Via ESPN: ”A month after acknowledging only that he made “mistakes,” Ryan Braun admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs during his NL MVP season of 2011. The suspended Milwaukee slugger said he took a cream and a lozenge containing banned substances while rehabilitating an injury. ”It was a huge mistake for which I am deeply ashamed and I compounded the situation by not admitting my mistakes immediately,” Braun said in a statement released by the Brewers. “
“By coming forward when I did and waiving my right to appeal any sanctions that were going to be imposed, I knew I was making the correct decision and taking the first step in the right direction. It was important to me to begin my suspension immediately to minimize the burden on everyone I had so negatively affected — my teammates, the entire Brewers organization, the fans and all of MLB.” ”After my interview with MLB in late June of this year, I came to the realization that it was time to come to grips with the truth,” he said. “I was never presented with baseball’s evidence against me, but I didn’t need to be, because I knew what I had done.”
So people are all up in arms with Ryan Braun’s apology. They hate it, don’t believe it, what him to be more apologetic, blah, blah, blah. Look, I’ve said it many times on this blog. Steroids and PEDs suck, but baseball let this happen. They didn’t create this beast but they fed it at every chance they could. Now, as they try to crack down, people seem to be disappointed that these players are still taking them, lying about them and probably feel little to no remorse about what happened. And why should they? Ryan Braun makes $20 million a year to play baseball. The organization that he works for, the fans, his teammates and the MLB expect him to be great. They NEED him to be great. If he doesn’t perform, articles will surface about him being over-hyped, overpaid, lazy and all the adjectives that come with under achievement. So what is he to do? What happens when he feels himself slipping late in the season? What happens when he starts slowing down? What happens when he watches another young prospect come into the league and threaten his spot as an All-Star? This is simply my opinion on the dilemma that baseball players, and athletes everywhere, face on a daily basis now. I’m not condoning it, I’m just stating a position. Sure Skip Shumaker is pissed that people are getting caught using steroids who make a shit ton of money. He didn’t do steroids or take PEDs, sure, but he’s making $1.5 million and will never be tasked with being the star player for a team. It’s a different feeling when all the pressure is on you to perform. Some people handle it by working harder, some people make decisions to cheat. I’m not saying cheating is the way to go, but in the MLB, where cheating is what brought this game back from the strike of 1994 and made the game interesting again, it’s an option. So what Braun will miss the rest of the season. The Brewers suck, he’s still making $20 million and he’ll still be the most popular guy on the Brewers next year. He’ll succeed again and if he comes through for his team, all will be forgotten. Sure they’ll be those fans who will hate him until he dies, but that’s their prerogative. Ryan Braun is just the latest to get caught, won’t be the last and we should all just move on.
