MLB Players Are Pissed About Ryan Braun

The decision by MLB arbitrators last week to repeal reigning-MVP Ryan Braun's 50-game suspension for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs last season. The reason for the ire, which is very well deserved, is that not once did Braun actually contend that he did test positive but rather contested a technicality in the testing process. Braun's appeal was successful because the positive sample was taken on a Friday afternoon and stored in the testing agent's office over the weekend before being sent to the lab on a Monday. Braun's case was predicated on the sample being rendered invalid by being left an office for two days. This proved to be enough and Braun's suspension was repealed by a 2-1 vote. Braun then decided to be a dick claim that he was a victim or something like that.

ESPN's Buster Olney has reported that a majority of big league players he has interviewed about Braun have shown serious animosity toward the slugger and the precedent he is leaving on baseball. I absolutely understand where they are coming from. It is clear that Ryan Braun used steroids last season and that fueled his MVP season and the Brewers' run to a NL Central division crown. Players are angry that Braun cheated and got caught and yet managed to get away with it. Interesting the agent who performed the test issued a lengthly statement claiming that he followed protocol exactly, that his office was sufficiently air conditional to maintain the sample while it was there and that none of his other 600 test samples have ever been questioned.

I can't believe there is anyone in the world who can legitimately side with Braun on this issue. I'm convinced that his suspension was repealed because the MLB felt it would have a much larger problem if they had to suspend a reigning MVP. The media would be clamoring for them to take away his trophy (a la Reggie Bush's Heisman) and they would be forced to set a new precedent. Instead they were let off the hook by a technicality and given the opportunity to sweep this issue under the rug. Braun should take a cue from his employers and never speak of this issue again if he doesn't have to. His legacy is already tarnished, perhaps even more so in this day and age were testing is enforced and seriously frowned upon by the public.