Ryan Braun News Conference (Video)

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Finally, Ryan Braun had his chance to speak.

For months, his character has been dragged through the mud.

Now, the nightmare is over, sort of. Slightly. Not really.

Braun's 50-game suspension is overturned, but Major League Baseball continues to viciously attack him.

Although Braun won the appeal, he has suffered significant damages. Doubts about Braun will linger, especially since MLB is fueling them.

But today, Braun was able to declare that he is innocent, not won the appeal on a technicality.


I believe him. I see him as a victim, not a cheater who beat the rap.

He said the rumors were difficult to handle. He said he had no underlying medical condition. He said he never had an STD.

I'm a Brewers fan. I have my biases, but Braun made a very strong case. He spent a lot of time laying out the FACTS.

Bottom line: If the players must abide by the methods agreed upon for the testing process, then Major League Baseball must also be held to the same standards.

I think the statement put out by MLB yesterday was disgraceful. It seems MLB is girding its loins for a lawsuit.

MVP Braun handled himself with such class today and throughout this ordeal.

I hope he pursues litigation against MLB for the privacy violations. The testing process broke down. MLB failed the test.



As for now--

Play ball!

Go Brewers!
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Ryan Braun says testing process failed

Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun said he won his appeal of a positive drug test because "the truth is on my side."

"Today is for everybody who has ever been wrongly accused," he said Friday at a news conference at the Brewers' training facility in Maryvale, Ariz.

"The simple truth is that I'm innocent," the outfielder said, with his teammates sitting in the stands in uniform behind him.

Braun tested positive in October for elevated testosterone, and ESPN's "Outside The Lines" revealed the positive test in December. His case marks the first time a baseball player has successfully challenged a drug-related penalty in a grievance.

But Braun said at the time and reiterated Friday that he had not taken a banned substance resulting in the positive test result.

"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, the 2011 National League MVP, said the testing process "broke down and failed" in his case, later calling it "fatally flawed."

"The truth is always relevant and the truth prevailed," he said.

Braun, thanking his team, teammates and fans who backed him, said baseball players are "part of a process where you're 100 percent guilty until proven innocent."

"We need to make sure that we get it right," he added. "Today is about making sure this never happens to anybody else who plays this game."