NL MVP Escapes 50 Game Suspension

Ryan Braun is off the hook; he will not serve his 50 game suspension and is cleared of all charges of using a PED (performance enhancing drug).  Does this mean he is innocent?  I couldn’t tell you.  As fans we have witnessed PED allegations towards our favorite ball players: Roger Clemens, Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McQwire, Barry Bonds.  Our nation’s pastime has forever gotten a asterisk next to it and it has taken years to try to put the steroid era past us.

Ryan Braun’s acquittal is just the starting point to the debate.  Braun is the first baseball player to ever successfully win an appeal concerning PED allegations.  When addressing his victory Ryan said, “the truth is always relevant and the truth prevailed.”  At times Braun sounded like an old recording of a Rafael Palmeiro court case.

"If I had done this intentionally or unintentionally, I'd be the first one to step up and say I did it," Braun said. "I would bet my life this substance never entered my body."

Braun’s innocence will not keep his name out of the drug testing debate.  His name will be forever linked to it even if he never took any performance enhancing drugs.  It is understandable for him to be upset and if the process was as faulty as he claims, there is a real issue.

It may not be cost efficient for the MLB to fix little process failures but they must be addressed.  There needs to be a more professional system that as Braun states, needs to be held to the same standard of perfection as the ball players.  Issues like this could tarnish a player’s image.  Even if he is wrongfully accused there will always be doubt whether or not a player partook in a PED.  In his statement, Braun makes a good case.  He was consistently tested throughout his career, even twice before in that same season.  There are extensive records of his body weight, time around the bases and training regiment.  His numbers have been consistent for the past five years.  One blip of astronomical levels of testosterone in his body, and Braun gets a target on his back.  It seems odd and deserved looking into, not blasted in the headlines.

I don’t think this will spark in increase in the use of PEDs in the league.  I don’t think that players will feel left behind because they aren’t using them.  This wont be a repeat of the 90’s.  As a whole it seems like the league is doing a better job of enforcing testing now than the were 10-15 years ago.  They have also done a better job of putting these drugs in a negative light.  What I think will transpire from this is an even more bitter relationship between the players and the MLBPA.  Your future as an athlete, your reputation, and livelihood is in the hands of these people conducting the test.  And if they mess up, you the player could the one taking the fall.  It might come down to the players, the MLBPA and the commissioner working together to find a solution to breakdowns such as this.

As a fan we don’t want to hear that a big time athlete is using drugs to improve their game.  It instills to the kids watching that they might not be good enough to play pro ball unless they are “juicing”.  The game has evolved since the 90s.  Fans have accepted that fact that not everyone is going to hit 40 plus homeruns, and you can be a great ball player without it.  

I mean look at movies like “Money Ball”, where an underdog roster competes with teams with big payrolls.  Stories like Billy Beane and the Oakland A’s would not have been better with the inclusion of PED’s.  People appreciate good stories.

So that's sports: from the fan's perspective.