Dueling polygraph tests?
Things get crazier and crazier in the shadowy world of baseball's performance-enhancing drug users.
Now Jose Canseco is challenging Mark McGwire to a polygraph test. On national TV!
Canseco, you may recall, is the guy who for all intents and purposes blew the whistle on MLB's steroid culture with his 2005 book "Juiced." Among the tidbits revealed by Canseco was that he injected McGwire in the butt with steroids in a locker room bathroom stall when both played for the Oakland A's.
Canseco was dismissed as a bitter loose-cannon when the book first came out. But over the years, much of what he wrote about 'roids and ballplayers has proven to be true.
Still, even after Big Mac's tearful admission to Bob Costas on the MLB Network Monday that, yes, he used steroids when setting all those home run records in the late 90's, McGwire still denies that Canseco shot him up all those years ago.
Canseco, apparently a sensitive fellow, takes this as a personal insult.
"He's calling me a liar again," Canseco said on "The Waddle and Silvy Show" on ESPN 1000.
But instead of challenging McGwire to a duel with pistols or a steel-cage match, Canseco wants Big Mac to take a polygraph test on national TV.
I say hook 'em both up -- in prime time. I bet the ratings would go through the roof. Hell, I'd watch it, that's for sure. Get Oprah or Katie Couric or Tom Brokaw to oversee things. Have a panel of lie-detector experts on hand to verify the results. Have it lead into your local news at 11.
And by the way, if I had to bet on who's telling the truth, my money wouldn't be on Big Mac.
I don't believe too much of what he's said all week.
Comments
Mr. McGuire is not here to test about the past. You know, as over-the-top as Canseco seemed when he published his first book, he is probably the most truthful of all of these guys. I'm especially nauseated when I hear that baseball is "cleaned up". Who actually believes that many of these guys are not doing the new "designer" steroids and HGH, all of which are currently undetectable, even with a blood test. I'm not buying it.
Posted by: MGB | January 13, 2010 12:09 PM
Polygraphs are useless. They don't detect lies, only measure stress. There are many factors that can cause a "lie" result, as I can attest from personal experience.
Soviet spies were taught how to beat the polygraph, back in the day. One technique is to clench one's sphincter during each question, a gesture that is both effective and appropriate.
Posted by: Robin | January 13, 2010 12:13 PM
Great idea...let 'em be the pre-fight entertainment for Mayweather / Pacquiao fight....oh, shucks just remembered...the Pac man has insisted on passing drug tests...too bad!
Posted by: Dennis | January 13, 2010 12:53 PM
The problem is that Canseco believes his lies so thoroughly that he can pass the polygraph even though no one else lives on his planet.
Posted by: mstrchef13 | January 13, 2010 1:51 PM
i believe jose, ex major
league players out of the league
are mad at jose for telling
the truth....
rickey henderson who played
with jose, said one thing
about jose he does not lie...
mcgure more than likely did
shoot steroids on the premesis
of the oakland coliseum with
jose's asssistance...
mcguire is coming clean because
st louis and mlb told him to
so he can get back into baseball..
thing is, he is not coming
away too clean.......
Posted by: bob m | January 13, 2010 6:23 PM
Really, I don't have a problem with these people doing steroids. With all due respect to the idiots out there, steroids are NOT going to make up for a lack of natural talent in a sport.
I.E. they will only make you BETTER than you were BEFORE taking the steroids. if you stunk on ice beforehand, you will still stink on ice even when taking steroids, and everyone with a brain knows this fact.
Posted by: Abresh | January 14, 2010 2:42 AM
Canseco said that he would only do it if it were Pay Per View and he got 60% of the gross and he was allowed to wear a ball cap and NASCAR type outfit with sponsors decals on it for additional revenue.
Posted by: Coach | January 14, 2010 7:23 AM