Freedom With A Price

Yesterday at Maryvale Baseball Park Ryan Braun spoke his first words on the allegations of the use of PEDs or another banned substance. At first Braun seemed nervous or apprehensive about speaking on this subject, but that quickly turned to what seemed to be restrained defiance. The voice coming out of Braun, for probably the first time in his career, was filled with anger and contempt at the way the situation was handled, the breaches in his personal privacy, and the media's willingness to run with half truths and fabrications.

Braun stated that he in no way ever had the substance in his sample in his body and I believe him. Other cases involving steroid use have ended with some giant slugger, or a pitcher with a tree trunk arm, giving some half-hearted apology about using steroids. Braun, not folding to public pressure, denied up and down that he had ever taken a banned substance, and sighted his consistency in his weigh ins, power, speed, and numbers over his career which show no spikes in performance metrics or body mass that may suggest the use of steroids. In fact, given the amount of testosterone that was present in the sample, and given the amount of time between the sample before that, it would stand to reason that we would have noticed a definite spike in production. Didn't happen.

But through the turmoil of accusation Braun has always held his head high. He spoke in the press conference about how this act would be against his character. Not only that but it would in effect destroy everything he has worked so hard to accomplish. He showed that more than his public perception, more than his effectiveness in the field, and more than his financial gain he would stand to lose, Ryan Braun is most worried about how he views himself and what he has done. That speaks volumes to me, because no matter what anyone will tell you ultimately we all do things for ourselves, or to try an follow a set plan or way of life we want for ourselves. Ryan Braun is accountable to the highest ruler in the court of opinion, the personal acceptance of the things you do.

We have to remember that this story was cooked up in ESPNs rumor mill, and tossed out to the MLB audience to start a feeding frenzy for more news and information on the Braun case. They plastered the airwaves for months afterwards, only cooling down when fans started to lose interest or phase them out because of media outlets reporting supposed sourced stories when they had no new information to print. Newsflash everyone in case you didn't hear Braun does NOT have herpes, so go get him ladies! But, that was just the tip of the journalism breakdown regarding Braun's case.

Even after the press conference, and even after the decision made by the arbitrator, the court of media opinion continues to try and paint Braun as a user. They claim that Braun found a loophole in the process and that is the only reason that he was exonerated. They claim that while every player on twitter and everyone interviewed is happy for Braun they will continue to throw him in the PED pile saying he just had good lawyers, or he beat the system. Not one player had a bad word to say about Braun, and the only reluctant voice was that of Prince Fielder who claims he knew nothing about the story except that it happened. A surprising voice was that of David Freese of St. Louis who said he knows Braun and knows that he was having a really hard time dealing with this so he was happy he won his case.

The bottom line is this, because of ESPN's inability to fact check and uphold certain standards in journalism a 28 year old outfielder who just won his first MVP award, and was an integral piece to a Division pennant for his club, is viewed by the casual fan as a cheater. I hope this story is relayed to kids coming up in sports to show them how a champion acts. Braun didn't blow up, he didn't fire back, he didn't acknowledge. Ryan Braun waited until it was his turn, said his piece, and opened himself up to questions in front of the same media members that have been muckraking half-truths for 4 months and his teammates sitting in the bleachers. Braun will keep his integrity because he did the right thing, and in his own mind he will know the truth, even if no one else believes him.

-Alex

Listener/Reader Poll Results

"Do you believe Ryan Braun?"

Yes: 80%

No: 20%

Stand By Your Man

I will never forget my close friend Aaron's 30th birthday party. Not just because it was landmark birthday for a dear friend of 10 years but because it was the night I felt like a kid again, when I learned their was no Santa Claus. That was my initial feeling and thought when a little before 7pm I seen the crawl at the bottom of ESPN on the muted TV flashed the breaking news. "Ryan Braun tested positive for PED's (of course ESPN called it PED's when in fact it was synthetic testosterone which is just a prohibited substance) in October and faces a 50 game suspension under the MLB drug testing policy." As people at the party were chatting and enjoying drinks and various hors d'oeuvres we quickly un-muted the TV to hear the horrible news. We were all in shock to say the least.

It wasn't long after that when the text messages and calls starting rolling in on my phone. Like I said, I was in shock, I felt like I just found out an awful secret that I never wanted to know. I felt, angry, mad, sad and almost betrayed all at once. But then I took a step back and thought about it. No way in hell Ryan Braun would do this. It's not possible. He is too smart, too good a guy and he would never let his family, friends, fans or the Milwaukee Brewers down like this. And I don't believe he did. Because something just is not right about this entire situation. And I plan to stand by Braun and feel he is innocent. I am fully in the #FreeRyanBraun movement that Vince at Miller Park Drunk has started. Even bought the shirt to prove it!

While Braun has not had a chance to speak publicly in a press conference yet because of the ongoing appeal, he has told people through text messages that it is "BS and he is 100% innocent." Various handlers of Braun have said the same. Saying things like "there has never been a case like this" and his positive test had very "unusual circumstances."

Another thing fishy about the test is that it found an insanely high level of testosterone, like too much for any human to have in their system. So it seems to be the entire situation is just not right. He did test positive, but the positive test seems to have a lot of oddness around it. And as soon as Braun was notified of the positive test, he asked for a retest. Sources close to Braun said the retest came back negative. However it is not clear if the retest was of the "B" sample of the original or a new sample that Braun gave at a later date. This is why people should not be jumping to conclusions that Braun is guilty. There is way to much stuff out there that points to his innocence and all the facts do not seem to be in yet. Not to mention the fact that Braun has undergone testing since he was drafted in 2005 and never once had a positive test. And that includes at least two tests during the 2011 regular season. So if you are one of the people calling for Braun to be stripped of his NL MVP award, just knock it off and come down from Mt. Pius. That is not happening nor should it.

Look, I might just be ignorant to the entire thing and I sure am a little biased. But I am going to stand by Ryan Braun through this ordeal and I do believe he is 100% innocent. Nothing he has done or said in his entire career point to him doing something like this. It's just not him. Everything he does he thinks about before he does it and is as smart and savvy as any athlete I have ever seen. So why would he take anything illegal or banned by MLB? And come on, Ryan even said it himself a few years back. If he took any PED's or steroids, he would hit 60 or 70 HR's. Last time I checked he never hit more than 37 in a season. Oh and one more thing, when Ryan is found innocent, I want those hacks at ESPN to issue public apologies and kiss Braun's ass. Fact is, none of us should know about this right now. Privacy was breached before this whole ordeal was wrapped up. It's bullshit. And expect Braun to play with a MASSIVE chip on his shoulder in 2012, monster year coming up and another division title for the Crew.

-Jason