Ryan Braun tests positive for Steroids!

[deansdaddy]

According to ESPN's "Outside the Lines," Ryan Braun has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
Braun is challenging the result of the test through arbitration. If he comes out unsuccessful, he will face a 50-game suspension. ESPN's Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn say the positive result was "triggered by elevated levels of testosterone in Braun's system" and that further testing proved the testosterone to be synthetic, not natural. Braun, 28, was named the National League's MVP last month.

Here is a link to the Outside the Lines story:
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/ ... ncing-drug

Well, I doubt anyone saw this one coming. I guess we can hope for the best, that Braun is a victim somehow. But it doesn't look good for him, the Brewers or baseball right now. Not good when the guy who just got handed the MVP gets handed a suspension next.

[Todd Zola]

Twitter is abuzz about this -- there is word of a second test, requested by the Braun camp coming up clean. Braun's people are saying he will be exonerated. Time will tell, of course, but I would hold off on casting judgment just yet.

[da_big_kid_94]

Remember all of those old Law & Order episodes that featured crooked prosecutors? You were almost guaranteed to hear the phrase from the crooked prosecutor; "This is (fill in the name of the the DA here - Schiff, Lewin, Branch, Mc Coy)'s worst nighmare." Well, if Braun is right (and I'm not saying he is just because he's Ryan Braun - seems I remember an award winning cyclist screaming the same thing... until HE copped), this is Bud Selig's worst nightmare - and the ironies are too numerous to mention. He was concerned about his legacy? I'd make sure that EVERYTHING on this test was done by the book. Can you imagine what Bonds will be saying? Or Manny wanting to revisit his suspensions? Or Roger Clemens back in the headlines? Oy Vay! Talk about a Hobson's Choice - "Hey gang, it's OK ...our latest NL MVP DID test positive for PEDs. Thank God!"

[steve9781]

Just wondering what cell I use in the Masterneuts program to calculate post steriod use effects

[Todd Zola]

Just wondering what cell I use in the Masterneuts program to calculate post steriod use effects

The one that's locked until all the facts are known.

[deansdaddy]

Well the story keeps evolving and things look better for Braun from a personal standpoint if not from a professional one.

The best news was that Braun reportedly tested positive for a banned substance and not a performance enhancer. That's good from a personal standpoint, because whatever it is that got into Braun's system, he can argue the point that he did not intentionally take something to help his on field performance. Still, he and his legal team have a steep hill to climb in any appeal. MLB is 13-0 in appeals, so while Braun may be able to prove this was a "false positive" test, he still is likely to face a ban to start the year.

[Todd Zola]

Problem is, every time there is some news on the story, there is some contradicting news a while later.

Such is landscape of today with so much real-time means of transmitting info and the selfish desire for some to be first even if it is not right. Then add in the "telephone game" as secondary and tertiary sources report the story and we have a clusterfrick of info.

Piggy-backing on what Ryan said, they are not trying to prove it is a false-positive. They are not disputing the results if the test. The chance of a false-positive are so infinitesimal they can be considered impossible. The defense is going to be that the results of the first test were incredibly high but zero for the follow up, suggesting it was ingested and not via an injection. The argument is going to be that he did not know AND COULD NOT HAVE KNOWN he was ingesting the banned substance. It is this latter point that is the key. Players are responsible for what they put in their body. Braun's team must show that there was no reasonable way he could have known whatever was tainted was put in his mouth.

Chances are, but the time I hit SUBMIT, there will be a Twitter story contradicting this.

Personally, at this point, all I care about is what the suspension is/isn't.

[deansdaddy]

Agreed

[Wrigley]

audio podcast
http://danpatrick.directv.com.edgesuite ... stream.mp3

Citing information from "somebody involved in the process," sports commentator Dan Patrick said on his radio show Monday morning that "Ryan Braun may be an innocent man" and "may be exonerated."

If this happens, obviously it would be tremendous news for the Brewers and Braun, who tested positive for a banned substance in October and appealed the finding before an arbitration panel in New York last week. It also would make it an even bigger atrocity that news of the positive test was leaked to ESPN, which reported it in early December.

Patrick said he was told Sunday, again, by "somebody involved in the process" that the MLB test might be at fault and that Braun could be found innocent. The arbitration panel, with independent arbitrator Shyam Das expected to cast the decisive vote, has 25 days to render a verdict but it could come as soon as later this week.

Some of Patrick's comments:

"There were whispers that this was a personal medical issue, that he was taking something for that, that may have spiked his test. I since found out (Sunday) that that is not the case.

"Ryan Braun may be exonerated here. He may be found innocent. And judging from all of the information I was told, there's a good chance that he should be."

Patrick went on to say that MLB is "cut and dried" about what is allowed to be in a player's system but said what Braun tested positive for "wasn't a masking agent."

"The bigger issue here is the testing and was Ryan Braun a victim of the testing by Major League Baseball," added Patrick. "Let's see how this plays out... The feeling I got (Sunday) from somebody involved in the process in this, it's not as cut and dried as people would think. And Ryan Braun may be an innocent man."