseco attempt to defend himself for using steroids and his motives for writing his new tell-all book. The words disturbed, pathetic and sad come to mind.

I'm not a psychiatrist, and I've never played one on TV, but in my opinion, he sure does come across like a narcissistic whiner. On one hand he blames the media for treating minority Latino players unfairly, but on the other he's throwing fellow Latino players Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro under the bus by claiming they also used steroids.

But this is what I don't get: he apparently is still defending steroid use, and apparently doesn't see anything wrong with it. So why out the other guys for doing it Jose?

Sadly, everyone's going to rush to the bookstore to buy a copy just see what some angry, bitter, and vengeful guy has to say. He'll be rewarded with lots of dough, undeservedly. I wish everyone would rather exercise some restraint and let this whole thing die on the vine.

Not that I want to brush the steroids issue under the rug. On the contrary, I wish the heck the whole thing would get blown open, the guilty parties punished, certain players banned from baseball (as other athletes are banned in other sports like cycling or track & field). I want the book thrown at people who distribute and use steroids, even if that means some of my own heroes have to go down in flames. I want the integrity of the game restored, I want Roger Maris' home run record to stand, uncontested by juicing cheaters.

Maybe, as distasteful as he is, Mr. Canseco may play the role of "necessary evil" in the process of finally getting steroids out of baseball. Maybe it takes a wild cannon like him to bring more attention to the issue, to make people sick of all the garbage that's been going on.

Human nature being what it is, there will always be cheaters. I know there is a long, colorful list of ways to cheat: spitballs, scuffed and tarred balls and corked bats these are just some of baseball's venial sins. But physically modifying one's physique through illegal use of steroids has got to be a mortal sin where baseball is concerned. The slap-on-the-wrist approach taken by the current baseball commissioner is not a strong enough deterrent.

If I were the commissioner, it would go something like this. You get caught using steroids, you get banned for a season. Get caught again, get banned for two seasons. Three strikes: you're out, banned for life!