They said his levels were the highest of all time and doubled the most amount... I mean, even if he didn't mean to take them (every athlete says that), his career is tainted because of ESPN trying to be the first source to report it.. So sad..
So... Consider the source, but: http://www.terezowens.com/more-on-ryan-brauns-herpes-situation/ Well, if true, this is awkward.
Eh, not that awkward these days, when one in four or five Americans has herpes. A little more awkward because he's well-known, sure, but I know Jeter has herpes because Jessica Alba caught it from him. Price of celebrity. Now to go laugh at the fact that while Braun has a temporary MVP trophy, I don't have warts on my dick.
He won his appeal: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7608360/ryan-braun-wins-appeal-50-game-suspension
Good for him since he doesn't have to sit out 50 games. Downside though is now everyone knows he has herpes
Read this page, it was a rumor as to why he failed the test. According to ESPN, he got off by attacking the exchange of the samples along the way, not the actual positive result. Basically saying it could have been compromised along the way.
What I don't understand about this is they found out he had like 4 times the amount of testosterone in his test. Why would they just assume the test was correct? That seems like a major red flag that something wasn't right with that sample. When you have an outlier like that in a laboratory, you do more trials. You don't just jump to a conclusion.
Reports that the MLB front office is livid resulted in me making sweet sweet love to my wife last night. Best news I've heard all week!
Innocent or guilty, MLB sound really incompetent in all of this. Braun had offered to take a 2nd test and a DNA test. MLB refused.
Chain of custody... sorry, but you can leave the MVP's urine in your fridge overnight before dropping it off at Fedex.
The article never mentions herpes, and certainly doesn't paint a clear picture one way or the other. A lot of the article points to the fact that despite the policy not being followed to the T, the results still were what they were and the policy mishap shouldn't have impacted them. Alternatively it appears as if Braun offered to do a lot to prove he was innocent, some (or all) of which MLB refused to consider?? I don't know who to believe. I do think the one point with regards to clean athletes is fair. IF Braun did cheat, this is a slap in the face to clean athletes.
I've never really cared about PEDs in baseball. It's entertainment. It's not like anyone cares about football players juicing. I think it's stupid that some people think that he should be suspended anyway, or that the fact that he used a technicality to get off is somehow an admission of guilt. Fact is, pointing out the procedural **** up was simply the easiest way to win his case. That doesn't mean he's admitting to using, just that the best way to win was to invalidate the means used to determine his guilt.
I'm torn. No evidence of contamination, but the opportunity did exist, and the results are amplified. Urine samples sit around all the time, so that's not a big deal, other than this collector had an opportunity. Though i suspect he just made a poor decision. Braun probably did it, but there is definately doubt. So I think the arbitrator made the right decision. But for Braun to tell me he didn't get stronger, faster, that's a bit silly when you have an MVP trophy that he didn't have before. A simple solution is to put him into a higher class of testing ( increased frequency ) and see what happens so that he can prove his innocence to the doubters, and baseball is assured he's not cheating. Maybe that's unfair to Braun, but this is the path to clear his name. Anything less and I believe 50% of the people will still think he did it, right or wrong.