Imagine the consternation - you were the self-perceived pioneer of steroids in baseball. You helped the man who saved baseball juice up to his full potential; you saw he and others who followed in your wake celebrated and honored as you are vilified and (ultimately) laughed/unceremoniously shoved out of the game. So you publish a book and call them all out.
Great - the focus is back on you, with your giant ego and your nasty, sewer-rat stink. But then Congress (yeah, the US Congress - who would believe it?!) gets involved. They investigate - hey! some of that crap you spewed was true - they interrogate and are lied to, ignored and disrespected ("I have never used steroids. Period!" said Rafael Palmeiro as he hastily pocketed the needle sticking out of his ass; "No hablo inglés," said Sammy Sosa). Barry Bonds is suddenly on the doorstep of 755 and - surprise, surprise - everyone ignores you again.
Why be shocked? If they can ignore the first man to go 40-40, an MVP, why not a pumped-up, whistle-blowing, self-serving steroid advocate? But you were shocked; are shocked. And you needed a way to get some attention back. Don't they know you told the truth in your book? (in some parts, anyway) Don't they respect the fact that you were the only one to come "clean" about baseball's dirt?
No - because we know you did it for yourself. Not to clean up the game, not to tell the youth of America about the dangers of drug abuse - if that was the goal, why tell us steroids are good for you if used appropriately? It was a money-making ploy, and attention-getting play, and even if you told the truth we saw you for what you are.
And now, you want us to believe you have "stuff" on A-Rod - but you want us to wait for your new book to come out to find out precisely what this "stuff" is. Is it steroids? "Wait and see." And you want us to like you; you want us to believe you...
If you didn't pick up on this yet, Reader X, I'm not convinced on this one. If it is steroids, why not hint that? Hell, why not say that - it's bound to increase book sales. So I wouldn't really believe it, but here's the problem... Everyone's so scared of crossing themselves up by defending a cheater that even A-Rod's teammates and manager won't really say anything to defend him directly:
"I just hope he thinks about not ruining someone's life, marriage, or whatever he plans on doing," Damon said. "If that's what Jose Canseco wants to be remembered for, so be it.
"To me, Alex is a great teammate who will always respect the game, play the game right and work hard. He loves the game, so hopefully nothing that can ruin a family or something comes out. ... Hopefully (Canseco will) think twice about it."
Sure don't sound like denials or defenses. Sounds like a couple of guys hedging their bets. A-Rod himself had nothing to say, which is probably the best approach - don't dignify it with a response; if it's true you're a liar, if it's not there's no reason to engage.
But that's what Jose has really done - destroyed everyone's faith in baseball. From fans to owners to coaches to players, nobody wants to assume that anyone is clean. And that - not Bonds, not Canseco, not Selig - is where baseball's true problem lies. It's going to take an awful lot of work to earn that trust back - not just the trust of an outside group of fans, but trust within the great big locker room that is Major League Baseball.
How's that investigation going, George Mitchell?
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