Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Bruan recently issued an apology statement for his use of performance enhancing drugs (P.E.D.s). He acknowledged and apologized for his denial of P.E.D. use, and his conduct through the ordeal, including inflammatory statements about the urine sample collector and the Major League Baseball Drug Program. It was received as well as any written, prepared apology could be. It's a first step, but nothing that was broken has been fixed.
Braun is the latest in a long line of once-loved star athletes who ran afoul of public opinion. The trend has spiked sharply upward this past summer, with the drama of New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez's P.E.D. investigation discipline and the murder indictment brought against former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez.
Today's retweet, by Gucci Bane La Flare (@BoyNamedTawanda), is a clever play on words regarding this trend:
"Aaron Hernandez Ryan Braun A-Rod OJ and Barry Bonds gotta dress like pimps and spoof the “playa haters ball” with the “hated players ball”"
Ryan Braun is having a rough year. First, he is suspended for 65 games for alleged P.E.D. use in the MLB Biogenesis investigation. Then public figures, like Aaron Rodgers, quarterback of the NFL's Green Bay Packers, distance themselves from him publicly. Now, a 29-year-old former best friend of Braun is suing him for defamation.
BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! The former friend, Ralph Sasson, claims in his suit, among other unflatering allegations, that Braun cheated on, in essence, every woman in his life, including his current fiancee, the lovely Ms. Larisa Fraser. In essence, Bruan has been, suspended, disgraced, tainted his 2011 National League Most Valuable Player award, apparently been exposed to have cheated baseball, and now is accused of cheating on his woman. Oh boy would I like to be a fly on the wall at Casa de Braun tonight!
Today's retweet is straight to the point. By Carlos Alonzo (@Ceeelow4):
Alex Rodriguez is like the gift that keeps on giving to sports journalists, broadcasters, and bloggers. The traditionally slow summer sports news cycle has been a little fast because of him and all of the sensational twists involving Rodriguez and the MLB investigation into performance enhancing drugs (P.E.D.s) distributed by the now closed Biogenesis anti-aging clinic. Now, in addition to being a juicer, A-Rod is allegedly a rat.
ESPN reported that a 60 Minutes report will claim that Rodriguez's associates leaked information to Yahoo! Sports this past winter that implicated Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun (.298, 9 HR, 38 RBI) and Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli (.269, 3 HR, 8 RBI, 17 GP), his teammate. Both of those players are serving suspensions for their involvements with Biogenesis.
His teammate? That would be pretty low. Through his attorneys, Rodriguez is denying the allegations. Still, the public isn't holding its breath regarding Rodriguez's integrity.
Today's retweet is from Peyton's Head (@PeytonsHead):
"Has A-Rod never heard the saying "Snitches get stitches"?"
He didn't even rat out Jason Varitek (right, whipping A-Rod's ass). Could you imagine what his own teammate might do?
Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun (.298, 9 HR, 38 RBI) was suspended for the remainder of the 2013 regular season. Braun is suspected of use of performance enhancing drugs in connection with the Biogenesis anti-aging clinic investigation. Braun reportedly reached an agreement similar to a plea deal with baseball to avoid disclosure of the evidence in question and a possible longer suspension resulting from arbitration.
He will be spending more time at home no doubt. His fiancee is model Larisa Fraser, the subject of today's Chick Pic. That sounds like a sweetheart deal that Braun cut with MLB.
I'm sure he cries himself to sleep every night she's there with him. 1
If there were ever a better time for Braun to take a vacation to the beach.... 2
How can she show her face in public again? 3
4
She's holding a box with a bow. Braun's gift in life? 5
Milwaukee Brewers left fielder and 2011 National League Most
Valuable Player Ryan Braun (.298, 9 HR, 38 RBI, 61 GP) was suspended for the
remainder of the 2013 regular season under an agreement with Major League
Baseball for a violation of its drug program. The violation stems from evidence
obtained in the investigation into the now closed Biogenisis anti-aging clinic
in Florida. Several high profile MLB players have been linked to the clinic
through media reports including Braun, New York Yankees third baseman and
former American League M.V.P. Alex Rodriguez (DNP in 2013), and 2011 American
League Championship Series M.V.P. Nelson Cruz (.275, 23 HR, 70 RBI) of the
Texas Rangers.
Dikembe Selig A.K.A. Bud Mutumbo? 2
UPPING THE ANTE
The dominoes are falling hard and fast. However, the first
to fall may be the hardest. Braun reportedly faced a 50 game suspension at the
beginning of the 2012 regular season for allegedly failing a performance
enhancing drug (P.E.D.) test in late 2011. Braun doubled down on his reputation
with an emphatic denial of the legitimacy of the reports, using phrases like,
“I would bet my life,” and evoking all of his values that he has from his
“twenty-eight years on this planet”. Many met Braun’s denial with skepticism
until, days later, his drug test was discarded due to a chain-of-custody
violation by the specimen collector. No positive test…no suspension…no
violation of the MLB drug policy on Braun’s record.
Critics of Braun were quick to point out that he “got off on
a technicality”. But he did get off. And he was proactive in defending his
(formerly) good name. Maybe he didn’t do it. Maybe the specimen collector did
make a mistake. The circumstances were suspicious, but Braun was acquitted in
the MLB court and raised reasonable doubt in the court of public opinion.
It's not just a river in Egypt.
LESSON FROM O.J.
While Braun was never accused of an actual crime, his
alleged use of P.E.D.’s cast a shadow over his image. I don’t want to compare
the seriousness of a double-murder to trying to get an edge in a game, but from
a public image standpoint, and a standpoint of consequences, there are some
parallels between Braun’s fall from grace and that of Pro Football Hall of
Famer O.J. Simpson. In both instances, the accused learned nothing from the
first near-miss.
It appears, with the benefit of hindsight, that both “did
it”. O.J. Simpson was acquitted in large part due to several instances of
evidence contamination with key pieces of evidence and significant flaws in the
prosecution’s strategy. In other words, failures by others played a heavy role
in raising reasonable doubt of Simpson’s guilt and eventual acquittal.
Ryan Braun’s positive test was thrown out because the person
who collected Braun’s urine specimen failed to adhere to specified
chain-of-custody requirements. A failure by the individual in charge of
collecting Braun’s tested specimen failed and no discipline could be
administered to Braun. In addition, Braun acted
like a falsely accused person when the story broke and shortly thereafter,
there was a significant problem with the means by which suspicion was cast upon
Braun.
None of us have the benefit of hindsight in the present.
That’s why it is called “hindsight”. Additional information crippling Simpson’s
credibility was available to the public in O.J. Simpson’s wrongful death civil
suit (much from The Juice’s own testimony) and Simpson’s own actions (like
writing a book that may have been potentially incriminating prior to his
criminal acquittal). Most of the American public, me included, (as expressed
through scientific opinion polls) feels confident that Simpson was complicit in
the murder of his ex-wife and her friend.
Los Angeles Dodgers centerfielder Matt Kemp was second in 2011 N.L. MVP voting. 5
Criminal Adventures of O.J. Simpson
It appears that Simpson (at least in the criminal court) got
away with murder and knew he got away with murder. Conducting multiple
interviews on national television, writing a book called, “If I Did It”, and
generally keeping himself in the public eye - attempting to recover
unrecoverable shreds of his standing with the American public (which was as
high as the standing of any retired athlete prior to his arrest for murder) - only
served to further erode Simpson’s reputation.
The coups de gras for Simpson was his ill-fated decision to
retrieve memorabilia that he alleged was stolen from him. Simpson and other
accomplices burst into a hotel room in Las Vegas with firearms to retrieve the
merchandise. Simpsons was arrested, tried, and convicted of armed robbery and
kidnapping and is now serving a minimum of nine years in a Nevada state prison
for his role in the incident.
In a vacuum, the case against Simpson in Nevada was not cut-and-dry,
with substantial circumstantial evidence. However, after getting away with
murder (allegedly), there was no jury in America that could be completely
unbiased, try as they may. Simpson escaped prison by the narrowest of threads
in the mid-1990s and the events in Las Vegas were far more than enough to snap
those threads in the eyes of the public and the criminal justice system.
Simpson, knowing he got away with murder (or – in the most
favorable light possible – knowing that the public thinks he got away with
murder) should have vanished…disappeared…been as quiet as a church mouse. He
should have treaded as softly as possible in every aspect of his life.Instead, he kept himself in the public realm
and remained among America’s top pariahs for more than a decade and then had
the nerve to test his fate in the criminal justice system again. Simpson met his rock bottom point in life in spite of
countless opportunities to avoid it.
One the slow ride home after he was acquitted, O.J. should have kept going....far, far away! 3
P.E.D. Adventures of Ryan Braun
It appears that Ryan Braun got away with using P.E.D.s and
knew it throughout the ordeal. Proclaiming his innocence using emotionally
charged references while attempting to assassinate the integrity of the
specimen collector and the MLB drug program only heightened the stakes of Braun
salvaging his reputation to “feast-or-famine”.
I am not clear on the timeline of Braun’s alleged dealing
with Biogenisis, but it either happened before or after the discarded P.E.D.
test in 2011. If it took place before, Braun would have been best served to say
absolutely nothing. American sports fans have short memories when the flames of
controversy are unfueled and unfanned. If it took place afterwards, Braun
climbed to the apex of arrogance, after avoiding an official and public black
mark on his record by the most fortuitously timed of errors in his favor.
Regardless, Braun had the nerve to return fire at people who
were simply doing their jobs, knowing he had no actual ground to stand on
should all of the truth be revealed. The evidence against Braun in the
Biogenesis case was on the testimony of others without any smoking gun (i.e. no
positive drug test). Braun had 15 games tacked on to the standard 50 game
suspension for a first violation of the MLB drug program because of his actions
in the wake of the discarded 2011 test.
Braun’s credibility is permanently damaged with the public
and among his peers. In contrast, Texas Rangers system outfielder Manny Ramirez
(career .312, 555 HR, 1831 RBI) is no stranger to drug suspensions. Ramirez he
was first busted early in the in 2009 season while with the Los Angeles Dodgers
in the thick of a pennant race. Ramirez, true to form, offered no denials and
gave a response that said, to me, “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”
Critics could say a lot of things about Ramirez but
disingenuous was not one of them. Upon his return from suspension, Ramirez’s
popularity among Dodgers fans (dubbed “Mannywood”) was as high as ever. Dreadlock wigs, emulative of Ramirez, were
ubiquitous at Chavez Ravine all the way through the end of the Dodgers run in
the first round of the 2009 National League playoffs.
Braun showed (feigned) indignation. He played the victim and
took advantage of the incompetence of others to sell his role as the wrongly
accused to the public. Some people bought his act, especially his fans in
Milwaukee.
Braun won the 2011 N.L. MVP over a competitive field, including then-teammate Prince Fielder. I wonder if Fielder would have connected knowing what we all know now. 4
THE OTHER SHOE
Braun’s situation arguably elicits the most contempt among
fans, writers, and players. However, he is not alone. A-Rod’s situation has yet
to be resolved but, from all accounts, he can expect to be hammered for at
least 50 games. Nelson Cruz and Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Bartolo
Colon (13-3, 2.52 ERA) are possibly among those who can expect an unwelcome
letter from the Office of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Braun is not the first player to do what he did. He was not
the only one doing what he did when he didn’t. He won’t be the last player to
do it. The stench from the fallout in his case, caused by how he handled it,
may follow him for the remainder of his career.
The silver lining: Braun can spend a lot more time with his fiancee', model Larisa Fraser. 1
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Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and reigning National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Bruan won a first, ever, appeal of a Major League Baseball drug suspension. Braun was suspended for 50 games for violating MLB’s performing enhancing drug (P.E.D.) policy, allegedly submitting a urine sample that revealed testosterone at 20 times the normal level. An arbitrator found that chain of custody protocol in handling urine samples was not properly followed.
When this story first broke, late last year, Braun immediately maintained his innocence. Mike and Mike in the Morning of ESPN Radio reported that Braun requested a DNA test to prove that the sample that tested positive was not his. Major League Baseball declined to conduct such a test. Reportedly, that factored into the arbitrator’s decision.
MLB MESSED UP
Dozens and dozens of high profile baseball players have been busted for using PEDs. Nearly all of them, eventually, have either confessed to P.E.D. use or has had so much subsequent evidence revealed to the public that little doubt remained. Every time a baseball player stood at the highest mountain and pronounced their declarations of innocence to the world, the public reaction was, “Suuure you’re innocent! Suuure!” Braun is unique.
He said he was falsely accused (that is not unique). He challenged the integrity of the collection process (that is not unique). He offered a means of confirming the accuracy to the test results (that is somewhat unique). His attorneys built a sound case to show that testing protocol was not followed (that was new), and his violation finding and suspension was overturned (that is unprecedented).
"You know that everyone's innocent in here?" 1
HE’S STILL GUILTY!
Unfortunately for Braun, based on what I have heard constantly on talk radio and seen on the Internet since word of the overturned suspension broke, the fans and media have still convicted Braun in the court of public opinion. If I had a quarter for every sportstalk host and caller who used the phrase, “Got off on a technicality,” I’d have free lunch today, and a good lunch!
What bothers me about this situation is that we, the media and the public, know anything about this situation at all. Protocol in the sample collection was violated, regardless of whose fault it is. At that point the test was invalid. The samples should have been discarded and never tested. And, under no circumstances, should reputation-damaging results have been leaked to the public.
MVP with an asterisk, deserved or not. 2
KISS COOPERSTOWN GOODBYE
Ryan Braun is on track to a Hall of Fame worthy career, on the field. However, the Baseball Writers Association of America have made it very clear that anyone, thus far, associated with performance enhancing drugs, will not sniff the inside of the National Baseball Hall of Fame without paying for admission. To me, should this apply to Braun one day, PED testing, even a bad test, will become baseball’s equivalent of McCarthyism, in which anyone labeled “red” is automatically blackballed.
This is unfortunate and despicable. Rules are in place for a reason. Players aren’t the only ones who are required to follow them. If players’ reputations can be trashed when they violate the rules, Major League Baseball should be prohibited from casting a cloud of suspicion over players when it violates the rules.
Barry Bonds: Welcome to my world, Mr. Braun! 3
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