Ryan Braun - Worst Contract in Franchise History?

[JJHardy7]

Also, every play caught in the PED scandals has initially lied about it, just like Braun. He's just the second largest profile. I mean, what was he supposed to do? He won the appeal, was he supposed to win the appeal yet come out and admit it? Also, from everything I read at the time there's still a very real chance that the mishandling is what led to such a drastically high test. Arod doing what he did with the lawsuits etc. is it's own thing.

 

Players did lie, but Braun 'bet his life' that he didn't do it. That's...so stupid IMO. That entire press conference makes him look so bad. He didn't need to do any of that and still fight it if he wanted to do it.

 

I honestly think if he handled it better his reputation would be completely different IMO. He got some bad advice from someone.

[tmwiese55]

Not to go too far off subject but I wonder why Tom Brady can essentially lie and throw a couple ball boys under the bus and not receive any crap about it. I understand those dudes did actually deflate the ball, obviously at Brady's request, but that doesn't make Brady's actions relating to them any less wienie like.

 

and most people in the general public seem to have a shrug the shoulder mentality on it, like oh who cares its just a little air out of the ball. Yet a guy like Braun is a pariah. It's the media getting people worked up in a frenzy about MLB PED use. To me it's all hypocritical and just doesn't make sense. They really need to kill this story as it's giving constant bad PR to a great game, and at this time the game can't afford the negative press.

[JJHardy7]

and most people in the general public seem to have a shrug the shoulder mentality on it, like oh who cares its just a little air out of the ball. Yet a guy like Braun is a pariah. It's the media getting people worked up in a frenzy about MLB PED use. To me it's all hypocritical and just doesn't make sense. They really need to kill this story as it's giving constant bad PR to a great game, and at this time the game can't afford the negative press.

 

Braun brought the bad press upon himself. I don't see what the media had to do with this? Let's watch the press conference again:

 

 

Some interesting quotes from the press conference...

 

If I had done this intentionally or unintentionally, I’d be the first one to step up and say, ‘I did it.’ By no means am I perfect, but if I’ve ever made any mistakes in my life I’ve taken responsibility for my actions. I truly believe in my heart, and I would bet my life, that this substance never entered my body at any point.

 

I will continue to take the high road because that’s who I am, and that’s the way that I’ve lived my life. We won because the truth is on my side. The truth is always relevant, and at the end of the day the truth prevailed. I am a victim of a process that completely broke down and failed the way it was applied to me in this 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 opposite of the American judicial system – it’s not an innocent until proven guilty situation. So if we’re held to that standard, it’s only fair that everybody else is held to that exact same standard. With what’s at stake – this is my livelihood, this is my integrity, this is my character, this is everything that I’ve worked for in my life being called into question – we need to make sure that we get it right. If you’re going to be in a position where you’re 100 percent guilty until proven innocent, you can’t mess up. And today’s about making sure that this never happens to anybody else who plays this game.

 

Ultimately, as I sit here today, the system worked because I am innocent, and I was able to prove my innocence. After today I look forward to returning my focus to the game of baseball, being able to get back with my teammates, allowing my life to return to some sense of normalcy and focusing on helping our team get back to the post-season.

[MrTPlush]

No the PED scandal is not irrelevant to his contract. It is one of the most important things. What is irrelevant is arguing whether or not he deserves what he got...because it doesn't matter. Braun is a cheater, a liar, and a coward. The Brewers didn't give him that contract because of on the field play during the contract. It was for all the off the field benefits they would cash in on.

 

These kind of contracts aren't signed for on the field value only. They are signed for much much more. So to say all this PED drama is BS and doesn't matter is horribly inaccurate and plain wrong.

 

I get it you are like many that wish it would all just dissappear. Sadly it never will and we all will have to live with that. The reason he is behind A-Rod is not because of just his talent when he was busted. It is because he was the second biggest POS about it. That is why he gets dragged through the mud so much.

 

Personally no matter what he does on the field this contract will always be bad in my mind. For some it may be different...most notably the people that try to rationalize what he did and support him. That is fine...but I can never support a guy like him.

[tmwiese55]

you're supporting guys like him all over, you just don't know it. the media and MLB have put it right in your face though so I understand how it's tough to ignore.

 

Brady did the same press conference as Braun, lying about it. Everyone every caught has lied about it until they couldn't lie anymore. Braun is just like everyone else. Look up what Melky Cabrera did. Yea Braun in hindsight shouldn't have said anything and just thanked the process for clearing him and moved on. But if you're in his spot at the time how can you not try to save your image, then he came out and had his best season yet. If MLB wasn't going out of their mind trying to dig up bad press he'd have been fine.

 

Plush, you're right that it definitely affects the money that can be made off him and therefore the contract. That has become the reality that the old school media and subsequently MLB with their overcorrection have caused. I just wish people would see the big picture and not immediately get caught up on it and all angry about something that isn't that big a deal. I mean, they don't get worked up when Brady deflates a football, when a football player fails a steroid test, when anyone fails a recreational drug test, when a pitcher illegally takes sweat off his forearm and onto the ball, that NBA basically has not drug testing. Yet Braun is like the devil and can't be supported. Probably half that 2011 was taking something that was technically illegal, probably half the guys on the cardinals they lost to as well.

[Thurston Fluff]

Braun brought the bad press upon himself. I don't see what the media had to do with this? Let's watch the press conference again:

 

Now put that up against what Brady has done since he got caught. Are you really going to say Brady denying he so much as knew who the ball boy was, let alone using him to deflate balls, isn't a pretty crappy thing to do? I am not arguing what Braun did wasn't wieniesque. It was. He deserved every bit of what he got. I am just saying what Brady did to those ball boys was as bad and he should be getting hammered the same. Yet he isn't getting near the flack for it Braun got. Just seems like a double standard with football and baseball. Hell look at the way steroid cheaters are treated in both leagues by fans, the league and the media. Can anyone even name the NFL guys who were caught recently. Hint there are plenty to choose from since Braun got caught. Even the penalty is less in the NFL. That doesn't even touch how the fans and media treat them. Shaun Merriman got caught and suspended yet was in the top five in voting for defensive player of the year that very same season. In baseball it pretty much disqualifies a player from ever getting a sniff of it ever again.

[homer]

No the PED scandal is not irrelevant to his contract. It is one of the most important things. What is irrelevant is arguing whether or not he deserves what he got...because it doesn't matter. Braun is a cheater, a liar, and a coward. The Brewers didn't give him that contract because of on the field play during the contract. It was for all the off the field benefits they would cash in on.

.

 

What off field benefits would they cash in on? And how would they surpass the on field benefits?

[The stache]

Yount was with us since he was 18, and was a MVP and gold glove guy at SS and CF. Braun was the better hitter by far. Yount the better face of the franchise guy IMHO. Id love to see the sales data of 8 jerseys pre and post 2013.

 

Whoa, wait a second. LOL, I'm as big a Yount fan as there is. But calling Yount a "Gold Glove guy" is a little ridiculous. He won ONE Gold Glove in a 20 year career. Braun was the Gold Glove runner up just a few years ago. For all the dissing you're doing of Braun, he was a few votes from having just as many Gold Gloves as Yount did in two decades of baseball.

 

By the way, the "1-2 WAR guy" went 2-4 with a double, a 3 run home run and 4 RBI tonight. Must be a hell of a "micro streak" he's on, as he's on a pace for 36 home runs and 109 RBI. He's currently 7th in the NL in home runs, and 6th in RBI one-quarter of the way into the season.

 

Must be on hell of a supplier, huh?

[3and2Fastball]

I hope Braun keeps raking so we can trade him. His contract isn't all that bad for a big market team if he can hit 30 HR's a year

[pacopete4]

I hope Braun just keeps hitting for how many years he wants to play, eventually becomes our 1B and/or DH after the new commish changes that rules and retires a Brewer with at least one more MVP trophy, a World Series trophy, and a trip to the HOF leaving him the greatest Brewer there has ever been.

[The stache]

Highly disagree with your assessment on Braun. I couldn't find Braun's exact rank as a prospect when he was a prep, but it sounds like he was toward the back of Top 100 lists. NOT ELITE...Then anything once he got to Miami might as well be thrown out the window. Sounds like he got into the PED game pretty quickly there.

 

Being towards "the back of the top 100 list" in America isn't elite? Wow. That's news to me. Do you have any idea how many kids play high school baseball across America? If you're listed as one of the top 100 baseball players in the country as a high school player, guess what: you're elite.

 

Braun attended Granada Hills High School in Granada Hills, Los Angeles, California. He was a four-year letterman on the school's baseball team, and three-year team captain and Most Valuable Player (MVP). He played shortstop, and pitched through his junior year. As a sophomore in 2000, he recorded the highest batting average of his prep career (.456), while posting a .654 on-base percentage (OBP). During his junior year, he hit .421, with a .668 OBP. Braun capped off his high school career by batting .451 as a senior, with an OBP of .675, and breaking the school record for career home runs with 25.[3]

 

He was a two-time all-area selection by the Los Angeles Times, and a three-time choice by the Los Angeles Daily News. As a senior, Braun was rated the sixth-best shortstop prospect in the country by Team One Baseball, and among the top 100 overall prospects by Baseball America.[4] He graduated in 2002, but went undrafted as he told teams that he intended to attend college.

 

Sixth-best shortstop prospect in the entire country coming out of high school. He was an elite prospect before he ever got to Miami. Yes, he's been a baseball superstar his entire life. Or, would you like me to go find some articles about Braun in Pee Wee baseball, too, Mr. T Plush?

 

Have we become this cynical in our society where a guy uses something he shouldn't have to heal an injury, and immediately we assume that he's used his entire career? Is it possible? Yes, absolutely. Is it likely that Braun has been using since college, throughout the minors, and five years in the Majors, and yet nobody has seen him doing something he shouldn't have, or spotted a shady character, or overheard something said that would indicate Braun as a steroid user? There's a reason why there weren't any rumblings about Braun prior to 2011. This guy had one of the best starts of any hitter in the history of Major league Baseball. He had the highest slugging percentage of any rookie in the history of the game. Higher than Ted Williams, or Jimmie Foxx, higher than DiMaggio, or Gehrig, higher than Pujols, or Bonds, or Mays, or Aaron. The guy has been hitting ever since he stepped onto the field.

 

Get this through your heads, people. Ryan Braun is a special baseball player. Ok, he's only average defensively, though a few times he's been a finalist for the Gold Glove. That means he was one of the best two or three at his position defensively in the League, where there are some 15-20 players that get substantial playing time at the position. No, he's never going to get mistaken for Al Kaline or Roberto Clemente in right field. And yes, he's been nominated at positions that weren't nearly as demanding as shortstop, or third base, catcher, or second base. Ok, he makes a few mistakes from time to time. Yes, he doesn't always take the greatest path to the ball. But he hits 35-40 home runs when he's healthy. He's been an MVP, an MVP runner up (AFTER testing positive, and being watched under a microscope by MLB, mind you), and a third place finisher in the MVP. And occasionally, he makes spectacular plays in the outfield. I see them. Funny, Ted Williams was the greatest hitter in the game's history, yet he was a surprisingly average fielder. He was disinterested. He's stand in the field working on his swing. Yet nobody ever harps on his defense when the all-time greats are discussed.

 

Braun has had one bad season...ONE...in a Major League career that started back in 2007 (hmm, meaning he's in his ninth season in the Majors), and people immediately dismiss everything he's done because he used an illegal drug to try and heal a nagging injury for the Brewers once in a decade playoff push.

 

The guy is one of the greatest hitters of this generation. Average fielder, or slightly below average fielder, meh. Amazing to me how much people want to diss this guy. He's been the best player we've had in the last thirty years. He took less money to stay here. He's started businesses in Milwaukee. So, he's not perfect. Guess what? Baseball players aren't trying out for the priesthood. They're professional athletes. And when there are other athletes killing people, or beating their girlfriends, or raping women at dance clubs, lying about taking a drug that was meant to get him back to normal health, and nothing more, while bad, doesn't even compare with some of the horrible crap I've seen other athletes do. I'm not excusing it by any means. It angered me that he cheated. But a little perspective. You people that are still delighting in every opportunity to bash this guy, or put him down--get over yourselves!

 

I think some of you people are really negative, cynical human beings STILL looking to pile on a guy that has had everything he's done for the last three years plus scrutinized. He's paid his dues, and then some.

 

"Well, he's had a micro hot-streak".

 

No, he hasn't! He destroyed the ball in spring training. When this season started, he crashed into a wall on opening day, and got dinged up a little. It happens. And, he was facing the best pitchers in the game while healing up. And trying to work on his swing mechanics. He's been pretty freaking spectacular since April 28th. That's over 3 weeks where he's been crushing the ball.

 

That's 20 games. That's 1/8th of the season.

 

The last twenty games, the Brewers are 11-9. Over .500. And Braun?

 

.288 AVG (21 for 73), 18 runs scored, 3 doubles, 8 home runs, 23 RBI, 10 walks, 16 strikeouts, 3/3 steals, 48 bases.

 

His slash line is .374 OBP, .658 SLG, 1.032 OPS.

 

Ryan Braun has been spectacular for a pretty good chunk of the season. Now, he's going to cool down in the power department. But maybe his batting average climbs some, too. All things considered, he's playing pretty darned well. He's the best power hitter we have...by far.

 

Can't we forego the "well, he's hitting home runs again, so he must just have a better supplier" BS, and see what happens? Please?

[3and2Fastball]

He's been pretty freaking spectacular since April 28th. That's over 3 weeks where he's been crushing the ball.

 

That's 20 games. That's 1/8th of the season.

 

The last twenty games, the Brewers are 11-9. Over .500. And Braun?

 

.288 AVG (21 for 73), 18 runs scored, 3 doubles, 8 home runs, 23 RBI, 10 walks, 16 strikeouts, 3/3 steals, 48 bases.

 

His slash line is .374 OBP, .658 SLG, 1.032 OPS.

 

Ryan Braun has been spectacular for a pretty good chunk of the season. Now, he's going to cool down in the power department. But maybe his batting average climbs some, too. All things considered, he's playing pretty darned well. He's the best power hitter we have...by far.

 

Can't we forego the "well, he's hitting home runs again, so he must just have a better supplier" BS, and see what happens? Please?

 

 

Your points are well made. It would be great to see him continue playing like he has

 

Personally I think the increase in oppo HR's as opposed to pull HR's is a very good thing and a sign of him getting better or smarter. Pitchers are throwing outside to him. He stands way off the plate. Pitching inside to him is a ball.

[superfly]

I hope Braun keeps raking so we can trade him. His contract isn't all that bad for a big market team if he can hit 30 HR's a year

 

Trade EVVVVVVVVVVVVVVERYONE. Just trade them all, and send 5 grasshoppers out as SP and 8 ants out into the field as positional players. We don't need anyone anyway.

 

Can we please put this thread to bed already? I can't believe the debate has actually gone on this long. It's laughable to think this is the worst contract in franchise history.

[The stache]

Braun is a cheater, a liar, and a coward. The Brewers didn't give him that contract because of on the field play during the contract. It was for all the off the field benefits they would cash in on.

 

These kind of contracts aren't signed for on the field value only. They are signed for much much more. So to say all this PED drama is BS and doesn't matter is horribly inaccurate and plain wrong.

 

 

Yes, the majority of the contracts paid to baseball players are for their on the field value, and if you don't believe that, you're even more foolish than I first believed. Yes, the other stuff--marketability/likability--that certainly comes into it, too. The face of the franchise, whoever that may be, helps to sell tickets. Public relations is a big part of any sport.

 

But you know what the ultimate ticket seller is?

 

Winning.

 

You can have Captain America starting in right field. He can look like Brad Pitt, bang supermodels as often as we change socks. His teeth can be perfect. He might even get walk on roles in Hollywood films. Gosh, he can be the most likable guy in America. He can sell us Fruit of the Loom underwear, tell us to wash down our Popeyes Chicken with a nice, cold Coca Cola while kicking our feet up to watch the big game on our Sony televisions. All that is fine and good. But, if he's hitting .230 with 5 home runs, and the team is 20 games below .500, nobody is going to give two spits about how likable he is. Winning puts butts in the seats. There are towns where people just love their teams, like Green Bay, and the games sell out regardless of how the team is doing. The Packers sold out even when the Lombardi days were a distant memory, and long before Brett Favre, Reggie White, Mike Holmgren and Ron Wolf ever descended on Titletown. But the Packers are the exception to the rule.

 

Winning is the cure all. You can have a team that dresses like slobs, their uniforms dirty, their manners lacking. If they win, you call them "the Gashouse Gang", and call them eccentric.

 

The Brewers didn't pay Ryan Braun all that money because they thought he was a swell guy. They paid him that money because he was an MVP candidate that hit the baseball into the seats with startling frequency. They did it because finding comparable talent at that dollar figure was an impossibility. Sure, the other stuff was a plus, and I'm sure they had a lot of Ryan Braun bobblehead days planned that had to be scrapped. But if Braun keeps hitting the ball out of the park, then I guarantee you that Mark Attanasio won't feel one bit upset that he signed that guy to the amount of contract he did. Now, the rest of the team might suck, but Braun hitting home runs will still put butts in the seat. Hell, if he hits 25 more home runs this year, people will buy tickets just so they can come out to the ballpark and boo him. The end result is the same. The team makes money.

[MrTPlush]

You really believe he only took them in 2011? I am sorry but he went to college in Miami where Biogenesis was down the street. The baseball team was so drugged up it was unbelievable. Not to mention Ryan Braun had a little relationship with A-Rod. Maybe he only took them in college...maybe it was on and off all this time...maybe he has been on it all this time. Regardless I think it would be a bit crazy to think 2011 he went out searching for some help. I feel like if it was that minor he wouldn't have thrown people under the bus, made his friends look like idiots, and embarrass the franchise.

 

Braun is a special player no doubt...so was Bonds...so was A-Rod. Sadly these guys decided to make a disgrace of themselves and the game they played. The former two were obvious HOF picks, but now they will go down as losers and rightfully so. Braun could have taken the high road after the PED test. He could have came out, admitted it, and gave up the MVP award. Instead he took the lowest road possible.

 

People are only treating Braun the way he treated baseball, the system, and fans through this whole debacle. Like I said feel free the support him. That is perfectly acceptable because I see that side of the argument. However it isn't wrong for someone to hate the guy. There are valid reason for that too.

[MrTPlush]

No the PED scandal is not irrelevant to his contract. It is one of the most important things. What is irrelevant is arguing whether or not he deserves what he got...because it doesn't matter. Braun is a cheater, a liar, and a coward. The Brewers didn't give him that contract because of on the field play during the contract. It was for all the off the field benefits they would cash in on.

.

 

What off field benefits would they cash in on? And how would they surpass the on field benefits?

 

Simply put you pay Gerardo Parra $7mil for his performance value. He doesn't provide anything else(I don't see people go to the park to see Parra or buy his jersey). When you shell out $100mil to one player you plan to get more than just some good baseball. You want to cash in on a lot more. Ryan Braun was the ultimate marketing piece. The guy was homegrown and a HUGE hit with fans. Braun was being set up to be the next Yount, who the Brewers STILL benefit from.

 

The way I see it when he got busted the Brewers watched millions of dollars in the future get flushed down the toilet.

[3and2Fastball]

.

 

The way I see it when he got busted the Brewers watched millions of dollars in the future get flushed down the toilet.

 

 

It is a fairly reasonable assumption that Braun was on roids at Miami. But I guarantee you that if he was, the Brewers completely knew about it and selected him anyways. They knew there was some risk there. It wasn't like they were duped

[The stache]

You really believe he only took them in 2011? I am sorry but he went to college in Miami where Biogenesis was down the street. The baseball team was so drugged up it was unbelievable. Not to mention Ryan Braun had a little relationship with A-Rod. Maybe he only took them in college...maybe it was on and off all this time...maybe he has been on it all this time. Regardless I think it would be a bit crazy to think 2011 he went out searching for some help. I feel like if it was that minor he wouldn't have thrown people under the bus, made his friends look like idiots, and embarrass the franchise.

 

Braun is a special player no doubt...so was Bonds...so was A-Rod. Sadly these guys decided to make a disgrace of themselves and the game they played. The former two were obvious HOF picks, but now they will go down as losers and rightfully so. Braun could have taken the high road after the PED test. He could have came out, admitted it, and gave up the MVP award. Instead he took the lowest road possible.

 

People are only treating Braun the way he treated baseball, the system, and fans through this whole debacle. Like I said feel free the support him. That is perfectly acceptable because I see that side of the argument. However it isn't wrong for someone to hate the guy. There are valid reason for that too.

 

Well, then, why not just assume that Derek Jeter did PEDs, too. He not only "had a relationship" with Rodriguez, but he played alongside him every day for 11 of the past 12 years. Or, is Jeter too squeaky clean? And how do you know that he Miami team was "so drugged up, it was unbelievable?" Were you there in the locker room, testing them day in, day out? Or, perhaps are you guilty of a little hyperbole?

 

I'm sorry, but the whole "Balco was right down the street from U of M" is analogous to saying "every teenager in this project is a block away from a guy selling dope on the street corner, therefore all the kids are doing drugs."

 

Is mere proximity to illegal activity now a sure fire sign of guilt? Well hell, let's just tell the cops to haul everybody living in a neighborhood with drugs into jail. And anybody who played football, or baseball, for Miami while Balco's doors were open.

 

If Major League Baseball wasn't doing a bang up job of testing Braun before 2011, they sure locked down on him in 2012. You better believe that every time Braun turned around, he was being tested. Did they find any signs of a banned substance in his blood in 2012? Nope. Yet he had another MVP caliber season. What could one infer from that? Well, for one, Ryan Braun, who we all agree is a spectacular hitter (and naturally gifted) is able to perform at the highest level as a Major League Baseball player without taking anything illegal. If this is true, why, then, would he take a PED in 2011 when he could perform at the highest level without them? For that fun, added possibility of being busted? Why would he ever take a PED?

 

Baseball is a long season. A hell of a long season. If we are to assume that Ryan Braun has been taking PEDs since coming to the Majors in 2007, then we must, also, assume that for five years of his pro career, he was able to properly mask those drugs without incident. Yet when it came to the post season of 2011, what, he suddenly screwed up? Or, he thought that they wouldn't test in the post season? I'm sure he was tested in 2008 when the Brewers were, too, in the playoffs.

 

It doesn't add up logically. Braun by the 2011 post season, if he had been taking all along, would have by then been one of the best drug maskers in the known world. I have a hard time believing that day in, day out for five years (plus the time he spent in the minors) he did this bang up job of masking his piss, and then suddenly, one day in the fall of 2011, he dropped the ball. Really?

 

I find it much easier to accept, from the perspective of logic, that he used the one time in the 2011 post season (or a few times towards the end of the 2011 season leading into the post season), and then goofed somewhere along the way, and then got busted.

 

Isn't it easier to assume that somebody new to masking drugs is more likely to get caught than somebody who's been doing it for five years...or more?

 

I've been taking testosterone for the last two years now. Doctor's orders. Once a week, I stick myself with a needle.

 

The first couple of times I did it, I had questions. I might have goofed something up. I may have forgotten to use alcohol to swab my leg, or the vial top. Maybe I squeezed the flesh of my leg, or my abdomen, incorrectly. But after two years of doing it, I've got the procedure down cold. I could do it in my sleep. Walk into the bathroom, close the door. Pull the T vial out of the box. Pull a needle out of the bag. Pull an alcohol pad out of the box. Wash my hands. Pull the needle out of the sterile wrapper. Pull the wipe out, clean off the top of the vial, then my leg. Stick the needle in, draw the medicine out. Stick my leg (or whichever site I've rotated to). Etc etc etc. I've done it enough times where I don't have to think about it. The likelihood of my forgetting something important are next to nil.

 

But when I first started out, I forgot things all the time. I had to think every step through.

 

Who is more likely to get busted for PEDs? The guy that's been doing it for years, has an "agent" advising him, buying the stuff for him, and telling him what to do, or...somebody who's relatively new to the whole thing?

 

It's just more fun for some people to think "oh sure, Braun's a scum bag. He's a liar. A cheat. He kicks puppies, and squeezes the gums of newborn babies. He's just an evil, evil human being, and his being busted is just the tip of the iceberg. He went to Miami University, and there were drugs down the street! Why, he's been using since college. Hell, he's probably responsible for the people in charge at Coca Cola switching to that new formula, too. Bah!"

 

It's always more fun for some people to assume the worst. Maybe thinking Braun is this terrible human being makes you feel better about yourself, T Plush. I don't know. All I know is that you cross the line from somebody who hates him, to somebody who hates him, and seemingly takes great satisfaction from reminding people time and time again just how much you hate him.

 

To me...that is pathological.

 

Braun lied, and he got busted. Lots of people lie. It sucks. But at some point, now that you've established this level of vitriol you have for Braun, maybe, I don't know, give it a rest for a bit?

 

You can hate him all you want. You can have your little Ryan Braun dartboard, and throw for his eyes for all I care.

[homer]

Pretty sure this thread has run its course. Time to move on, people.