![\"Ryan](\"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Ryan-Braun-1024x681.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nRYAN BRAUN<\/p>\n
How on earth does a guy who was obviously so guilty get the nerve to issue a statement like that when he\u2019d clearly taken the drugs, and only managed to avoid punishment because he\u2019d won an appeal when an independent arbitrator overturned the results of the drug test?<\/p>\n
In a statement issued to the press after the announcement of his suspension for the rest of this season yesterday, Braun said, \u201cI realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Really, it\u2019s just now that he realizes he has made some mistakes? It’s now that he’s willing to admit and is willing to accept the punishment for his actions? Only when the overwhelming evidence has come to light and he has no other choice?<\/p>\n
Of course, Braun went on to apologize to anyone he may have disappointed and express his relief to have the matter behind him once and for all. He also offered how anxious he is to get back to the game he loves.<\/p>\n
Somehow, I don’t believe the matter is now, or will ever be behind him. There was no specific apology expressed to the individual who had collected that urine sample that he all but flat out accused of tampering with it last year.<\/p>\n
When Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker heard of the suspension he said, \u201cI guess this gives an example to the kids what not to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I just wish Braun had been suspended from baseball for life and the kids were given an even better example. Braun will have to forfeit approximately $3.3 million over the rest of this season, but the Brewers signed him to a five-year $105 million contract extension two years ago so he won\u2019t be hurting financially over the next few years.<\/p>\n
There will be more player suspensions to follow as a result of the investigation connected to Biogenesis. I\u2019m glad to see the Major League Baseball Players Association has stated they won\u2019t fight for any players who might be suspended when faced with overwhelming evidence that they used performance-enhancing drugs.<\/p>\n
None of the names of players facing suspensions are more prominent than our old Seattle Mariners buddy Alex Rodriquez. I see in an ESPN article they are saying that the evidence against Rodriguez is \u201cmore substantial\u201d and \u201cfar beyond than what MLB had on Braun.\u201d Rodriguez, however, is trying to cut a deal to minimize damages to what if anything remains of his own career.<\/p>\n
While listening to the comments about Braun\u2019s suspension on the radio this morning I was reminded of an infamous interview Katie Couric conducted with Rodriquez on the 60 Minutes television show in 2007.<\/p>\n
During the interview, Rodriguez told Couric he\u2019d never been tempted to use steroids, human growth hormones or any other performance enhancing substance.<\/p>\n
When she asked him if he never felt like he should look into it because of an awareness of certain players putting up bigger numbers as a result of doing so, he told her he\u2019d never felt overmatched on the baseball field and had always been in a very strong dominant position without them.<\/p>\n
When she asked him about his reaction to the investigation of steroid use by ballplayers at that time he replied as follows:<\/p>\n
\u201cKatie, you\u2019re putting me in a tough spot. These are guys that I play with. They\u2019re my teammates, friends. If anything comes of this it would be extremely disappointing. It would be a huge black eye on the game of baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, I think anyone paying attention might have found it telling a moment later when she asked him who he thought held the all-time home run record, Barry Bonds with 762 in light of the accusations of his steroid use, or Hank Aaron with 755.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell I think Barry Bonds, he has 762\u201d replied Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he has an asterisk next to his names,\u201d said Katie.<\/p>\n
“Does he, not yet right?\u201d replied Rodriquez as he went on to say Bonds was innocent until proven guilty.<\/p>\n
Well, Rodriquez would go on to admit to his own guilt less than two years later when he admitted taking steroids during the years 2001 – 2003 during an interview with ESPN\u2019s Peter Gammons. But, in typical scumbag fashion he went out of his way to point out it was the culture at the time and he\u2019d done so only because of the pressure he felt to measure up to the huge contract he\u2019d just signed with the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n
He went on to say he\u2019d since proven with his performance on the field he didn\u2019t need the drugs to produce the big numbers.<\/p>\n
When Gammons asked him if he was saying the only time period he\u2019d used the drugs was 2001, 2002 and 2003, Rodriguez replied:<\/p>\n
\u201cUh, that\u2019s pretty accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pretty accurate that he used them only during those three years?<\/p>\n
Umm no, I\u2019d think it\u2019s probably pretty accurate it wasn\u2019t only those years, eh Alex?<\/p>\n
Here’s hoping Rodriguez receives the stiffest penalty of the bunch.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CLAY MOYLE I see Major League Baseball just announced the suspension of reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-moyle","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":506,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions\/506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Clay](\"http:\/\/www.sportspaper.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Clay-Moyle.jpg\")
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