baseball, Steroids

Thoughts on Ryan Braun’s Appeal

First of all, congratulations for 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun for being the first MLB player to actually win a PED (performance enhancing drugs) appeal. I was wrong- all other players went down, but Ryan beat the system. However, as I said on Skew Sports Talk when the story first broke:

Ryan Braun had two things going in his favor: 1) Bud Selig’s Brewers connection; and 2) it would have been a total black eye to the game. And heck, I’ll say it now: he’s a white dude with a sparkling reputation.

ryan braun bud selig

I don’t care what drugs guys use, and I don’t know if they actually increase performance, but the only legit counter is that if I was a player I may have felt forced to use drugs to compete, which has long term health ramifications. I know Generation X and Generation Y don’t care about it, but they are not The Establishment yet. It could be 20-30 more years before society as a whole totally accepts HGH, steroids, and other PEDs.

I read a conspiracy theory about how Braun  really had herpes or something, and is protecting his personal life by lying through his teeth. I don’t care.

I am tired of the witch hunts, character assassinations, Hall of Fame snubs, and just as importantly the privacy leaks.

All of that said, Ryan Braun was found “not guilty” based on a technicality. His urine sample was mailed in late. That’s it. Braun can’t explain why his testosterone levels were three times his normal level, so has blamed the handlers, even saying that his sample was tampered with. Will he press charges? Of course not.

Here’s an e-mail exchange between myself and DailySkew co-founder Tony Vahl:

TV: Did you hear Ryan Braun got some justice? Good for him. I’m happy someone beat back the Salem Steroid Witch Hunt. No idea if Braun is a good guy or a styling, profiling son-of-a-gun, but I don’t care. Sick of PEDs being evil. I guess athletes shouldn’t take aspirin if they have a headache, either. Whatever. Be sure to take spell check and editors from the BBWAA members. God forbid they should have any advantages or performance enhancers.

DH: From the legal standpoint, Braun got off because there really WAS an independent counsel who found him not guilty due to the delay of shipping the sample to the lab. The policy says it must be shipped within 24 hours unless there are special circumstances. So Ryan got off on a technicality, which is cool. But common sense says that such a delay would not have made the urine have three times the normal level of testosterone. Ultimately, Braun says that someone tampered with it. Alex Jones may be on the case, now..lol

TV: Well, Ryan is forever guilty in the “Court of public opinion”, i.e. the BBWAA Kangaroo Court. No more MVPs. I’m sure the Milwaukee fans will cheer for him, and opposing fans will probably give him the A-Rod treatment and Bronx Cheer.  So, he will pay for having the NERVE to be a better athlete, even if he is not suspended. Meanwhile, Manny Ramirez still has to serve out a 50 game suspension….Meanwhile, Bob Ryan just ate another hot dog….

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