Per ESPN: Braun Tests Positive, May Face 50 Game Suspension (Part 2)

[Nottso]

In many instances, all a doctor knows about a drug is what he's been told by the drug's sales rep. If any of you ever has questions about a medication, ask your pharmacist.

Wow, cynical much?

Nope, just realistic; and had a grandfather that was a pharmacist; and have had more than one pharmacological problem solved by pharmacists over the years simply because I had the knowledge to ask a pharmacist. Most people don't have that knowledge. You're obviously one of them and I don't mean that to be an insult by any means. Like I said, most people don't know to ask a pharmacist.

Doctors, even specialists, study a lot of things. Pharmacists study drugs and drugs only.

[cvollbrecht]

A link with Victor Conte's take on Braun via deadspin:

 

http://deadspin.com/5869473/

[pebadger]

Victor Conte is a convicted felon and self-promoting blowhard. He's one of those guys who was so dirty himself that he can't see the world from any but his own perspective.

 

Conte knows a lot of stuff, especially about what it takes to be a cheater. What he knows about integrity, or what he would understand about that concept, I have no idea.

 

I'm not saying Braun is guilty and I'm not saying Braun is clean. What I am saying is that I'd expect Conte to say everyone is guilty. For a lot of reasons.

[jwill535]

Victor Conte is a convicted felon and self-promoting blowhard. He's one of those guys who was so dirty himself that he can't see the world from any but his own perspective.

 

Conte knows a lot of stuff, especially about what it takes to be a cheater. What he knows about integrity, or what he would understand about that concept, I have no idea.

 

I'm not saying Braun is guilty and I'm not saying Braun is clean. What I am saying is that I'd expect Conte to say everyone is guilty. For a lot of reasons.

Victor Conte, Jose Conseco, convicted felons make the best people to go to in this matter. While they may have been convicted, they know exactly how its done, how they get caught and now how to avoid it. If he was going to be out for publicity., he would go against the popular opinion. Also, if you are going to look into steroids and testing, go to the guy that has dedicated his his career to creating drugs that enhance performance and also drugs to mask it. Hate him all you want, but he is the right person to ask.

[pebadger]

He is the right person to ask general questions about doping. He's the wrong guy to ask specific questions about Ryan Braun or anyone else when he has no more information about the case than you or I. All he can do is speculate, and he does so from a position of assumed guilt. I respect his body of knowledge, and not much else.

 

On another note:

 

From the interview that Mass Haas linked with Michael Weiner, executive director of MLBPA, on the breach of confidentiality:

 

"It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work that way this time but I’m confident that our confidentiality processes will work going forward."

 

Really? What's to stop any future leaks? There is no provision in the JDA to enforce the confidentiality provision. It's basically left up to the good will and discretion of the people holding very juicy information. Let's just say I'm less confident than Mr. Weiner.

[RyDogg66]

Herpes, Viagra, Graves Disease....why not Fragile X and Down Syndrome while we are at it. A simple google search and I have ruled out Graves disease...

 

Symptoms include - "Anxiety, Breast enlargement in men (possible), Difficulty concentrating, Double vision, Eyeballs that stick out (exophthalmos), Eye irritation and tearing, Fatigue, Frequent bowel movements, Goiter (possible), Heat intolerance, Increased appetite, Increased sweating, Insomnia, Muscle weakness, Nervousness

 

My favorites are double vision and goiter.

[BREWCREW5]

Herpes, Viagra, Graves Disease....why not Fragile X and Down Syndrome while we are at it. A simple google search and I have ruled out Graves disease...

 

Symptoms include - "Anxiety, Breast enlargement in men (possible), Difficulty concentrating, Double vision, Eyeballs that stick out (exophthalmos), Eye irritation and tearing, Fatigue, Frequent bowel movements, Goiter (possible), Heat intolerance, Increased appetite, Increased sweating, Insomnia, Muscle weakness, Nervousness

 

My favorites are double vision and goiter.

You do realize that someone could have a disease and not have all of the symptoms, right? What if he suffered from sweating, frequent bowel movements, exophthalmos and anxiety and was getting treated for grave's disease?

[Funketown]

Never in my life did I imagine we would be discussing Ryan Braun's bowel movements.

[BREWCREW5]

Never in my life did I imagine we would be discussing Ryan Braun's bowel movements.

Dude poops excellence. I don't care what anyone says.

[RockCoCougars]

Now I've seen it all. Bottom line, as far as I can see, unless Braun is either a testicular cancer survivor or was born Rhiannon Braun and is undergoing a Chaz Bono type metamorphosis, I can't see any legit medical reason for a guy to have synthetic testosterone in his system.

[brettac1]

This is a hall of fame caliber thread, no question.

[BREWCREW5]

I can't see any legit medical reason for a guy to have synthetic testosterone in his system.

Unless you are an expert on synthetic testosterone in any or all types of medicine, it really doesn't matter what you "see". I am not being cynical either, but that is the truth.

[chadomac]

No matter what he had, it should've been reported to MLB right away, shouldn't it? I believe him, but I think he's still getting suspended.

[pebadger]

No matter what he had, it should've been reported to MLB right away, shouldn't it? I believe him, but I think he's still getting suspended.

That's the 50-day multi-million dollar question. I don't think that anybody reasonably believes that an athlete must disclose every medication he takes to MLB. In fact, he's under no obligation to disclose any medication he takes, except as such a medication may impact the JDA. So, how far does an athlete have to go in investigating medications that are legally prescribed to him for a legitimate medical reason? That's not a question that impacts only Ryan Braun.

It seems to me that the JDA does not overrule a player's basic right to medical privacy. If the arbitration panel were to rule that the only way to know for sure that taking a medication will not put the player in violation of the JDA is to check first with MLB, without regard to whatever advice he is given by his personal physician and other medical advisors on the matter, they would be ruling, in effect, that a player must choose between his personal privacy concerns and his profession every single time he receives a prescription. Is that where we're willing to go to catch whatever percentage of guys it is that will be caught under the testing program?

We don't even know that this is an issue in the case, but regardless of that fact it's a question worth considering.

[Ennder]

If nothing else this gives us hope that it might end up being the 25 game type suspension which would be much better.

[Mays Hayes]

This is a hall of fame caliber thread, no question.

 

I was thinking more like... Hall of Shame caliber.

[Baldkin]

No matter what he had, it should've been reported to MLB right away, shouldn't it? I believe him, but I think he's still getting suspended.

That's the 50-day multi-million dollar question. I don't think that anybody reasonably believes that an athlete must disclose every medication he takes to MLB. In fact, he's under no obligation to disclose any medication he takes, except as such a medication may impact the JDA. So, how far does an athlete have to go in investigating medications that are legally prescribed to him for a legitimate medical reason? That's not a question that impacts only Ryan Braun.

It seems to me that the JDA does not overrule a player's basic right to medical privacy. If the arbitration panel were to rule that the only way to know for sure that taking a medication will not put the player in violation of the JDA is to check first with MLB, without regard to whatever advice he is given by his personal physician and other medical advisors on the matter, they would be ruling, in effect, that a player must choose between his personal privacy concerns and his profession every single time he receives a prescription. Is that where we're willing to go to catch whatever percentage of guys it is that will be caught under the testing program?

We don't even know that this is an issue in the case, but regardless of that fact it's a question worth considering.

I think it is the players responsibility to have someone (himself? his agent? his lawyer? his doctor?) contact MLB before taking any medication to make sure it is not going to get him suspended. It is just too stupid not to do this. Honestly, Braun just risked 2 million bucks doing this, plus whatever it might cost him in endorsements.

[BuckyBrewer61]

Nope, just realistic; and had a grandfather that was a pharmacist; and have had more than one pharmacological problem solved by pharmacists over the years simply because I had the knowledge to ask a pharmacist. Most people don't have that knowledge. You're obviously one of them and I don't mean that to be an insult by any means. Like I said, most people don't know to ask a pharmacist.

Doctors, even specialists, study a lot of things. Pharmacists study drugs and drugs only.

Couldn't agree more that pharmacists are unbelievably valuable resources and the foremost experts on drug-related information. I know you weren't aiming to be insulting, but to paint a broad stroke and say many doctors only know what a salesman tells them is...a little insulting, not to mention false. Anyway, I don't think it was your intention and I'm not upset, and it's a topic for a different thread, but couldn't help but throw in my two cents.

 

 

[PKBadger]

Couldn't help but think of this:

 

[RightFieldCoder]

Baldkin wrote:

I think it is the players responsibility to have someone (himself? his agent? his lawyer? his doctor?) contact MLB before taking any medication to make sure it is not going to get him suspended. It is just too stupid not to do this. Honestly, Braun just risked 2 million bucks doing this, plus whatever it might cost him in endorsements.

This. Look at the list of people and things that CAA represents. I'm sure the agency could have run the drugs past MLB without anyone knowing who they were asking for. It is Braun's fault if he didn't tell his agency, and it's his agency's fault if they didn't think to run it past MLB. I think he'll get a suspension whether it was PED or not.

[Nottso]

Doc,

Thanks for the wakeup call as it were. It wasn't meant to be insulting, and it was a very poor choice of words. The point I was trying to make is that when a new drug hits the market, it sometimes takes some time before many doctors are "up to speed" on that drug, which is only natural. There are only so many hours in a day.

[umphrey]

No matter what he had, it should've been reported to MLB right away, shouldn't it? I believe him, but I think he's still getting suspended.

That's the 50-day multi-million dollar question. I don't think that anybody reasonably believes that an athlete must disclose every medication he takes to MLB. In fact, he's under no obligation to disclose any medication he takes, except as such a medication may impact the JDA. So, how far does an athlete have to go in investigating medications that are legally prescribed to him for a legitimate medical reason? That's not a question that impacts only Ryan Braun.

It seems to me that the JDA does not overrule a player's basic right to medical privacy. If the arbitration panel were to rule that the only way to know for sure that taking a medication will not put the player in violation of the JDA is to check first with MLB, without regard to whatever advice he is given by his personal physician and other medical advisors on the matter, they would be ruling, in effect, that a player must choose between his personal privacy concerns and his profession every single time he receives a prescription. Is that where we're willing to go to catch whatever percentage of guys it is that will be caught under the testing program?

We don't even know that this is an issue in the case, but regardless of that fact it's a question worth considering.

I think it is the players responsibility to have someone (himself? his agent? his lawyer? his doctor?) contact MLB before taking any medication to make sure it is not going to get him suspended. It is just too stupid not to do this. Honestly, Braun just risked 2 million bucks doing this, plus whatever it might cost him in endorsements.

I'd imagine that players take the medicine and then get it cleared after the fact. I don't think MLB would tell it's players to delay necessary medication because it might affect a test and they NEED to know that before hand. Speaking generally, not specific to Braun.

[jeffy]

I'm reading elsewhere that he may have Graves' disease. It's a thyroid condition where a sympton is bulging eyes. Braun has the look of someone who has this disease, so there could be some truth to this.

That just sounds like total grasping at straws to me.

 

 

 

...and if this is the reason, he's not just coming out and saying "I have Graves disease and my treatment for this caused the failed test" because???

 

...and the treatment included synthetic hormones, but he did not inform MLB that he was taking synthetic hormones because???

 

OTOH, it looks like this was diagnosed way back in 2009 "he looks like he has Graves disease" at: http://kerridavidson.blog...hy-i-cant-stay-ryan.html

[bkroppy2]

If Braun is suspended i assume he doesn't get paid does that mean the Brewers just keep that money then? Maybe thats the money they are counting on for the japanese outfielder. Since they are over budget already i cant see them paying that for a bench player if Braun is in the opening day line up.

[burnzy24]

...and if this is the reason, he's not just coming out and saying "I have Graves disease and my treatment for this caused the failed test" because???

Because neither side can say anything. This has been explained multiple times and Braun's camp even initially stated when the report first came out they cannot say anything due to the arbitration agreement. That is why all we are hearing is from leaked sources to ESPN and "friends of Braun".