Ryan Braun issues his statements (split from previous thread)

[reillymcshane]

Braun's statement is a weak start. He needs to sit down in front of the people he lied to and explain himself, and answer questions.

 

If he doesn't want to answer questions yet, he simply could (should) have said that in his statement something to that fact.

 

"I will take questions from the media on XYZ date. I will speak to my teammates personally on XYZ date, and offer my apologies, and answer any questions they have. If any my fellow players want to talk to me, to ask questions, or just yell at me, I'll make myself available to them."

 

Next, he never used the word 'lie' or 'cheat' a single time. He should have used them both. It's still 'mistakes' and 'regrets'. He should have used those words - acknowledge what he did.

 

"I'm sorry I lied. I'm sorry I cheated by taking the PEDs."

 

There are some other things he could have said in the statement, but I think those items are the biggest. And their omission is pretty big to most people.

[SoupTown]

I do have one question not answered by the statement. WHO is the third party that 'reached out' to Ryan. Who is it?

[DuWayne Steurer]

This statement was so benign, it accomplishes almost nothing. The people that felt like "Braun's a dirty cheating liar"........well, they still (and most certainly always) will feel that way. The people that feel like Braun has been unduly raked through the mud, or are still big Braun fans, are going to believe the "I only used in 2011" bit, and continue to feel the same way about the guy. Of course Buster Olney throwing out the Anti-Semite story with zero proof, and no players coming forward to back it up only serves help that cause.

 

He's going to be a lightning rod for a while, and it's like arguing politics. Nobody's going to change their mind anytime soon. Calling someone naive or whatever is just silly (IMO). "Do you really believe he only took in 2011?" Maybe? Maybe not? I only have absolute proof that he took in 2011. I'm not about to take the word of some former friend who pops up out of the woodwork at some opportune time who' suing him pro se, and says he was using since college. Clearly, that guy DOESN'T have an agenda. At this point I don't CARE if he used before 2011. He's busted, he's doing his time. Let's get this crap-tacular season over with, let's stop having a biogenesis/Braun/A-Rod story in the headlines every single day......because honestly, it saps the interest in baseball. It really does. Let's get to 2014, and go from there.

[igor67]

I'll follow up RoCo and add onto your post by saying that most people are so mad at him that any action he took was largely irrelevant at this point. The wordsmithing analysis of the text demonstrates this very clearly. If your mad at him that's fine I get it, but at least recognize that and acknowledge the silliness of expecting any kind of verbal or written statement from a guy your mad at for lying to you will make it better. Perhaps if we put him in stocks at third base and Mark gave out another $10 food voucher for people to throw at him?

[RightFieldCoder]

Braun is a liar. Once a liar, always a liar. I cannot believe this "admission" reveals the whole truth. There is nothing Braun can do to change my mind on this. The only way I'd believe him is if he got in front of a camera and admitted taking stuff since high school. Anything short of that (even if it is the truth) will leave doubts as to whether he is telling the truth. I would have believed the statement if it was released during the 11-12 offseason.

 

Am I mad at Braun? No. What is to be mad about? He did nothing that could harm someone. He took a substance that is against MLB rules. What Bruan did is way better then the wife beater we used to have in the bullpen. What Braun did is way better then driving drunk and risking killing someone like our "ace". Where is the outrage for those two?

[dlk9s]

Seems like a pretty weak "apology"

Quite the contrary, the apology part of the statement was really strong. I understand some people want more of the gory details of his PED use, but as far as actual apologies go, I don't know how much more people could want.

[Invader3K]

I don't know what more people expected him to say. Some will never be satisfied, and that's fine.

 

I really hope that this is leading to a full on presser or at least a sit down interview with someone credible (like a Bob Costas, etc).

[dlk9s]

I really hope that this is leading to a full on presser or at least a sit down interview with someone credible (like a Bob Costas, etc).

http://i.imgur.com/hHy98.gif

[Nottso]

Seems like a pretty weak "apology"

Quite the contrary, the apology part of the statement was really strong. I understand some people want more of the gory details of his PED use, but as far as actual apologies go, I don't know how much more people could want.

 

Agreed. Braun reiterated several times that he did it, he was at fault and he alone. He admitted lying to friends, family, teammates and fans. He even owned up to his poor conduct regarding the collector. Short of going door to door and offering a personal apology to everyone on Earth, there's not much more he could have done.

 

A written statement doesn't mean that he'll never answer questions. He'll have to if he ever wants the circus to end. My guess is that he and his advisors are smart enough to do so on the day A-Rod loses his appeal and/or starts his own suspension. Because on that day, Braun will be small news, having already accepted his suspension, apologized in writing, etc.

 

I would also think that MLB might offer up a statement supporting what Braun says in his statement, as that might get the "witch hunt" tag off of them.

[DuWayne Steurer]

The only way I'd believe him is if he got in front of a camera and admitted taking stuff since high school.

 

 

So the only way you'll believe him, is if he tells you what your pre-defined notion of truth is, based on...........what, exactly?

 

You've made up your mind that he used since high school, and you need to know this. Why? To set your mind at ease? Will you sleep better at night? Do our pro athletes cheating cause so much consternation that the lies they tell about their cheating create this much drama?

 

THIS is what's silly about the whole thing.

 

I know this will come off as I condone cheating and/or lying, and I don't. It's just the ridiculousness of the standard that's being applied here.

"We deserve the truth" Why? He got caught. Busted. He's doing his time.

"I don't believe him." OK. Great. Whatever.

"I want to know more. I feel like this isn't the whole story" Who's to say it isn't?"

"A written statement is a weak-sauce way of apologizing" Who gets to define the parameters of how he releases his statement?

 

Everyone wants to define the parameters of the Braun.........SAGA here, and that's just not how it works. They want to set X, Y, and Z coordinates for the truth, how he tells the truth, the media in which he gets to tell the truth, how he should feel when he tells the truth............... the sense of entitlement fans feel these days is simply....... staggering at times.

 

I used to feel like of all of my friends and family, there wasn't a bigger baseball fan than myself. I'd listen or watch to every game. I was loaded with Brewers merchandise. We'd get season tickets. It's not Braun, or the scandals that's turning me away from the game. It's not the Brewers being bad that's turning me away. It's baseball's (and by extension, the writers, and the fans) 'holier than thou' attitude that .......'we're better than everybody else......and it's insistence on tearing itself open from the very center of its own ugly core, just to prove that it's the cleanest thing going. I can't even put it into words how I feel. It's almost like baseball's drive to clean up the game has become a bigger problem than the players that are using.

[Invader3K]

I really hope that this is leading to a full on presser or at least a sit down interview with someone credible (like a Bob Costas, etc).

http://i.imgur.com/hHy98.gif

 

OK dlk9s, who would you recommend?

[torts]

I really hope that this is leading to a full on presser or at least a sit down interview with someone credible (like a Bob Costas, etc).

http://i.imgur.com/hHy98.gif

 

OK dlk9s, who would you recommend?

 

KEITH OLBERMANN

[torts]

im really upset this is a separate thread and we wont break 100 pages about braun

[Invader3K]

im really upset this is a separate thread and we wont break 100 pages about braun

 

It was "fun" while it lasted, but the previous topic was getting rather unwieldy. I'm told by the experts that such large threads tend to hurt board performance.

[fondybrewfan]

If never having lied is a prerequisite for believing someone is telling the truth then I have a bone to pick with Mother Theresa. Everyone has lied and everyone will do it again. People need to get off their high horses saying Braun needs to gravel at their feet. Its friggin baseball for gosh sakes. Braun did something obviously against the rules; he didn't make any of our lives worse off. Just move on. Sure I will listen when he finally talks but does it really even matter? I want him to talk not because I feel like he owes me something but because this will be a cloud over the Brewers until Braun is able to put it in the past.

[Patrick425]

I think if you are truly remorseful for things you have done in the past then you should have no problem making a sincere verbal statement. In fact, I think it's how you would prefer to make your statement. To me it clearly seems as if Braun issued this statement because he had to and not because he wanted to.

 

In his apology to the fans letter he states this: "I will continue to work on improving myself and making amends for what I have done." I'll be waiting to see if and how he follows through on this.

[dlk9s]

I'm watching ESPN right now. I love how the picture they use for Braun in the caption at the bottom of the screen is absolutely awful. He looks like he can't believe how bad the dump he just took smells and is trying to force out another one that just doesn't want to budge.

[torts]

im really upset this is a separate thread and we wont break 100 pages about braun

 

It was "fun" while it lasted, but the previous topic was getting rather unwieldy. I'm told by the experts that such large threads tend to hurt board performance.

 

Yeah, i can understand that part, and im not really upset at all, i guess it should have been in blue

[torts]

you know what helps heal injuries completely? being suspended for 65 games.

[NeedMoreFans]

So who came out of the woodwork in 2012 to call him out for lying? He said he was 100% innocent.

 

It came out in early 2013. Yeah, it was after the 2012 season, but it still happened.

 

The only way I'd believe him is if he got in front of a camera and admitted taking stuff since high school.

 

Hypothetically speaking, say he made this admission just to get people off his back, but the admission was a lie...he actually only used in 2011. How would you feel then?

[trwi7]

I won't be satisfied until Braun sits across from Oprah. Perhaps in a sensible, yet stylish suit sitting in a nice leather chair. An end table with ornately designed legs, a cup of coffee, perhaps some hard candies in a fancy dish next to the coffee and a box of kleenex at arm's length.

 

Only then can I give him a rose.

[JohnBriggs12]

I would just like to hear something that sounds like he gets it now. This statement isn't it. He still seems to be detached from reality. I know elite athletes are insulated but are they that clueless?

 

He would have been better off saying: "I know my credibility is shot, and that I can't expect it to ever return...all I can do now is stay clean...work hard and produce on the field and hope over time people will judge me on the totality of my career, not just this period where I used horrible judgment and hurt a lot of people in the process."

[Outlander]

I was impressed that he apologized to Dino by name even if it does open himself up to a lawsuit in the future. The statement as a whole was fine with me, I don't think it is necessary to explain further in future or anything like that. Time to move on and hopefully he comes back at a MVP level.

[DuWayne Steurer]

 

He would have been better off saying: "I know my credibility is shot, and that I can't expect it to ever return...all I can do now is stay clean...work hard and produce on the field and hope over time people will judge me on the totality of my career, not just this period where I used horrible judgment and hurt a lot of people in the process."

 

Didn't he basically say those things in the statement? I mean, I'm going back and reading the statement, like, right now, and in not so many words, he touches on those exact points, more or less.

[dlk9s]

I would just like to hear something that sounds like he gets it now. This statement isn't it. He still seems to be detached from reality. I know elite athletes are insulated but are they that clueless?

I couldn't disagree with this more. It's like we read two different statements.