A Tip from a Canary named Jose

I read recently where Albert Pujols got angry that his name was incorrectly linked to the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs and he banned a St. Louis television station (KTVI) because of this action.

The incorrect broadcast, Pujols told reporters, showed "50% of the things you guys write is not true, and I'm glad that happened."

KTVI had no comment. Of course, it's tough to speak with the proverbial foot in your mouth.

When I first skimmed across the article I thought, 'He's right.' Then I grabbed the book, I'm currently reading: Juiced. Wild times, Rampmant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball got Big, to reference how Jose Canseco says the writers and umpires have some sort of hold on the players that allows the writers and umpires a little kickback if the "smart" players play along.

He goes on to say that the umpires can make or break you on the field (small strike zone if you toe the rubber, big strike zone if you dig into the batter's box) the same way the media can make or break you with the public.

The media has reporters who give a modicum of truth and then it's up to the incapacious readers' confabulated imagination to create their own story. Sort of like taking a course in college and studying the highlightings of the lunatic who used the book before you.

Unfortunately, an apology cannot undue some people's reputations that may have been built on some of the wildest imaginations known to mankind.



Kevin Marquez