Canseco Takes a Bat to McGwire's Apology

If former Oakland A's slugger Mark McGwire thought his mea culpa steroid interview with Bob Costas was going to put the whole 'roid business behind him, his ex-teammate Jose Canseco just pricked a hole in that idea. Canseco is pushing back that McGwire is still lying, and he's even challenging McGwire to a polygraph test.

"I've watched McGwire's interview on Bob Costas," Canseco told "The Waddle & Silvy Show" (good gig, Jose!) on ESPN 1000. "It's ironic and strange where Mark McGwire denies that I injected him with steroids. He's calling me a liar again."

"I've defended Mark, I've said a lot of good things about him," Canseco insists. "But I can't believe he just called me a liar."

McGwire does not literally use the word "liar" in the interview. But he displays rage, and gets indignant when Costas repeats the allegation, verbatim from Canseco's 2005 book "Juiced", that "what we (McGwire and Canseco) did together, more times than I can count, was go into the bathroom stall together to shoot up steroids."

 "There is absolutely no truth to that whatsoever." McGwire told Costas, in brusque remarks still available on MLB.com. "I couldn't be more adamant about that."

"He had to sell a book," McGwire sneered at Canseco's allegations. It's at the point of the interview right before McGwire heroically fakes tears to express how sorry he is.

Canseco is having none of this, and he wants to escalate this thing into some awesome reality television feud. "I want to challenge him on national TV to a polygraph examination," Canseco tells Waddle & Silvy. "I want to see him call me a liar under a polygraph examination."

MAURY! MAURY! MAURY! MAURY!

There is a justified tendency to not take Jose Canseco very seriously. He married a gal who served him at Hooter's. He did a cable television show with Jenna Jameson called "Stripper's Ball". He celebrity-boxed Danny Bonaduce.

But say this much for Canseco -- he came clean without being forced, he never backtracked, and has never had to change his story when additional details came forward. While eccentric, he may be historically the most honest of all the players who have admitted using performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

"Listen guys, I'm tired of justifying what I have to say. I've polygraphed. I've proven that I'm 100% accurate." Canseco told ESPN 1000. "I've never exaggerated. I'm the only one who has told it the way it actually happened."

He has, at least, stuck to his original story.

Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who thinks McGwire just doesn't want to admit he went into a men's room stall alone with Jose Canseco.

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