[the 'stache]

Originally Posted by Paul S

Hi Bill. What is the distinction? What would you tell the athletes that heal naturally? "Sorry, Dude?"

Hi, Paul.

I would tell any Major League player who is using only approved substances, and employing accepted rehabilitation methods that they are doing it the right way, and that they honor the game they play.

What Braun did was wrong. Ryan Braun may have been the most important player on the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers. In fact, I don't think that's really debatable. But that didn't give him the right to take a substance banned by Major League baseball to expedite his healing. He may be a special talent, but he does not in any way deserve preferential treatment when it comes to the application of the rules established by MLB. The very first time he took something that the League said he could not take, he cheated the game. He sullied his reputation, the reputation of the team, and the franchise. And, he sullied the game itself. What he did is not ok, not in the slightest, and I want to make that absolutely clear. It matters not how he rationalized it. Every year, Major League teams lose players that are vital to the success of the franchise they have been a part of. I can only imagine how Braun felt knowing that his friend, and longtime teammate was leaving. Imagine if you were a baseball player, an MVP caliber player, and your friend and teammate, himself an MVP caliber player, was leaving at the end of the season. Imagine knowing that you had one last shot to win it all with the team the franchise had so carefully constructed. Now imagine that in that final year, you had a calf injury that cause you chronic pain, every single day, and diminished your ability to play baseball at your normal high level. I can only imagine how frustrating that must have been, especially when the months of rehabilitation, and countless meetings with team doctors, and physical therapists were not resolving the issue.

But none of that gives Braun the right to take matters into his own hands, and if he called me up to apologize, I would tell him that I was giving him a chance to redeem himself. But I would also tell him that he disappointed me greatly, and he has a long way to go before I will ever trust him again.