Why is Ryan Braun so hated?

[Warning Track Power]

To me there is an enormous difference between making a one off mistake, a guy makes a bad choice on one particular night and takes something he shouldn't, and a guy who is just a shady individual who says all the right things but won't hesitate to get away with anything he can. I think Braun is clearly in the latter category.

 

Do you believe that if Braun were able to go back to the beginning of his career, he would say, "I'm not going to do that again." ?

 

I don't believe that for a second. I believe he would say, "I'm going to do it again, but I'm going to be a lot more careful this time."

This entire post makes assumptions about Braun's nature and who he is as a person. What has he done in the past 5 years (since he accepted his suspension) makes you believe this? Unless you know Braun personally or know someone who does, I don't think you can make this assertion based on anything other than opinion.

 

I'm fairly certain that all of us are making assumptions about Braun's nature and who he is as a person. He accepted his suspension because he was left with no choice, and I make my assumptions on what I believe he was up to since his Miami days.

 

You're free to believe what you want as well, but I will say that pulling off a good guy act for the sake of appearance is not a difficult thing to do. Sammy Sosa managed to pull it off for years, all the while he was roiding and on at least one occasion, bat corking.

Fair enough but I will take someone based on their actions over the past decade rather than assume he’s a certain way. Call it naivety but I prefer that over cynicism.

[JosephC]

I see what you're saying. If it's true IDK, someone else can read deeper. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're essentially saying this horrible handling fell within what his company protocol told him to do, even if that protocol was terrible and not compliant with CBA it was within the parameters of his instructions. I've thought not on this, but I don't know either way for sure but just common sense wise I can't believe that would be acceptable handling for a company to make it far enough to be handling for MLB but dumber stuff has certainly happened

 

Laurenzi held the sample because it was too close to the FedEx deadline for overnight shipping. Let's say that it's your sample that has been collected. Would you rather have the sample held by the sample collector who can put it in his basement where only he and his wife has access, and that person is documented as having responsibility for the integrity of the sample? Or would you rather the sample be left at a FedEx office for 24 hours, where any number of random employees could access the sample or it could wind up in the back of a hot truck/storeroom over that timeframe?

 

If the guy is taking it home he should have to refrigerate it and then take it in immediately when able. Not leave it in a car trunk until the afternoon on a hot day. If it's take to Fedex and get sent out first thing next morning or have him hold it for 2.5 days unrefrigerated and then outdoors in the heat, I probably go Fedex. If Fedex is trusted with chain of custody for the duration of normal shipping why wouldn't they be trusted to hold it from 6pm to 6am the next morning? If not, then MLB should hire all their own people to handle all of this.

 

But as Plush was saying, maybe all these things he did were within his company instructions then he personally did nothing wrong (which is what we're discussing here), I just can't imagine this type of holding was the recommended way of doing it.

 

Again, we all know Braun did it, No one is claiming innocence.

 

The sample was not left in a car trunk for 1/2 day. Where did that come from? Maybe because Braun stated something to the effect of, "maybe the guy left it in the trunk of his car" during the infamous press conference. Bottom line is that the sample handling was done properly and the end result was correct. Braun was using and his result was a positive, and the samples collected from the other two players came up clean because they weren't using (or smart enough to be using in a way that they wouldn't get caught).

[JosephC]

I think it was proven that these variations in temperature can change test results though. They either recreated or used an Olympic person who had recreated it as 'evidence'. Again, in this case it was BS so it doesn't matter but I think they scientifically proved handling of this nature can change results (though of course not every time, just that it's possible). One would think they've cleaned up this process greatly after this whole fiasco. I've spent too much time on this already so don't want to verify if this memory was correct or not, so I'm not gonna be too bold or anything. But I remember the crappy handling correctly, so at least a decent chance I'm right, as long as it wasn't BS to begin with

 

Parks and Rec joke that popped in my head after reading the 'low road' line. From Aziz, "I always tell people to take the high road. Then there's more room for me on the low road"

 

If simply using the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio, then sample handling can impact the result of a positive/negative result. But that wasn't the only test involved here. Once Braun's testosterone/epitestosterone ratio was flagged as positive, the carbon isotope ratio was then tested to see if the source of the testosterone was naturally produced from within his body or was introduced from an external source. When both of those tests came up positive, chances were 99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% that Braun was using regardless of the samples storage conditions. When the testing was detailed in articles at the time, before Braun admitted guilt, I was completely convinced that Braun was a PED user based on the science and the current technologies being used. IMO, the result was about as reliable as DNA evidence in a criminal trial. I give credit to Braun's legal team for finding the loophole that temporarily got him off the hook.

[tmwiese55]

Laurenzi held the sample because it was too close to the FedEx deadline for overnight shipping. Let's say that it's your sample that has been collected. Would you rather have the sample held by the sample collector who can put it in his basement where only he and his wife has access, and that person is documented as having responsibility for the integrity of the sample? Or would you rather the sample be left at a FedEx office for 24 hours, where any number of random employees could access the sample or it could wind up in the back of a hot truck/storeroom over that timeframe?

 

If the guy is taking it home he should have to refrigerate it and then take it in immediately when able. Not leave it in a car trunk until the afternoon on a hot day. If it's take to Fedex and get sent out first thing next morning or have him hold it for 2.5 days unrefrigerated and then outdoors in the heat, I probably go Fedex. If Fedex is trusted with chain of custody for the duration of normal shipping why wouldn't they be trusted to hold it from 6pm to 6am the next morning? If not, then MLB should hire all their own people to handle all of this.

 

But as Plush was saying, maybe all these things he did were within his company instructions then he personally did nothing wrong (which is what we're discussing here), I just can't imagine this type of holding was the recommended way of doing it.

 

Again, we all know Braun did it, No one is claiming innocence.

 

The sample was not left in a car trunk for 1/2 day. Where did that come from? Maybe because Braun stated something to the effect of, "maybe the guy left it in the trunk of his car" during the infamous press conference. Bottom line is that the sample handling was done properly and the end result was correct. Braun was using and his result was a positive, and the samples collected from the other two players came up clean because they weren't using (or smart enough to be using in a way that they wouldn't get caught).

 

As I said, it was dropped off 1:30 in the afternoon, that's half the day. Now in the 4-5 articles I clicked the other night I didn't see specifications on where it was for that day before 1:30. But just my memory from back then was that he went to his normal job and it was in his trunk and it was a hot-ish day. Could be wrong, but I was right about the basement not being refrigerated so my memory might be ok on it. If leaving something sit unrefrigerated for two days and (possibly in a trunk for a half day) is standard protocol then something needs to change.