Posts tagged JoseCanseco at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Jeff Nowitzky sees all. He hears all. There is no transgression that goes uninvestigated, no morally questionable steroid-related behavior outside his purview. The latest target of his wrath is not just Roger Clemens -- he's turning his gaze toward Jose Canseco, and accusations that Canseco tried to blackmail players, namely Magglio Ordonez, into investing in Canseco's movie project in exchange for not being named as a user in "Vindicated."

Nowitzky is concerned about that alleged blackmail, and Jose Canseco's lawyer, Greg S. Emerson, sounds pretty scared:

Emerson said that left him concerned that the investigators may be declaring "open season on the messenger," meaning Canseco. "I don't know if that is happening, but that is what it looks like is happening and I don't like that one bit," he said. In several recent telephone interviews, Emerson made it clear how troubled he was that Novitzky asked whether Canseco had tried to solicit money from players who may have been fearful he would name them in "Vindicated."

Emerson is right to be fearful, for Lord Nowitzky's wrath is especially vindictive towards those lesser beings who do not cooperate with his investigations. Should those lesser beings chose the correct path -- cooperation -- and Lord Nowitzky is more than willing to provide a seat in His Dark Court. Is Lord Nowitzky not merciful?

This has been a crazy week for random baseball gossip, with Roger Clemens replacing just about everyone as public enemy #1. Not to be outdone, Jose Canseco would like everyone to know that he still exists. Unfortunately for him, it's only happening because his house has been foreclosed on. Of course, he doesn't seem terribly worried, probably because he's Jose Canseco.

"I've been out of the game for about eight or nine years and obviously this issue with the foreclosure on my home," he told "Inside Edition."

"I do have a judgment on my home and it to me is very strange because it didn't make financial sense for me to keep paying a mortgage on a home that was basically owned by someone else," he said.

He goes on to say that this isn't a problem for him, but he feels bad for other families that lose their houses and have nowhere to go. It's quite a nice sentiment from a guy that once offered to not implicate Magglio Ordonez in his latest book for money.

It's not really clear where Canseco's going at this point. Crashing with his agent that he's not paying? Moving in with his girlfriend? My guess is staying at the Super Eight until that totally someone in Hollywood recognizes the awesomeness of his Kung-Fu Baseball Ninja script. It's OK to joke about a guy losing his house if he's a total slimeball, right?

Where does Kirk Gibson's homer in the 1988 World Series rank? Top 10 baseball moments of all time? Top five? #1? Wherever you personally rank it: the drama is hard to deny. The greatest closer in the game -- Dennis Eckersley -- going toe-to-toe with a guy that could barely walk, but yet was the catalyst for the Dodgers' offense that season. Pinch hit, bottom of the ninth, 3-2 count. It really doesn't get any more dramatic than that.

So I welcome you to relive that moment -- with the tremendous Vin Scully on the call -- all with baseball cards. Up next? Recreating that infamous homer off Jose Canseco's dome. What say you, YouTube auteur?

Last night, the New York Times reported the feds would ask Jose Canseco who this "Max" character was -- the dude in Jose's latest book he linked as a steroid supplier to Alex Rodriguez. The meeting is slated for Tuesday. However, according to Sports Illustrated, they've already tracked down "Max." His name? Joseph Dion.

And he's not buying what Canseco is selling.

"That's really, really funny because I am the one person that hates steroids," Dion said. "I'm against it 100 percent. And, A-Rod, at the time that I trained him -- and this I swear to God -- was 100 percent against steroids. He was one of the hardest working guys, and most natural guy, that I've met in my life. He hated steroids. We talked about it."

[ ... ]

On Friday, Canseco returned a call from SI regarding Dion's claim but said, "Ask him to call me. I want to talk to him before I comment on it." An associate close to Canseco confirmed that Dion is "Max" in the book.

When Jose Canseco rush delivered his second juicy, gossipy, hey-everyone-look-I'm relevant-again steroid book, Alex Rodriguez was his biggest name implicated in some naughty PED business. Canseco didn't necessarily say he saw Rodriguez take anything, or that he himself injected Rodriguez -- just that he referred A-Rod to a dude named Max who had the hookup.

That's all we got: Max. (Probably not the dude's real first name.) No last name. No nothing, really. But that might all change Tuesday when federal agents have a nice little chat with Jose.

In particular, federal authorities want to know the identity of a steroid distributor that Canseco said he introduced to Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, according to a lawyer familiar with the matter.

It will be of interest o see just what Canseco reveals. Who knows if it will amount to anything. But think of this: what if Canseco provides a name of this dude and he corroborates Canseco's claims? And then the feds go to A-Rod next?

Could get interesting. Could get dicey. Yessir, it certainly could.

At first, all the Jose Canseco drama was somewhat amusing. Now...

It makes me want to punch my computer.

Every time I turn around, there he is! One minute he's talking about A-Rod trying to sleep with his wife, the next he's saying his life is in danger, now he's about to be sued, and I cannot so much as open FireFox without a Canseco article or YouTube video smacking me right in the face.

Thanks to the magic that is the cell phone video cam, a short interview with Canseco at one of his book-signing stops has surfaced on YouTube. He talks about Magglio Ordonez (no extortion sir, not one bit) and contains this gem:

There are polygraphs transcripts in this book that PROVEs that both books are 100% accurate

Enjoy!

PS: Indoor sunglasses totally screams "I am totally credible and I would never tell a lie."

For as much mud as Jose Canseco has slung at baseball's establishment the past few years, he's been met with little to no resistance in the form of legal threats of libel or slander. Well, his streak may be coming to an end, at least if you take White Sox GM Kenny Williams at his word.

Canseco indicated at a recent book signing that Williams was fully aware of players using steroids under his watch, an accusation that Williams both denies and resents. From the Chicago Tribune:

"It's very ironic because Mr. Canseco was in baseball obscurity and over the years when I heard him talk about baseball blackballing him, I never thought he was talking about me," Williams said Saturday in a deliberate tone. "I brought him back and gave him that opportunity. I guess this is his way of saying thank you."

[...] "I don't take too kindly to being called a liar," Williams said. "I'm pretty consistent in how I answer questions and do business. So I need to take a look and see from a legal perspective if I want to see how damaging those comments were. I'm not the guy you want to go down that road with because I'm more likely to come out swinging. I'll swing a lot harder than any punch you'll throw at me."

My guess at what's going to come of this? Absolutely nothing. Williams added that he'd settle this "behind the scenes" so as to not give Canseco's book any more publicity, but to me it seems like if he were truly interested in clearing his name he'd want to do so publicly. (I mean, can names even be cleared if it's not public?) So maybe Williams will work through back-channels to pressure Canseco into shutting up, or, more likely, Williams will talk to his lawyer, realize he can't do anything and then hope everyone forgets he was ever mentioned.

Jose Canseco's sordid saga goes on. Few have turned "snitch" into such a profitable, attention-laden gig, but Canseco is doing well enough with it that he has no reason to go away anytime soon. Unless, of course, They get him.

Who are They? (No, they're not Anonymous. Though that would be kinda cool.) Perhaps only Jose knows:

A courtesy cup of black coffee was waiting for Jose Canseco on Friday when he arrived at his seat inside a downtown bookstore to sign copies of his second tell-all about steroids and baseball, "Vindicated." Before Canseco took out a pen, he sent the beverage back.

"Who made this coffee? If you don't know who made it, you've got to dump it," Canseco snapped at a store employee. "No way they are going to get me."

Of course, the writer didn't include whether or not Jose had smoked any of his homegrown ditchweed before the signing, so who knows if Jose was just suffering from a little bit of self-induced paranoia. Because it's not as if anybody is going to kill ... oh. Right. Jose better hire some security.

It's almost like there's too much Jose Canseco to go around these days to the point that it's overwhelming. He has, essentially, taken society by storm. And while we all want to deny it, he's here to stay for a little while, at least until this whole steroids mess clears up. Wait, what? He might not be leaving? Nightmare.

I don't know about you, but I'm already kind of tired with Jose Canseco, his new book, and his friend Max (Whom I wouldn't be surprised to find out is just a talking squirrel that lives in a tree outside Jose's bedroom window.) Now that baseball has actually started, I'd rather focus on the game being played, not what's been injected into the players in the past.

So that's why instead of another story about Jose showing off his wife's assets, or being cornered in some bookstore bathroom, I'm just going to show you a video of Canseco that made me laugh. It's from a youth camp he conducted many many moons ago, and in it we learn something else about the dangers of steroids use: Apparently steroids lead to nervous twitches and awesome mullets.

This is just plain weird. Jose Canseco has been spouting off about steroids in baseball for so long that he's already written two books about it, but apparently for the first time ever, MLB finally decided it might be helpful to hear what he had to say. Two investigators for MLB arrived at a book signing of Canseco's on Monday at a New York Barnes & Noble to have a long overdue chat. From Brian Costello of the New York Post:

"I was really shocked," said Canseco, who signed his new book "Vindicated" for about 200 fans yesterday at the store. "I'm still trying to get over it." [...] The timing may seem a bit late, but the Department of Investigations was just established in January in response to the Mitchell Report, which was released Dec. 13. George Mitchell suggested the formation of the unit to look into any allegations of steroid use or possession.

"I don't really know what to make of it," Canseco said. "I don't know what their motives are. I'm definitely willing to help them out as much as possible and we'll see how it turns out. Maybe they are trying everything possible to clean up the sport and maybe I can help them in any way possible. I don't know. It's kind of strange. It was a shocker to me."

I don't care if the new department was just created, it's baffling to me that a guy with as much notoriety and fame as Canseco can spend three years lobbing accusation after accusation at the sport without someone within Major League Baseball's offices thinking, "Hey, maybe we should talk to this guy?" Better late than never, but I can't imagine Canseco has much more left to say that's not already available in hard-cover and paperback (unless, of course, he has plans for a third book.)

I'd imagine you're all just about as sick of Jose Canseco and his antics as I am at this point, but I've got one more for y'all, and this one's a doozy.

Jose "If YC Says She's Sick of Me One More Time, I will Put HER in My Next Book" Canseco took his crazy talk over to the radio this morning, KISW's BJ Shea Morning Experience, to be exact, and had some ... um ... less than kind (and hilarious) things to say about Curt Schilling:

[He's] a fool ... the biggest hypocrite, the biggest liar, the biggest exaggerator, I mean, Curt Schilling is a pathetic human being".

I know I just said I was sick of the man, but I'm actually much more disgusted by Schilling overall, so I'll tip my cap to Jose on this one! Comedy gold.

Mike and Mike played the full clip on their show this morning -- check it after the jump. Enjoy!

Your faithful FanHouse bloggers love reader interaction via the good ol' comments section that follows each post, whether y'all agree or disagree with what's written. In fact, we even enjoy reading the odd/off-the-wall comments; and by "enjoy" I really mean "giggle with glee upon reading."

The latest great reader comment comes to us in response to an article written by our dear MLB blogger Will Brinson. Yesterday he informed us all about Jose Canseco -- who, incidentally, is in the news yet AGAIN today, and lest you fret, I shall be posting that action shortly -- hanging up on WFAN during an interview with Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton after the two started asking questions about Jose's wife showing off her lovely breasts to Roger and Debbie Clemens (sidenote: WTF?).

Not surprisingly, the majority of readers agreed with Will's proclamation of Jose's insanity and commented to that effect:

Jose Canseco is a punk. He was an idiot during the interview. If you write a book slamming a MAJOR star of the game then expect to get tough questions thrown at you. He demands to be respected...for what? He's an idiot.

In response to that one came our Notable Comment!

you can call Canseco a punk or what ever but i'll bet you won't say it to his face cause he'd kick your b----hole up between your shoulders and make you like it.

Solid advice, actually. You'd have to be crazier than Jose himself to take him on face to face, and we salute you, commenter, for reminding us of just that.

Jose Canseco has to be completely and utterly delusional. If there is another explanation for why he thinks he was brought here to Earth to save the game of baseball, or for why he cannot understand when former athletes are not happy with his decision to keep writing tell-all books, I would absolutely love to hear it. And actually, I thought I might hear some of it when I listened to WFAN's interview with Canseco, in which Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton take a less than "cautious" approach to asking Jose questions about his new book, Vindicated.

Instead, Jose just abruptly got mad (sign!) when they queried about showing off his wife's breasts to Debbie and Roger Clemens and hung up the phone. Much to the delight of Boomer and Carton, actually.

It's a really funny interview, in fact, with such great hits as: "Your opinion doesn't count" (Jose to Boomer), "tell the truth" (what Jose's mission is) and "attack major league baseball back" (since they banned him from the game that he so clearly loves), "hypocrite, liar, politically correct" (all about Alex Rodriguez), and a slew of others.
Clearly the best though is Carton's decision to ask Jose about his financial situation, to which Jose's emotions immediately swing towards defensive (sign!) and he refuses to discuss how much money he has, instead focusing on his heartfelt need to tell the truth about baseball and restore the purity of the game.

At this point I could go off on some tangent about the dual personality nature (sign!) of Jose's "love affair" with baseball. Or I could do what Boomer and Carton did and laugh about him hanging up at the mention of "ta-ta's". Or I could just sigh and enjoy the fact that a new season of baseball is here, and whether Jose Canseco cares or not, we're all going to enjoy it. And really, the only way to take him any more seriously at this point would be if he made an appearance on a C-list ex-celebrity reality television show.

Ever since a blogger got his hands on a copy of Jose Canseco's newest tome, Vindicated, and wrote about the accusations Canseco makes against Alex Rodriguez and his possible steroid use, A-Rod has been keeping rather quiet about the whole thing. Despite the repeated questions he's getting on the subject, all anybody is able to get out of Rodriguez is generally a "no comment."

Not exactly a shock when you consider that A-Rod spends four hours a day in front of the mirror practicing his answers to any questions he may receive. The problem with Alex's approach is that since a lot of what Canseco said in his first book turned out to be true, a lot of people are mistaking Rodriguez's silence for guilt.

Of course, Canseco thinks A-Rod is staying quiet because he's frozen in fear of the mesh-shirt wearing extortionist.

Canseco is still reveling in the discomfort he's caused Rodriguez. Every awkward "no comment" from A-Rod gives Canseco great glee.

The best part, Canseco says in an exclusive interview at the Omni Berkshire in midtown, is that Rodriguez can't do anything about it. If A-Rod threatens to sue Canseco or goes on "60 Minutes" to attack his credibility, Canseco will respond with "Max," the Canadian steroid dealer he claims to have hooked A-Rod up with in the late 1990s. If Canseco is sued or attacked, Max - up to this point simply known as an unidentified .steroids supplier - will go public with everything he knows about A-Rod, says Canseco. This, Canseco adds, is not a war that A-Rod can win.

"I've got the ace in the hole," Canseco says with a laugh. "And he knows it. So there's no way that he's going to fight me. He's trying to make it go away."