Ryan Braun Busted for Steroids

[masterfins]

Not to mention the levels were astronomically high, I'm usually a skeptic, but something smells bad here.

[MaineDolFan]

^^That IS weird.

x3 higher than a steroid user.  Something wasn't right with that.  Yet, he physically shows no signs of being a user and his numbers have been the model of consistency from his rookie year to now.  No spikes in anything.  That being said...none of that is in my wheel house.  Don't know much about PEDs, so I can't speak to that. 

I can speak to testing.  I did a clinical at an STD clinic and I am very familiar with how quickly a urine sample can go bad and what can can cause a false negative or a false positive.  There is nothing worse than then feeling that you might have sent someone on the street with a false negative due to mishandling a sample.  A false positive?  Not as large a deal, the person is treated and they move on.

In this case the sample sat for over 40 hours in conditions only known to the handler.  Unacceptable.  The handler, who everyone says has been doing this a long time, should have known better.  It's as simple as that.  As soon as the sample became compromised, in any way, the validity of the test was out the window in my eyes.

[tubba marxxx]

Yeah, nothing like a technicality to absolve you of your cheating.

For the record, I was the first one to bash Braun for this (I left a comment saying how Kemp should've been MVP).  Alas, I'm enjoying my plate of crow just like everyone else.  Which brings me to the comment from bsmooth I quoted above.  After everything has been resolved and it's been proven that Braun is innocent, to label him still as a "cheater" is just ignorant.  Did you actually bother to read/watch anything on the story before making your comment?

[bsmooth]

For the record, I was the first one to bash Braun for this (I left a comment saying how Kemp should've been MVP).  Alas, I'm enjoying my plate of crow just like everyone else.  Which brings me to the comment from bsmooth I quoted above.  After everything has been resolved and it's been proven that Braun is innocent, to label him still as a "cheater" is just ignorant.  Did you actually bother to read/watch anything on the story before making your comment?

Yes, I did. He was not cleared of not using performance enhancing drugs. He was cleared on a technicality.

[EDGECRUSHER]

There are steroids you can take that leave your system VERY quickly, like within 36 hours. They are used more for recovery than adding muscle. To get an "insanely high testosterone level", you have to be taking one of those, or injecting yourself as you urinate.

There is no doubt in my mind that he was taking steroids, but there was enough doubt to overturn it. The lab guy didn't know the hours of the Fedex and should have. He kept it at the proper temperature, but it raises doubt because he had it in his possession for so long.

So, overturning the suspension was the right call LEGALLY, but Ryan Braun is still a cheater. Nobody wins.

[tubba marxxx]

Yes, I did. He was not cleared of not using performance enhancing drugs. He was cleared on a technicality.

Thank you for saying the same thing twice 

[MaineDolFan]

There are steroids you can take that leave your system VERY quickly, like within 36 hours. They are used more for recovery than adding muscle. To get an "insanely high testosterone level", you have to be taking one of those, or injecting yourself as you urinate.

This is medically false.  There are masking agents that help hide it.  The active ingredients in a yogurt don't fully leave your system in that time.  There isn't a steroid on the planet that won't leave a residual in your system after that length of time.

The testing was three times higher than any other baseball player has been busted at.  Those are some pretty large numbers, especially when you review the numbers of some of the minor league kids who have been caught.  Braun doesn't have the appearance of someone who has been cycling at that rate (nor does his performance indicate it).

I personally error on Braun's side on this one, but I also understand why people sniff and smell smoke.  Where there's smoke, there's fire.

[bsmooth]

Thank you for saying the same thing twice 

What do you want? He was not cleared from taking it. The only reason he is not being suspended is over the technicality that the sample was not sent quickly enough to the lab.
In a sport with a history of use of illegal drugs to enhance performance, this is not even close to being absolved.  So his career will resume, but there will always be a cloud that he may/may not have used performance enhancers.
If you do not like it fine, but it does not make what I said any less true.

[bsmooth]

I personally error on Braun's side on this one, but I also understand why people sniff and smell smoke.  Where there's smoke, there's fire.

Especially in a sport that has suffered through the "steroid era".

[Spider-Dan]

What do you want? He was not cleared from taking it.

In the absence of a time machine, how do you propose that Braun prove his innocence?  They took another sample after the first positive result, and it was (obviously) clean.

[badger6]

Personally, I could care less if they all juice up as much as they want. Sports is nothing more than entertainment and I want entertainment. These are adults that make and spend more money than all of us here make put together. If they want to take this stuff, it's up to them. A high percentage of athletes in all sports use this stuff who never get caught. Then when the odds finally catch up with someone and they get caught, everyone howls like no tomorrow. People worry about such silly things !!!

[masterfins]

^^^ The only problem with your point of view is that it pushes players that don't want to use steroids into using them, or eliminated from playing professional sports because they can't compete with those using steroids.  Similar to second hand smoke, I don't want to be subject to someone elses cigarette smoke when I go out to eat, etc.  I do believe players should be able to use steroids when recuperating from injuries, they would just have to have a period of not playing so many days after steroid use is discontinued.

[Landshark]

Had to bump this because another player was let off the hook for the same reason Ryan Braun was.

 http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/05/14/alfonzo-suspension-dropped.ap/index.html?xid=siextra_051412

[Sunstroke]

Yeah, but when it's a superstar major leaguer like Braun, it's news. When it's a scrub/nobody AAA catcher...not so much.

[Landshark]

Yeah, but when it's a superstar major leaguer like Braun, it's news. When it's a scrub/nobody AAA catcher...not so much.

I agree there, but with two incidents of mishandled samples, wouldn't someone in MLB want to step in and reevaluate the whole testing process?