College Times

Issue date: 4/9/09 Section: Blogs

Media Credit: Chuck Kennedy, McClatchy Tribune

This is how the police must feel when their most reliable contact for insider information is an entrenched crack-head.

He's not actually on crack, that we know of (unlike the '86 Mets), but Jose Canseco is just about as reputable.

Canseco is the clown of the sporting world, a former Major League Baseball MVP that's now a fixture on the celebrity boxing circuit and probably best known for the most ridonculous sports blooper of all time.

Problem is, Canseco is fast becoming a - gulp - credible source on the topic of steroids. Cast aside the fact that he himself duped fans and history by unabashedly juicing during his playing days for just a moment, and recognize this line of recent history:

In 2005, Canseco lent his expertise to a tell-all book, "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big." The book named names of fellow steroid users, claimed that up to 85 percent of big leaguers were juicing, and was universally poo-pooed by the baseball community and the general pop-culture collective.

At a congressional hearing later that year, major stars Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and others testified, most denying the use of steroids and none owning up to using. Later that year, Palmeiro tested positive for anabolic steroids.

In 2007, the findings of a government-sponsored inquiry into the possible use of steroids in baseball were published. 89 major leaguers were implicated in the investigation, many of which were cited in Canseco's book two years prior.

Canseco's 2008 follow-up, Vindicated, named more purported users - including Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens - but was largely brushed off as a spotlight grab for Canseco.

Lo and behold, Rodriguez has since been implicated and admitted using steroids over a three-year stretch and a former trainer has come forward with a story and convincing evidence that Clemens was chemically-enhanced for a big chunk of his career.

Now, Canseco says, even admitting that he doesn't have evidence, that he's 90% sure that Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez is on steroids.

Granted, it's difficult to take seriously a guy who once fought Danny Bonaduce (to a draw) in a celebrity boxing match. But it would be a mistake to completely dismiss the thoughts of a man, however toxic, who has been so right about a topic that's oh-so-wrong.

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