The fact that the second sample was “tested by Braun’s camp” and came back negative doesn’t help him. What choice does his “camp” have other then to say this?

How does it not help him? It’s not like his agent did the chemical analysis himself. I’m sure he went to a reputable lab to get the work done. His camp could also say a number of things, such as it was a tainted supplement.

Palmeiro stood at a Congressional hearing, arm raised, and swore that he never juiced. Then 5 months later was suspended for failing a drug test

This is irrelevant. However, as dumb as it may seem*, it’s entirely possible Palmeiro never took steroids when he testified. Took them after, and got caught. This doesn’t make his testimony wrong. [* then again it's also dumb to lie to Congress, unless you are a politician]

Braun just signed a large contract so that would make it seem like he has zero incentive use but then again maybe he has been doing this the whole time

Per Keith Law on twitter, Braun’s ISO in ’11 was .018 above his ISO over the prior four years, when he would have tested negative at least six times.

Holy cow Debbie Downer.

Count me out for wanting to stand next to you at a party.

“Let me share my story about meeting captain Picard. Not what you would expect. He knew so little about time travel. He thought the particles……”

…and there is no false positive rate for synthetic testosterone in the follow up analysis…you can’t detect it if it isn’t there.

Not good with logic, are we?

We only know what we know, that a few MiLB players are caught each year, that Manny was caught last year (and he was some seriously low hanging fruit), and Braun apparently caught this year. We don’t and can’t know anything else.

Cyclists are tested all of the time, and according to the few that will speak opening, that testing didn’t stop the majority of them from doping daily. Given, cyclists are a lot more educated in ways to beat the system and clearly benefit from their doping, whereas it isn’t clear that such drugs have a great effect on baseball ability (except for pitchers)….so there should be considerably less incentive for baseball players to use…but the current system has gaping holes in it. Guys are tested in ST and then might get tested once or twice a year after that…or not. It isn’t like they have to pee in a cup monthly.

http://chrisross91.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/braun-over-brains-mvp/

I want nothing more than for him to come back next year off roids, hit 40 bombs and .300. Sadly, he’ll be pegged as a no-good roider forever by a certain vocal minority. Let’s hope he can rise above it.

Oh hell, who am I kidding…looks like he cheated….Dammit !

Second, LOOK:

http://test.njcaa.org/images/Hall_of_Excellence/Professional_Athletes/Albert-Pujols_Maple-Woods.jpg

If any scout said that guy was “too small to play” they probably shouldn’t be scouting.

I actually liked Braun, but he has now tagged himself a FRAUD.

Sad