brwrsfan

Can anyone post important stuff Braun might say? I have a meeting for the next 2 hours and will miss it, but I will likely get the chance to check BF.net on my phone a few times to see what the deal is. Is that sad that it's this important to me that I can't wait 2 hours to see what he says? Not sure...

If I'm reading Will Carroll's tweets correctly. It sounds like cnnsi didn't want the article. And that he's looking for someone to publish it and he won't just blog it because he feels he needs to be paid? Why wouldn't SI want it if it's about Braun and the science of it all? Or am I reading it wrong?

Just curious, but why do you think that? Marquette's not going to win the conference, but they're very likely to get a top 4 spot so they earn the double bye. Obviously it'd help their seeding if they can win against a pretty good team on the road (in a tough place to play like you said), but it's far from must-win or anything. I should rephrase I guess. I don't think it's a "must win", but I think it's a loss that can potentially hurt their seeding. WV is decent, and it wouldn't be a horrible loss, but it's not a good loss persay either. Considering that they still have Georgetown and play at Cincy, I think this is arguably their "easiest" game left. It's entirely possible they could loss this one and stumble some with those other games coming up. I think it's also important to keep the momentum going with how well they are playing right now. To me, MU is playing great right now and this is a game that they should win. As far as Wisconsin...it's hard to believe they lost to Iowa twice. It doesn't help that Iowa just flat out couldn't miss yesterday and put up over 40 in the first half (compared to like 25 in the second half). Calls can certainly be argued after the fact, but the missed Goaltending call was really, really bad and that is 2 points we sure could have used. Obviously you can't say it cost them the game, but you just never know. Those two losses are going to really, really hurt their seed in a couple of weeks here. Another loss is likely coming against OSU this weekend too, so they won't exactly be rolling along.

Yeah, it's pretty sad when after hours of hearing basically tidbits of information, people are already jumping the gun and saying he is guilty but got lucky. At least wait until Braun speaks today, until you can get more info and until leaks of the official written decision come out (we know it will). I'm also tired of people acting like a chain of custody isn't meaningful. There is no way to know what happened in those 2 days. None. The guy could have messed with it, the guy could have put his own pee in it, something else could have happened if the sample was too hot, too cold, etc. And virtually NOBODY in the media is even bothering to report or suggest that. To call it a technicality is vastly unfair to Braun, not to mention bad to make judgements on and whatnot. Most of these people have very little idea about what they're talking about - they are sports writers afterall - and are really doing a poor job in my opinion. Let's say more facts come out and things change, are they all going to backtrack and change their stances or apologize for jumping the gun and making wild accusations? I doubt it.

We'll probably never know the real story, unless the written ruling gets leaked. This is still a huge day for Braun. Albeit the article by Carrol if that gets posted (why is he the only one with this data?), the Braun press conference, etc. I'm glad he's not suspended but it kinda sucks if it really is all just on a technicality (I don't believe this) but many people will and he could and probably will be forever ruined.

I heard this morning that MLB was considering taking this to federal court? Can they even do that? Could a player do that? Whats the point of having an agreement in place to appeal the suspensions if MLB is just going to whine and take it to another court if they lose?

What options can they possibly have? They setup the system. They have an agreement with the Players Union on it. The arbitrator ruled. That's the end of it isn't it? If the suspension was upheld, would Braun have had "options"? I doubt it very much so. I love how ESPN and everyone else is just ignoring the fact that for 2 days the test sat with some guy in his house. Who knows what was done, who came/went, etc. That is a long period and when levels come back that are that extreme, those 2 days really make a glaring hole in the process. Also, no, Braun didn't test the science of it, what was he supposed to say?

Well I always knew that. What did he say this time? Something about how he disagrees and Braun should have to be suspended?

How exactly is he getting that information? That means what? that he got really lucky and escaped on that? In that someone could have tampered with it? That could be part of the argument, but that really doesn't make much sense as far as the "highly unusual circumstances".

This just irritates the crap out of me. Unless the 2-1 vote was MLB and the Players Union saying not guilty, this just makes no sense. Selig isn't paying off the arbitrator or anything. The guy's whole job is to look at this objectively and rule down the middle on it. Period. He has a law degree and all that other jazz to go along with it. It's just silly. It's not like MLB threw out the suspension despite what the ruling was or anything like that. I can't see anyway Selig had any role in this whatsoever, it's just people trying to hate on Braun.

I hope it wasn't a technicality. The fact that MLB is throwing a hissy fit about it is bad too. Hopefully Braun can make a statement about what happened. If all this stuff with MLB and technicalities and whatnot continues, it could still really taint him and his future awards or HOF chances. Wonder if we'll ever really know the deal.

Here is MLB's official statement: The appeal was held by a third party and Major League Baseball is not happy. Here's the statement released by MLB executive vice president for labor relations Rob Manfred: “Major League Baseball considers the obligations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program essential to the integrity of our game, our Clubs and all of the players who take the field. It has always been Major League Baseball’s position that no matter who tests positive, we will exhaust all avenues in pursuit of the appropriate discipline. We have been true to that position in every instance, because baseball fans deserve nothing less. “As a part of our drug testing program, the Commissioner’s Office and the Players Association agreed to a neutral third party review for instances that are under dispute. While we have always respected that process, Major League Baseball vehemently disagrees with the decision rendered today by arbitrator Shyam Das.”

I'm not on twitter, can anyone post this stuff for me? Please?

Well this is just getting to be absolutely ridiculous. This would be one of the biggest letdowns of all time.... CBS has it as breaking news, but it's per the JS....UGH

Before I go nuts and text everyone in my phone I need something more official than Tom H. Anybody finding anything?

what the heck is going on. this post just said suspension upheld by the washington post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/national-league-mvp-ryan-brauns-50-game-suspension-upheld-by-arbitrator/2012/02/23/gIQAHOILWR_story.html

It's on the JS blog now. Big long article, so obviously Tom knew in advance if this is true....

waiting for something more official than Tom H....c'mon espn or cbs or someone.

LINK?!??!!

If Braun is reporting to camp tomorrow, it would make sense that he would get to Arizona today, just to be on the safe side....

This is absolutely killing me right now. I was anxious the last few days, now the minutes are just dragging. Can he really be exonerated of this?

Well let's hope that's somehow wrong. Doesn't look good, though it's obviously just that one guy. He could be full of it I guess.

The way that Braun handles himself and is almost always thinking about his image and his future plans, I can't imagine him being anything but classy about this if he is in fact found to be innocent. He might take a subtle jab or something, or be upset about the leak (which he has a right to be), but ultimately I think he'll just make a statement. He might let people know the situation as to what led to the test, but I think he'll be respectful and more or less appluad the process as it worked as it was supposed to - he didn't do anything wrong and was found innocent. Personally, I would blast them too, but I don't see him doing that. None of this will matter if he's found guilty though. The more time that goes by, I'm really starting to wonder what the deal is. If it's true that MLB can't say anything about it legally if he is not guilty, I guess it's possible Braun knows and just hasn't said anything yet and is waiting to come to camp? That seems very strange though, if I were him, and I had the result of not guilty, I'd let the world know ASAP.

It just didn't need to happen. One day off between games is very rare during the CBB regular season. Obviously it happens a lot in tournaments and whatnot, but during the regular season, at least in the major conferences, this stuff is pretty easy to avoid. At least both teams are even in that they both played last night and have to travel to WV but still. Why not just play this one on Saturday?

I'm glad ESPN is basically ignoring it. When they do talk about it, it just upsets me because all of them have already basically decided that Braun will be suspended. Many of htem had said things to that effect, not "if" he gets suspended but basically that he already is. They also had writers saying he should give his MVP award back and whatnot. None of which is appropriate until after the verdict has been rendered.