Ryan Braun calling season ticket holders; Graffito to close -- 11.27.13: Braun to answer media questions at charity event

[trwi7]

It's pretty simple.

 

Braun does nothing, he has no remorse and doesn't care about the fans.

 

Braun does something, it's a PR move and he doesn't really mean it.

 

If I was him I would just realize I can't win and wouldn't do a damn thing but I'm old-fashioned (or maybe new school?) that way.

[hawing]

Believe it or not, I got a call. 20-pack holder. Definitely bizarre. I thought it was a prank. I basically just said everyone's done worse; you did it on a huge scale and that was that. He was appreciative (or trying to be).

Whoa! I figured he'd only call corporate type customers (seeing the owner of Kelly's Bleachers as an example only strengthened my theory).

 

The bummer for us is he'd have to call in the evening or on the weekend to get us. I'd be intrigued to hear him on our voicemail. I can't pretend I'd know what to say.

[joepepsi]

These clowns....this whole clown network won't be happy until Braun's crying on his hands and knees at their feet, begging for forgiveness. No wait, even then, they'll say these are crocodile tears. ....

I'm so tired of these dolts at ESPN. I really am.

 

Edit: Language - JJK

I didn't know people still watched ESPN. Especially if you are baseball fan. MLB network is so much better. I quite watching Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter 15 years ago. But then, I'm not really an NBA fan and only a casual NFL fan. And I'm not under 25. And I don't think I'm stupid. So that pretty much leaves me out of their demographic.

[ilikewisco]

ESPN is horrible, if its not on a coast they don't bother covering it. As far as Braun making those calls, I definitely think its a good move and give him respect for doing it.

[BarneyStinston]

I agree. ESPN is terrible. Anything that hits the news is a PR move? I do not believe there could be any Milwaukee fan that could reasonably complain about a personal call from Ryan Braun. Basically, any hardcore Brewer ticket buyer gets to voice their beef and opinion right to him. At this point critics are just being unreasonable. Are any of the other suspended players doing this? Doubtful. I like hearing about the calls, though. I just hope there aren't too many hotheads trying to berate him.

[logan82]

They should have just made it Yuni B's Graffito...

 

Haven't you heard? They have changed it to a Yuni inspired restaurant. It's called Yuni's Betan Food Court.

They serve lasagna that has more range than Yuni.

[hawing]

I didn't know people still watched ESPN. Especially if you are baseball fan. MLB network is so much better. I quite watching Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter 15 years ago. But then, I'm not really an NBA fan and only a casual NFL fan. And I'm not under 25. And I don't think I'm stupid. So that pretty much leaves me out of their demographic.

If I didn't really like my signature, I'd change to this in a heartbeat. Kudos!

[BrewCrewForever]

Cal it PR or whatever, an athlete taking his persona time to personally call fans to apologize for something is not anything I have ever seen or heard of before. Kudos to Ryan. Hope I get the call at some point.

[RockCoCougars]

This is a great gesture, though almost assuredly the brainchild of some creative PR firm. Looks like they are going to try a grassroots approach. I'd expect Braun to find one 'friendly face' in the local media to work with next.

 

All that said, I think a better gesture would be for Braun to offer to redo his contract to offer the Brewers a buyout after 2015. I know that's not happening though.

[502 to Right]

Does anyone know how many people he called?

[burnzy24]

All that said, I think a better gesture would be for Braun to offer to redo his contract to offer the Brewers a buyout after 2015. I know that's not happening though.

 

Comments like these get me. Braun freely offering to potentially walk away from $100+ million would not be a good-will gesture, would be insanity and people need to stop entertaining this as even being an option. Would you honestly do the same thing if you were Braun? I know I wouldn't. The Brewers took the risk when signing Braun and they will live with the consequences. Braun should not be judged for he failure to give away millions of dollars that is contractually owed to him, regardless of how much PED's did or didn't help his prior performance.

[logan82]

This is a great gesture, though almost assuredly the brainchild of some creative PR firm. Looks like they are going to try a grassroots approach. I'd expect Braun to find one 'friendly face' in the local media to work with next.

 

All that said, I think a better gesture would be for Braun to offer to redo his contract to offer the Brewers a buyout after 2015. I know that's not happening though.

Players Union would not allow it even if Braun and the Brewers wanted to do it. That seems like an extreme position to take.

[joepepsi]

I didn't know people still watched ESPN. Especially if you are baseball fan. MLB network is so much better. I quite watching Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter 15 years ago. But then, I'm not really an NBA fan and only a casual NFL fan. And I'm not under 25. And I don't think I'm stupid. So that pretty much leaves me out of their demographic.

If I didn't really like my signature, I'd change to this in a heartbeat. Kudos!

Thank you! I like you sig fine and think you should keep it.

[Minigoon]

The Brewers need to find a sucker GM to take this pile of dung off their roster. The team will be a joke as long as he's with them. Both need a fresh start. Maybe dump him in Miami so he doesn't have so far to go to find his new drug connection.

[owbc]

The Brewers need to find a sucker GM to take this pile of dung off their roster. The team will be a joke as long as he's with them. Both need a fresh start. Maybe dump him in Miami so he doesn't have so far to go to find his new drug connection.

 

Seriously? I respect your opinion but stating it that way doesn't add anything useful to the conversation.

[Invader3K]

The Brewers need to find a sucker GM to take this pile of dung off their roster. The team will be a joke as long as he's with them. Both need a fresh start. Maybe dump him in Miami so he doesn't have so far to go to find his new drug connection.

 

People need to start attempting to be a bit more objective than this, or this thread is going to get closed. It's not contributing to the discussion when you refer to Brewers players as "piles of dung". This isn't a Yahoo discussion board.

 

If you want to dislike Braun or criticize his phone calls to fans (which is what this thread is about), that's fine. Please find ways to do it in a less antagonistic manner though.

[bani1717]

First of all, it does not sound like this is anywhere near the realm of being "just" a PR move. From WTMJ's article, a quote from Rick Schlesinger about Ryan Braun:

"He said, 'I'd like to call fans, but with an emphasis on ticket buyers, mini plan holders, reach out, apologize, listen.' We said, 'Great!' It was all his initiative. He didn't want publicity about it." (bold added for emphasis)

 

But to a certain extent, anything Braun says or does publicly at this point is a PR move. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it's fake or not genuine. For people who want Braun to do an in-person press conference or whatever, would that not be a PR move?

 

People who want to hold this against Braun, not believe what he says, etc. will always come up with a reason to support their own personal opinions.

[TooLiveBrew]

This is the definition of a PR move.

 

For me, the next topic of discussion is: "So what?" This is above and beyond the 'call of duty' for his transgression, imo.

 

Is this a PR move? Absolutely. But this is the time when a PR move can actually contain valid meaning.

 

Keep in mind that he's explaining that he's sorry for utilizing something that's marginally more evil than many legal & also-allowed-by-MLB substances.

[LouisEly]

I won't be satisfied until Andy Pettite personally calls Yankees season ticket holders and apologizes for juicing.

[JohnBriggs12]

No big fan of the way ESPN has covered this, but I agree this is all about PR. Notice how the Brewers themselves played this up? Of course Braun needs positive PR. I don't think the Brewers should trumpet this as some grand gesture though. Braun's motivation is to restore some credibility with fans. Anything he does will be looked at as "self-serving" by most including me. That's never going to end.

 

His career is forever tainted. The only way he can somewhat improve his image is to put together at least a half dozen great years and pass every drug test so that people will see he's a great player with or without help.

[chadomac]

I'm worried I missed his call. I need to ask someone that got called what area code it was from.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Braun could cure cancer, and in some people's minds, it would still be a PR move.

 

He is, literally, doing something no pro athlete has ever done before. Who cares if it's a PR move? He's still doing it.

 

"I want him to do a presser in front of live microphones taking questions"

 

How about calling individual fans, who can question what he did, and why?

 

"Meh......PR move"

 

No matter what he does, it's a lose/lose for Braun. Nothing short of the ridiculous suggestions of 'voiding his contract' and 'playing for free' are going to please some people at this point.

[BarneyStinston]

If this was really a planned PR move, wouldn't there be an official announcement "Watch for your personal phone call from Ryan Braun"? He didn't even want any filter, or staging, which is pretty unusual for a PR move.

[RockCoCougars]

Come on guys, I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Great gesture, but I guarantee that it was thought up by some PR people as part of a bigger plan. He didn't want publicity? Come on. In this day and age, Joe Q. Brewerfan gets a personal call from Braun and he doesn't immediately send out dozens of texts, post on twitter and on numerous blogs? Also, this gives Braun the opportunity to 'face the music' on a private scale- I guarantee that they are taking notes, and using these conversations to gauge the fanbase's perception and maybe prep Braun for some tough questions that he didn't anticipate being asked. Great PR move, and it will be interesting to see the next step.

 

As for people taking exception to my suggestion that he redoes his contract, as far as I'm concerned he got that deal under false pretenses. What if someone had a job with an accounting firm and it was found that they cheated on their CPA exams? I imagine that they would be fired, especially if they weren't doing their job properly. Players union be darned, if Braun really wanted to redo the deal he could. If he did his part on the field, it would be a moot point anyway. Like I said, it would never happen though.

[BarneyStinston]

Actually, in most high valued jobs, the worker is disciplined, ordered to some sort of probation, and asked to show progress in atoning for the indiscretion. This is case with physicians and lawyers. You are comparing an accountant to a high valued major league baseball player. Nonetheless, in an accountant's case of cheating on a CPA exam, the probationary period is 2-5 years where the person is barred from taking the exam. After that, he may retake the exam. Most people with a contract for work are not fired without just cause, and one indiscretion is generally not enough.

 

Contracts for workers in the real world are redone for performance based reasons. If players did the same thing, then there are plenty that should have "voluntarily" restructured their contracts because they played so poorly. Jeff Suppan, your contract was done under false pretenses that you were a good pitcher. Give money back. Ryan Braun has not performed outside of expectations at all. He lives up to his contract whether on PED's or not. His major league market value is still more than we are paying for.