Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Thoughts on Ryan Braun suspension

            Ryan Braun is considered by most to be one of the best players in the game, and I agree.  On July 22nd 2013 the heaviest suspension for violating the Drug and Banned Substance rules has be levied on him for admitting to using a banned substance.  While everyone is going to have an opinion one way or another about the subject and we’re going to be hearing about it on ESPN for weeks to come as the top story in sports.  Today I want to give my thoughts on how this whole thing went down and my thoughts about the other players that have been linked to the Biogenesis leaks.
            If you remember I was very against the proceedings by MLB and how they were handling the whole situation.  For now the question I guess has become do I still believe that MLB mishandled the Ryan Braun suspension?  Yes I do think they handled it wrong still but I don’t argue with the results.  Baseball has been dirty for a while now and its time it came clean and it seems that we need to do this the league needs to fight for every player that has been linked.  Showing that the players that use PED’s will get caught and not be allowed to get away with it.  I want the game clean and everyone on a even playing field and with the MLBPA and the players themselves behind the league it can happen.  I want baseball to go back to when we didn’t see a player and automatically assume that they’re cheaters.
            As for my feelings on Ryan Braun I have many different feelings.  First I’m actually proud of him in one way for actually admitting to it, he’s the first player to flat out admit it and I feel that this needs to be at least admired.  The other way I look at it is I’ve very disappointed that a player that fought so hard ended up being an actual user.  I’m not surprised that he’s a user since he did fail that last test but at the same time it’s just a disappointing situation.  In the end I’m not mad at Braun and I feel we should all move on, his punishment is a savior one and it fits the crime in a way.  I don’t believe that steroids made Ryan Braun the super star he is and yes I still think of him in that sense; bat speed, hand eye coordination, pitch recognition these are things steroids don’t aid in at all and they’re things that Braun does well.

            My final thoughts are simple: I like what Selig did and think that it’s a very appropriate punishment for the crime.  100 games was to much but this way Braun doesn’t get paid so it’s a even bigger blow than just sitting out for 50 games.  Braun himself has disappointed me but at the same time I feel we should just move on and when he comes back see how it goes from there.

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