Something isn't adding up here. It doesn't look good for Ryan Braun, but take a deep breath, you wide-eyed Brewers fan, because there's still some chance that Braun could be proven innocent.
News broke over the weekend that Braun had been busted by Major League Baseball for failing a drug test, and, pending appeal, is subject to a 50-game suspension. But Braun's case seems to have a few more ins and outs than we're used to seeing from previous failed tests.
First, MLB has a policy that failed tests are not announced until after a player has completed the appeal process and a suspension is no longer in doubt -- but that's not what happened here. Braun's failed test result was leaked before he had the chance to appeal, and (unsurprising, I suppose) the Braun camp seems to have a fairly compelling narrative for why this failed test is bogus.
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The New York Daily News cites a source close to the situation that says that Braun's test results were abnormal -- showing levels of banned substances that were "the highest ever for anyone who has ever taken a test, twice the level of the highest test ever taken." Furthermore, immediately upon learning of his failed result, Braun took -- and passed -- a second test.
If Braun's test levels really are twice as high as the next worst offender, then that raises a red flag. But the problem for Braun is that his appeal is not taking place in a criminal court of law, and a reasonable doubt won't be enough to overturn the result and the stop the 50-game suspension. Braun must provide provide "objective evidence in support of his denial," according to MLB policy, so the burden of proof is now on Braun after the failed test.
And though it is nice for Braun's camp to beat the drum about the second clean test, that doesn't mean anything except in the court of public opinion. The second test wouldn't be relevent to the appeal, and doesn't mean much anyway, since the drugs could have had time to clear from his system, or could have been masked.
Another reason why it doesn't look good for Braun: no one has ever actually won one of these appeals, in 13 attempts. Just because something has never happened doesn't mean that it can't happen, and Braun does at least have some interesting ideas for a defense.
But Ryan Braun does deserve a withholding of judgment for now. Then after the he's completed his due process, if he's still guilty, he deserves to be pinned down while drunken Brewers fans kick him in the balls and Nyjer Morgan screams "BEAST MODE!!!" in his ear.
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[Ryan Braun's initial PED test results were 'insanely high,' NL MVP's lawyer insists client did not t]
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