If you’re a baseball fan you can’t be on the fence about Jose Canseco. Either you love him for pulling back the curtain and revealing the pervasiveness of doping in the sport in all its ugly glory, or you hate him for his generally unlikeable personality and attention-whoring ways.
There is no middle ground.
And in that spirit, folks will likely be equally divided on Canseco’s latest predicament. Not in whether or not they’re siding with him or against him, of course, but rather in whether they care or don’t care in the first place.
According to ESPN, Mexican Baseball League officials say that Canseco took a banned substance for which he supposedly had no prescription. Plinio Escalante, league President, insisted to ESPN Deportes that the substance was testosterone and also that Canseco admitted taking it.
The reason it’s important to both attribute the claims to who’s putting them out there and specifying that the claims are only half of this story is because, unsurprisingly, Canseco is denying any wrongdoing. He’s not denying taking testosterone, mind you, just any wrongdoing. Via his Twitter account:
How can I test positive when I never took any test don't believe everything the media tells you.the truth always comes out I am not using any illegal substance
Don't be so quick to judge till you here the truth that's a sure sign of ignorance hatred and jealousy
Didn't anyone watch the a and e special last shot Jose canseco about 5 years ago it went up for an Emmy
That will explain it all
The truth will always be in the center of controversy
I use nothing illegal that will be proven
Then, five hours later, we finally got to this:
All I am on is prescription medication for low testosterone .legal and very important for my health
U should all get checked for low testosterone over 40 .It leads to heart disease depression metabolic Syndrome diabetes cognitive disorders
So there you go. Canseco is on testosterone, but not in the bad way. Or something. It really doesn’t matter, nobody cares about his legitimacy as it applies to playing in a second-rate Triple-A minor league. The intrigue surrounding this latest Canseco scandal is there for the same reason it was there during his snitching heyday, his weird celebrity boxing career and unforgettable stint on the Surreal Life. He’s a walking, talking disaster.
In terms of actual on-the-field relevance, Canseco hasn’t played in the MLB 11 years. He hasn’t been good in the MLB 13 to 15 years. He’s just the sports equivalent of Snookie – excruciatingly cringeworthy in every sense and a little pudgy.
At a certain point you would think that dignity would stop this guy from consistently falling into these embarrassing traps, but this is just part of who Canseco is. He’s not content with the quiet life, he needs to be at the center of the storm raising havoc and making sure everyone is looking at him.
It’d be sad if we expected more of him. (We don’t.)
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