- I used to be at least partially in Jose Canseco’s corner. After many details in his first book proved to be true, I was willing to overlook his shady motivations for writing said book and accept that he might be telling the truth on many issues in the tome. Now….let’s just say I’m no longer in Jose’s corner. To clarify, I’ve been among the many who’ve felt that he’s a disgusting, despicable, self-serving sleazeball all along, but up ‘til now I was willing to get past those traits because in his first book he said things that, regardless of their motivations, were true and spurred a lot of necessary inquiry and debate in baseball. However, with the release of his second book, “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,” Canseco has made the leap from loathsome-but-mildly-credible jerk to totally reprehensible, duplicitous jerk that I don’t believe. It all started with rumors before the release of this second book that Canseco was trying to shake down various players and former players for money to finance a movie project by threatening to include them in this book in a negative light if they didn’t pay up. Amazingly, Detroit Tiger Magglio Ordonez was alleged to have been one of those Canseco hit up for money and after Ordonez reportedly refused, he ended up being named in Vindicated. Conversely, Roid-ger Clemens, one of Canseco’s buddies and someone who reportedly has helped Jose out financially, is painted in a favorable light in the book and in interviews Canseco is now giving. In other words, Jose looks like someone who may tell the truth sometimes, but only if it benefits him directly, and he’s willing to obscure or fabricate the truth if spurned. One situation that would seem to fall into the latter category is one involving New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez has earned a whole chapter of ripping in “Vindicated: Big Names, Big Liars, and The Battle to Save Baseball,", but Wednesday he refused to address allegations by Canseco, who claims he introduced the three-time MVP to a steroids dealer. “It's over as far as I'm concerned,” Rodriguez said Wednesday after his New York Yankees lost 4-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies. "No further comment on the matter. I'm just excited to be playing baseball." In the book, Canseco claimed he introduced Rodriguez to a steroids dealer named Max. Excerpts from the book, slated for publication on April 1, were posted on deadspin.com before being removed Wednesday. Canseco claims that Rodriguez approached him years ago and inquired as to where “one” might acquire steroids. However, during an interview to be broadcast Friday on ABC's "Nightline," Canseco stonewalled and said that he won't produce evidence to back his claim. “The timing's not right,” Canseco said, according to excerpts released by ABC. “Let's see how Alex reacts. Let's see if they all call me a liar again. How's that for you? Let's see if all of a sudden they're going to call me a liar again.” What the frak? Whether or not you provide evidence to back up your heinous allegations depends on whether someone you fingered will call you a liar? That’s not how it works, Jose. The irony here is that if you can actually provide credible evidence that you’re telling the truth about A-Rod, it would send sales of your book through the roof. I don’t even like A-Rod in general and I’m siding with him on this one, so you know it’s bad what Canseco is doing. You may be loaded and have signed two of the biggest contracts in MLB history, A-Rod, but if you decide to sue Canseco for defamation of character and libel, put me down for $10 bucks to fund your attorney for the case, just so I can say I was a part of shutting up that sleazy, slimy, lowlife bastard Canseco.
- All in all, last night’s episode of Smallville was phenomenal, one of the two or three best of the season. The arrival of BRAINIAC, the Brain Interactive Construct, at the Kent Farm set everything in motion. BRAINIAC, also known as Dr. Milton Fine in previous stints on the show, popped up at the farm and tried to talk Clark’s cousin Kara into helping him with some mysterious project he claimed would allow her to go back and save everyone she loved who died when Krypton wad destroyed. Kara refused despite BRAINIAC’s mind games and Clark showed up on the scene to provide some, um, physical coercion for BRAINIAC to leave. The man/computer did, but not before warning Clark and Kara that they would eventually cooperate with him and had they done so from the start, they could have avoided getting hurt. As BRAINIAC takes off and flies into the atmosphere, Kara worries that although she can fly like BRAINIAC, Clark can't. She undertakes the challenge of teaching him to fly, but a frustrated Clark pulls the plug and insists that his time would be better spent trying to track down BRAINIAC, who seems to have vanished into thin air. He goes to Chloe for help and together they start looking for massive power anomalies around the world, which are signs that BRAINIAC has been at a location to refuel with the power he needs. Clark is horrified to learn that one such outage has taken place within the past few hours in Metropolis, near Lana’s Isis Foundation office. He super-speeds over to the office, only to find Lana gone and only Lionel Luthor around. Clark ignores Lionel’s pleas to listen to a warning about impending danger, insisting that Lionel is the same sleazy, dishonest man he’s always been. Lionel leaves behind something at Isis, an envelope for Lana that he hopes will help prove his innocence in the death of Patricia Swann, who died at the end of last week’s episode. It’s one of the reasons Clark no longer trusts him, but Lionel hopes that Lana can help prove his innocence by linking the man who killed P. Swann to Lionel’s’ son Lex. Of course, Lana isn’t going to be helping anyone because when BRAINIAC visited her, he did something to corrupt her central nervous system and make her basically catatonic. She can speak only programmed Kryptonian messages, her eyes are glassy and glazed over and she can't communicate outside of the messages BRAINIAC sends through her. In a rooftop meeting with Clark and Kara, BRAINIAC reveals that she can feel pain and is in great agony, but she cannot communicate those things. BRAINIAC claims that if Kara agree to help him with his mystery project, he will release Lana from her neurological prison, so she agrees and off they fly into the outer reaches of space. Doing a little flying of their own are Lois and Jimmy Olsen, who are in search of a big story to impress their new boss, Lex, at the Daily Planet. They believe Patricia Swann’s death is directly linked to Lionel, so they press him. He denies it but realizes that part of their claim is problematic because it involves a locket ripped from Swann’s dead body. The locket contains one of two keys to a safe-deposit box at a bank in Zurich where Lionel and the other members of his Veritas secret society hid information they believed would allow them to control the Traveler, the code name they assigned to the outer space visitor who turned out to be Clark Kent. Lionel has one of the keys, but Lex found the other one in the locket he had stolen from Swann’s body after having her killed. Coupled with the discovery of that key is the fact that Lex has been regaining some long-suppressed childhood memories ever since being shot in Detroit while tracking down Kara Kent. Part of what Lex remembers is playing hide and seek with Patty Swann and other children of Veritas members and stumbling across a secret meeting between members of the group when they were discussing the Traveler. Lex also recalls a visit to his father’s office the day of the meteor shower in Smallville that changed his life so dramatically. During that visit, Lionel learned of the deaths of Oliver Queen’s parents, both members of Veritas. One of Lionel’s men gives him one of the keys to the safe-deposit box. Lex realizes that the other key he needs to open the box is in the possession of his father, so that’s his next move. Clark’s next move, meanwhile, is visiting the hospital where Lana is being kept now in her catatonic state. He needs to find Kara and BRAINIAC as well, but has no leads on them. There will be no new episodes the next two weeks, so the story will be on hold here until April 17, stay tuned…..
- To be honest, I’ve always been skeptical of visiting Japan. After all, centuries of historical architecture, amazingly modern cities like Tokyo, great cuisine and some kickin’ professional baseball just aren’t enough. Even geographical marvels like Mount Fuji weren’t enough to push me over the edge, but I think I’ve finally found something that will: a praying Buddhist Chihuahua. It’s true, Conan the Chihuahua joins his master, priest Joei Yoshkuni, at the altar at Naha’s Shuri Kannodo temple daily. The 1½ -year-old pooch sits up on his hind legs and puts his paws together, mimicking the pose he sees from his owner and parishioners. According to Yoshkuni, Conan goes through his prayer routine before morning and evening meals, a trick that has drawn in a lot of tourists. “Word has spread, and we are getting a lot more tourists,” he explains. Great, because that’s why you want to book a ticket to Tokyo, to see a praying Chihuahua. Never mind the hundreds of other great places and landmarks to visit in the country, just head straight for Naha’s Shuri Kannodo temple once you land at the airport.
- Disgraced political leaders don’t just reside in the state of New York. No, you can also find this not-so-rare creature in its natural habitat in the city of Detroit. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick followed up on New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s hooker scandal with his own indictment on eight felony charges, including perjury, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. Kilpatrick’s former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, 37, was hit with many of the same charges, all stemming from their alleged intimate relationship in 2002 and 2003. Both of them denied the relationship under oath, which appears to have been a lie from the start. Lying under oath…just ask Roid-ger Clemens and Bar-roid Bonds what kind of problems that can cause. For now, Kilpatrick is refusing to resign and vowing to remain in office, but the spectacle of a presiding mayor being put on trial for eight felony charges may force his hand on that one. Way to lead and set an example for your constituents, K., you are truly a shining light of integrity and honor in office.
- When you’re just graduating from high school, figuring out your next move is difficult. Where do you want to go and what do you want to do with your life? For some of us, that question is answered by life and circumstances, such as being sent to jail for several years due to your role in a February 2007 bank robbery. That’s the plight of Ashley Miller, 19, and Heather Johnson, 19, the so-called “Barbie bandits,’ who were sentenced this week for their part in the heist that netted $11,000 from a bank in Marietta, Ga. The pair were seen wearing sunglasses and laughing in security footage during the robbery and went on a shopping spree afterward. Miller was hit with a 10-year sentence but will have to serve only two, while Johnson will have 10 years of probation. Benny Allen - who was a teller at the bank and was part of the plan - was sentenced to 10 years and will have to serve five. Michael Chastang, another co-defendant, will be sentenced soon. But on the bright side, Miller and Johnson are going to have some bitchin’ stories to tell at their first high school reunion….
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