Jeff Passan and Tim Brown of YahooSports.com broke a story today that links Ryan Braun to records at the Biogenisis clinic in Miami. This is the same clinic that has been contected to Alex Rodriguez, Gio Gonzalez and others to supplying steroids to players.
Braun, whose 50 game suspension for a positive drug test was lifted due to a technicality in the handling of his urine sample, will definitely be investigated by MLB after this case. He also was a 2005 member of the University of Miami baseball team which may have associated him with this clinic during his college days.
There is no specific connection to PEDs with this latest exposure, but there certainly was something going on. Braun’s name was on a list with notations indicating numbers that appear to be payments owed. Expect another denial from Braun as he tries to back peddle out of this mess. This was an anti-aging clinic that is known to distribute PEDs to athletes, he wasn't getting a haircut in the place.
 |
| Ryan Braun explains his position. "This is my livelihood...my integrity," he said (photo capture MLB Network) |
Braun’s adamant denial and attack on the test handler occured in a 2012 Spring Training press conference. “I’m a victim of a process that completely broke down and failed in the way that it was applied to me,” he said. “As players, we’re held to a standard that is 100% perfection regarding the program. Everybody else associated to the program should be held to the same standard.”
That person he referred to was the test taker by the name of Dino Laurenzi. A good man, youth football coach, with an impeccable reputation in his community. Laurenzi held Braun’s and other samples in his home for a day an a half while waiting for the local FedEx office to open up. The vials containing Braun’s sample arrived intact, seals unbroken and untampered with. THAT was how Braun got off his suspension. It was an absolute joke. MLB caved under the pressure of Braun’s high powered attorneys. Want to laugh a little more. Here’s what Braun said further in that press conference.
“We’re a part of a process where you’re 100% guilty until proven innocent. It’s the opposite of the American judicial system. This is not an innocent until proven guilty situation. So if we’re held to that standard, it’s only fair that everyone else is held to that same standard. With what’s at stake, this is my livelihood. This is my integrity. This is my character. This is everything I’ve worked for in my life being called into question. We need to make sure that we get it right...Today is about making sure that this never happens to anybody else who plays this game.”
Dino Laurenzi, claimed that he reputation was tarnished and he and his family went through an extremely difficult period after his integrity was challenged. And it was all so Braun could live his lie. What a piece of garbage. Attack an innocent man to continue deceiving the world. That is despicable. He’s the Lance Armstrong of baseball.
Laurenzi made the following statement after Braun’s presser last year:
“I completed my collections at Miller Park at approximately 5:00 P.M. (on a Saturday) Given the lateness of the hour that I completed the collections, there was no FedEx office located within 50 miles of Miller Park that would ship the packages that day or Sunday.
"Therefore, the earliest that the specimens could be shipped was Monday, October 3. In that circumstance, CDT has instructed collectors since I began in 2005 that they should safeguard the samples in their homes until FedEx is able to immediately ship the sample to the laboratory, rather than having the samples sit fir one day or more at a local FedEx office. The protocol has been in place since 2005 when I started with CDT and there have been other occasions when I have had to store samples in my home for at least one day, all without incident...The sealed specimen boxes were not removed from the FedEx Clinic Pack during the entire period that they were in my home. At no point did I tamper in any way with the samples. It is my understanding that the samples were received at the laboratory with all tamper-resistant seals intact.”
 |
| (photo by Tomasso DeRosa/AP Images) |
It’s time to right a wrong. Suspend Braun immediately. 50 games minimum. Perhaps more due to his lie. MLB needs to put the hammer down. You cheat, you’re suspended. You lie about it. You pay and you’re suspended. I just wish they could take his MVP away. They did it with the Heisman and Reggie Bush.
ReplyDeleteHello, I enjoyed your post . It was astonishing to peruse. I get alot of information with this, but on a similar I need to refresh you another site that is Prosmiami, Please take time to visit mine . Thank you!