April 1, 2014
In December 2011, Milwaukee Brewers’ All-Star fielder
Ryan Braun tested positive for extensive testosterone levels (which is included
in the MLB’s forbidden performance enhancing drugs). He adamantly appealed the
ruling of the charges at a press conference claiming the test results must be a
mistake (all the while wearing a sleazy leather jacket). Ultimately, he told
everybody he didn’t do steroids, plain and simple.
He blamed the botched testing procedure as the reason his
test appeared positive. I didn’t pay attention to this press conference (below) because
I wasn’t buying his appeal. Blaming the process for your positive test? That
screamed out bogus to me (cop-out anyone?). How the sample was handled– that’s
why the test came in positive, he said. Or it came up positive because it found
something they were testing for. It was one of the two. I didn’t know the
handling of a sample could bring about an opposite result… but on a
technicality, Braun got off the hook and his suspension was dropped. His name
still appeared reputable at large.
After this admission, one should wonder: Isn’t it a
little late for that now?
The Milwaukee Brewers’ playoff aspirations were
dismantled for the season as they lost their All-Star fielder and the team
faced the distraction of Braun’s baggage all year long. That’s all anyone
really wanted to talk about in regards to Milwaukee.
Fast-forward to now, following his season-long suspension,
on March 31st, 2014, Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, the
Brewers opened the season at home. “Hitting third for the Brewers, Ryan Braun.”
How do you think he was received?
Sickeningly enough, the crowd gave the man, the same man guilty
of cheating, the same man that lied about it, the same man who ruined their team’s
season, the same man who provided a distraction for the team ever since the
failed test, the crowd gave this same man a standing ovation. I was stunned in awe.
Really? Even for the homecrowd, I’m confused, asking, Really?
Were you folks of Milwaukee cheering after the test came
back positive and the suspension came down? Seems pretty hypocritical, at the
least.
Greg Amsinger of MLB Network said: “I thought of all the
kids at the game asking their fathers ‘Daddy, why are we standing and clapping?’”
Really, what do they tell them?
I know Braun didn’t ask for the ovation, but to every
Brewers’ fan standing and clapping, I would like to ask them, why the hell
exactly are you out of your seat and clapping?
That’s what makes me sick. I have to wonder, WHERE IS
YOUR INTEGRITY? This guy cheated, and lied about it. To you! To us all. Sit the
hell down!! You would be more right to boo this cheat, au contraire.
As Alex Rodriguez sits somewhere (right), suspended for the
entire year, he must be wondering, “What's the difference between him and I? We
both cheated, lied, then got suspended for it.”
Really, aren’t these two players the exact same? But
everybody hates Rodriguez, while Brewers fans, apparently, still love Braun (Rodriguez
may think, naively, that he will be treated like to an ovation at home after
his suspension too, but the chances New York fans will cheer is a New York
minute lasting an entire season).
The only difference I can see about these two cases is
that A-Rod is under contract in New York while Braun plays in small-market Milwaukee.
Are there really any other major
differences? Surely, even if there are, I don’t think any of the differences (nor
the similarities) grant a standing ovation for. Cheating doesn’t deserve an
ovation, in New York, Milwaukee, or anywhere.
@_JesseTheMan; lostprophet_04@hotmail.com
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