Although I still strongly disagree with his steroid usage, I found even more areas of Jose Canseco's life to be unrelated to steroid use after reading my next section of his book, Juiced. In chapter twenty one, Canseco describes several managers and players in the MLB whom he believes he has inside information regarding their images. Specifically, Canseco seems to value honesty as the most important trait in a manager. He sends out his respects to several players in the league as well mostly based on their work ethic. Contrary to the media's portrayal, Canseco had different views on several managers and players that many people would not expect.
In chapter twenty two, Canseco describes a return to his home country of Cuba. He detailed the experience as very enjoyable as he was able to bring joy to several people's lives in Cuba. Despite the changes in his home country, people gave Canseco respect that he did not seem to receive from people in his profession.
In chapter twenty three, Canseco describes perhaps the lowest point in his entire life. To make a long story short, Canseco was questionably charged with several accounts of abuse and eventually landed in prison. He describes the experience in jail as the worst in his entire life. Perhaps the worst effect the prison time had on Canseco would be his change in personality. Canseco writes that his personality shifted from easy going and nice to stern and overly serious.
In chapter twenty four, Canseco addresses more concerns the public has with steroids. He claims that steroids do not force psychological changes and or health issues as scientists have never proved any reasons to associate with the drug. Canseco details several players and describes their ties to steroids. Steroids were always used to increase the player's game, and Canseco never saw them as a risk if the drugs were used properly. Canseco believes there is always another reason behind a short life to a steroid user.
In chapter twenty five, Canseco describes the real reason he believed to be behind owner's discipline on steroid use. Canseco states that he was always an entertainer and one of the best athletes and baseball players in the world. Eventually, owners had to pay their players more and more money due to their increased production due to steroid use. The owners wanted more money back, so they decided to crack down on steroid use to decrease player's production. To crack down on steroid use, the owners sent a message to the entire MLB by kicking Jose Canseco, dubbed the godfather of steroids, out of the league. Canseco states that he believes the owners are selfish and do not care about the good of the game. Canseco ends the chapter by stating his beliefs that steroids will be in the game of baseball forever.
In the epilogue, Canseco tries to advocate steroid use to the reader. He describes benefits of steroids including sustaining life. He relates his personal health and life to encourage steroid use. He also aknowledges the fact that the analysts will always use biased to discourage steroid use. Overall, he tries to use his honest opinion to persuade the reader to use steroids.
After reading the next section of Juiced, I have learned that Canseco's book touches on several subjects unrelated to steroids. I believe that Canseco was put in difficult circumstances, such as his jail sentence, for reasons beyond his steroid use. I would never recommend steroid use, but I also believe that using the drug the way Jose used it would not cause the psychological, family, and personal life problems Canseco faced. I do not necessarily feel great pity for Canseco, but I do feel he faced some unfair circumstances. Other people could have been in Canseco's exact situations and had different, better results than him. I have always learned that I must never give a person a blatant reason to dislike me. Canseco's steroid use may have been one of these reasons. The public treated him unfairly, but he possibly could have relieved at least some of the criticism if he never used steroids. Of course, Canseco would disagree, and I look forward to hearing his opinion on my final section of reading in his book. In the epilogue, I found Canseco to be too abrasive. He directly advocated steroid use to his readers. Personally, as I have stated before, I will never use steroids. I believe Canseco is rather arrogant, perhaps not as much as the media portrayed him to be, but very opinionated. I would expect nothing less from Canseco to advocate steroid use as he used steroids and continues to use them today as far as I know. However, I personally wish his perspective was less biased in his book. In final analysis, I enjoyed reading about Canseco's perspective on steroids in his book, Juiced, even though I strongly disagree with his opinions.
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