What's It All About?

I'm not sure if this is a sports-related blog entry, but it does concern the antics of one professional athlete. It could be a social commentary, since professional athletes often provide us with examples both good and bad of behavior off the field. On the field, this gentleman distinguished himself initially by beating the heck out of baseballs for the Oakland Athletics. It turns out that one of the reasons he was he was able to generate so much offense for the A's was because he was, in his own words, "Juiced." Jose took steroids to make himself a better athlete. The drugs he took may have made him a better player, though there is some debate about exactly how good a baseball player he ever was. What is certain is that while the drugs may have improved his athletic performance, it probably didn't make him a better human being.
Recent events remind us of the perils of looking to professional sports for role models, but if we're looking for examples, Jose Canseco might be best suited for the "bad" category. That whole cheating and then bragging about it business aside, he might still make the Darwin Awards short list for shooting off his own middle finger while cleaning his gun. There may be some poetic justice in the seemingly coincidental obliteration of his middle digit, since that seemed to carry a good deal of his attitude toward the rest of the world. Imagine then how the relief he must have felt when surgeons were able to reattach Canseco's bird to its flipping mechanism.
Until this past week. Jose's surgically reattached finger fell off during a poker tournament. Fell off. What was Jose's reaction? He tweeted about it. A number of times. Ha, ha. More funny stories for the fans. Maybe not "funny-ha-ha," unless you happen to be pointing a finger at him, preferably one that had not been hastily stitched back on by a doctor whose skills may or may not have been enhanced by steroids. How else could it be explained? Maybe a lack of fingers would eventually limit Mister Canseco's access to social media. So maybe this blog entry turns out to be one about responsible use of social media. One thing is certain: steroid use does not promote decision making skills nor does it appear to help in the regeneration of missing body parts. So this one, it appears, is all about science.