2/24/2012
I'll start with the obvious: Ryan Braun, reigning NL MVP, will not be suspended for 50 games during this upcoming season. He was given the suspension during this past off season because he tested positive for a PED (performance enhancing drug) which still has not been named. What we do know though is he had elevated testosterone. In fact it was the highest testosterone ratio ever recorded during Baseball's drug testing. Almost immediately after getting handed the suspension Braun appealed. This has never worked before, and nobody expected it to work this time. But the whole test was hung up on a technicality. Braun's agent and lawyer were able to find a loop hole. The test was taken on October 1st, the day the Brewers played their first playoff game last season, but was not delivered to the FedEx station to get mailed until October 3rd. According to Baseball's drug agreement the sample needs to be delivered on the same day that it was taken. This is to make sure there is no tampering with the sample and that no chemical reactions can take place. There have already been anonymous doctors who have said blood would not have developed a positive test for what Braun tested positive for. (Since the PED can not be named both the doctors and the drug remained anonymous.) However, the rules were not followed so the test was thrown out. The only report as to why this happened is that the man in charge of the blood samples thought the FedEx near him was closed so he held on to it. That is the technicality that got Ryan Braun off the hook. I do not buy the fact that he did not test positive, I think he just got lucky to find the loop hole.
Braun held a press conference today in front of media and his teammates at the brewers spring training facilities in Phoenix, Arizona. Braun said about the time since the test came out “I’ve lived this nightmare every day for the last four months.” Braun then went deeper into what he thought about the testing process, “At the end of the day the truth prevailed,” he said. “I’m a victim of a process that completely broke down and failed in the way that it was applied to me in the case. As players, we’re held to a standard of 100 percent perfection regarding the program, and everybody else associated with that program should be held to the same standard. We’re a part of a process where you’re 100 percent guilty until proven innocent. It’s the opposite of the American judicial system." The most frustrating part to Braun was “My (Ryan Braun) name has been dragged through the mud as everything I’ve ever worked for in my life has been called into question,”.
More will be coming on the situation. Arbitrator Shyam Das who threw out Braun’s ban on Thursday, informed the sides of his decision but did not give them a written opinion. He has to do so within 30 days of the decision which means it should be coming soon.
Do you think he used PED's? Did he only get off because of a technicality?
Want to hear more? Tune in to The Sports Report, Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. on radio.dominican.edu.
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