iamshack

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 04:10 PM) https://www.oag.state.tx.us/victims/childabuse.shtml Do you really feel that the "child abuse" mentioned in the duty to report you cited is the same context as we have here? I know you want to cover your own ass, and that's great...but you need to put yourself in context of what actually happened here...all you've heard is that a 16 year old may be dating an 18 year old. Do you honestly think you could be fired for not calling the police about that?

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 03:08 PM) I couldn't even venture a guess. I would bet that I was brought to a few games a year since I was able to walk. So you started when you were 8 or so?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 03:03 PM) It's not that I'm jaded as a matter of fact I think it's the other way around. I'm assuming that the collector did not tamper with the sample so the positive test is valid and Braun is guilty. You are assuming that someone intentionally tampered with the sample to make Braun look guilty. I think your view is more jaded by thinking that someone is out to get Braun by tampering with the sample. That is realistically the only way the positive test is wrong in all the samples. First of all, I wasn't responding to you, so I didn't call you jaded. Secondly, this is completely out of character for Braun. I know you're livelihood is in the medical community but that doesn't mean that something funny didn't go on here. I am not assuming anyone did anything to make Braun look one way or the other. I'm saying everything anyone has ever said about the guy contradicts this test. You're telling me I'm jaded because I believe in the man instead of a test where the chain of custody was botched? Right.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 04:01 PM) Prove it. Read Game of Shadows. One of the co-authors is Mark Fainaru-Wada, same guy covering the story for ESPN. Additionally, you saw the physical transformation with Bonds. You don't see it with Braun.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:37 AM) Wow. I feel awful for the guy. I can't imagine having your career taken away from you like that. At least he cashed in first. Imagine being the Twins.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 02:52 PM) Barry Bonds. The entire reason Bonds took the cream and the clear was because he was pissed that McGwire and Sosa were getting all the hype during the '98 home run chase. Additionally, he made about $100 million in additional salary after he began taking them. He also took them beginning at the age of 33/34 and showed many symptoms of taking PEDs.

So let me get this straight CW...she cheated on you a long time ago? You've been dating for a while and you found out somehow that she cheated on you a long time ago? Things were fine since she stopped until you accidentally found out? I'm not a huge fan of marriage or the modern idea of how couples "should" be together. I'm also not into open relationships, but I question whether humans have evolved enough to where being with one other person your entire life is healthy...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 02:34 PM) Hi, Naive. I'm reality. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3153646 There is no "profile" of a PED abuser. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. There sure as f*** is a profile. He is already celebrated as one of the best players in the game. He signed a below-market contract basically through the end of his career, yet he is also set monetarily for life. By all accounts he is an extremely hard worker and a grounded, easy-going guy. He's young and in the prime of his career. He also has come out in the past against steroid and PED usage. I'm sorry that you're so jaded that you're going to consider everyone guilty before proven innocent, but I'm just not buying it here.

QUOTE (PorkChopExpress @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 01:34 PM) So there's at least one way to taint it. And there's an unexplained 44 hour gap that the sample was held by someone who could taint it despite his having the opportunity to ship the sample at anytime after having taken it. In Braun's press conference, he just said that they consulted scientists who said a determined person could easily taint the sample. Despite some sources saying that his elevated testosterone ratio was not unusual, the fact that his test results showed his testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio was three times higher than any result in the history of baseball's program certainly raises suspicion. Add that to the fact that Braun showed no physical side effects of use, i.e., enhanced performance, based on records kept by the Brewers apart from this situation, and that he has been consistently good his whole career while not ever testing positive the other 25 times he's been tested, and I certainly cannot make the judgment that he is obviously a juicer. He just doesn't fit the profile whatsoever. It just does not pass the smell test that he would do this... Again, call me naive.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 10:09 AM) Not equal but within the same area. McQuery wasn't certain what he saw, he's changed his story a couple times on what he told Paterno. If it turns out to be an abusive relationship and the coach did not report it, or only told her boss, her career and reputation is ruined. There is not downside to reporting it, the only risk is not reporting. Why should the coach risk their career and reputation by not reporting it? Umm, a loss of privacy by the students? A loss of trust between students and teachers/administrators? An atmosphere at school similar to a police state?

QUOTE (The Only Swede @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) So did Marion Jones but she still took tons of illegal drugs during that time. Touche

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 09:03 AM) I wonder if Braun has been using his whole career or if this was just something he did for the playoffs. I guess will see this year. He's passed many, many drug tests throughout his career. ESPN

I'm going to be really interested to hear what Braun has to say today, because I don't think this is the only problem he had with the test. Call me naive, but I still don't think he was taking anything.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:57 AM) I understand what the rules of the procedure are and why they exist...and I repeat, MLB can't suspend him if they didn't follow their own rules. All I'm trying to say is that there's every reason for an outside observer to judge him as a juicer. Unfortunately this is true. This is why the results were not supposed to be leaked until AFTER his appeal was ruled on.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 09:44 AM) yeah it actually is legit. there are people who have turned this into their career. Well I could sell timeshares and that would be legit, too. I think the point is that this is not the appropriate place for that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:44 AM) Hopefully Pt can chime in on this one...at what point was the sample supposed to be mailed...was it before it was tested at all, or was it after an initial test had already shown it was positive and it was to be sent off for further confirmation? I understand what you're trying to say, but it really doesn't matter. The procedure does not exclude gaps in the chain of custody as long as "no obvious contamination" is present. The people who wrote the procedure determined that it was enough to disqualify the results if the sample didn't follow a specific chain of custody, and this sample did not. I could just as easily say that this guy's "I thought the FedEx was closed" excuse is nonsense and he tampered with the sample as you could say there was "no obvious" signs of contamination.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 09:33 AM) Because there's every reason to believe that an acceptable chain of custody was still maintained throughout the process. This may not meet the high legal standard demanded by the players association, but their job of "protecting their players" is different from the standard that an outside observer can use. There's really no obvious reason to think that this sample was any more likely to have been contaminated than any other positive test MLB has done. The speeding ticket example is a great one...if the cop fails to fill out the ticket properly, it doesn't mean you weren't speeding, everyone knows you were speeding, the judge knows you were speeding, the cop knows you were speeding, you know you were speeding, but they can't follow through with the punishment. Yeah, I understand procedural errors. The argument I am making is that procedures exist for a reason. Without them, funny business sometimes occurs. As to your "no obvious reason" point about the contamination, this is entirely irrelevant. Whether some contamination occurred that was obvious or completely impossible to prove, the possible effect is the same.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:30 AM) Watch Braun hit about 12 homers this year. I'll take the over

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:27 AM) Basically, if the rumor presented here is true, it means that MLB did not follow their own procedures. That doesn't mean by any stretch that there's any reason to think that the sample was contaminated, but it does mean that MLB can't suspend people if they can't follow the agreed-to procedures. What I was getting at is the quality control procedure exists for a reason - because without such a procedure it is possible a sample could produce unreliable results - how do you know something didn't honestly happen to the sample?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:17 AM) Incorrect. An independent arbitrator found that the quality control standards on the test were insufficient. Why were they insufficient?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:18 AM) Which would be total BS. Why?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:05 AM) I guess that is the question...incompetent or nefarious? I would lean towards the first. People are always getting off on technicalities when it comes to drug tests and chain of custody and finding procedural errors. This would have never been known had they been able to keep this private like they were supposed to.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 08:59 AM) Pretty much Brandon McCarthy ‏ @BMcCarthy32 "Hey hun, what's this next to the olives?" "That's a bottle of Ryan Braun's piss." "Oh." That's too funny.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 07:58 AM) That really doesn't matter though...the problem is that the league insisted that they could set up and handle their own testing system and didn't need outside help (i.e. they didn't need to just have the program run by USADA), and clearly the league has failed to establish effective quality control procedures. There is talk that the league will sue in federal court to overturn this arbitrator's ruling. But it seemed to me that he was implying the League intentionally allows the star players to escape punishment. Unless they are griping just for show, that does not seem to be the case here. Whether or not they are incompetent is irrelevant.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 07:51 AM) I'm going with I am sick the stars never getting caught and punished. MLB is still a joke when it comes to drug testing. The League "vehemently disagreed" with the ruling, and the League's arbitrator voted for the suspension, didn't they?