so your okay with it as long as he got off in otherwords just like you are ok with bonds and clemons and everybody else who got away with it because of technicalities

I know this is far beyond your comprehension, but let’s try to break this down bit by bit. A, I don’t think anyone is “ok with this as long as he got off”. It makes zero sense. B, Bonds didn’t get away with anything due to technicalities. The gov’t wasn’t trying Bonds for using steroids, they tried him for lying. They were unable to prove he lied. Period. Clemens is facing perjury charges so not sure what he’s “gotten away with yet”.

Rob Manfred and MLB are using clever turns of phrase to describe this as the first time a player has won via filing a grievance, but as we should all know by now, Braun’s initial positive test was leaked by somebody and the process should have never played out in public.

Under normal circumstances we would have known nothing about this, unless Braun did end up losing on appeal and did, in fact, get suspended. Then and only then would MLB have made an announcement.

That protocol partly serves to protect the player and partly to cover MLB’s butt. But also MLB gets to pound its chest and say that player has never lost on appeal.

At least one baseball writer I read on Twitter, stated, without naming names that a person high up in MLB once told him of a player who’s initial test was positive but the name was never made public because the test was found to be . . . false positive.

So pay careful attention to the spinsters on this. I happen to believe Braun was the victim here and it should be a lesson to all . . . just because something like this had never happened, doesn’t mean it wasn’t bound to happen.

I haven’t read Craig’s 2nd post on this, but I’m guessing perhaps, he might posit that MLB is a little nervous because they are worried about chain of custody now being challenged every single time, and more to the point, that this may embolden some players to get creative with their supplements again.

Regardless, I agree with the ruling. This is an important issue and if guidelines put in place are not followed, the defendant must prevail.

So we locked them in a safe, and one person (and one person only) changed the combination and was the only one to have that combination. Not even the Commander or 1SG.

That person then had his keys to the office taken away from him so he couldn’t enter the room on his own. The room also happened to be across the hall from the CQ desk, which was manned 24 hours a day.

If you can’t get to the sample, you can’t tamper with it.

Leaving it in a refrigerator in someone’s house (which isn’t really necessary, but who wants to handle a bottle of warm piss) is not as secure as a locked safe, in a locked, guarded room.

There are ways to do this properly. Easy ways. Really simple ways.

But the main point isn’t how it happened. That is an internal issue. The point is, it did happend.

So the sample never did.

We did it on a weely basis, just like MLB. If a bunch of NCO’s doing at as part of thier duties with no extra pay can get it done properly, then the company MLB uses should have no trouble with this. Compelte stupidity on their part.

That being said, if they screwed up, Braun walks. Pure and simple. The results of the test don’t matter. Once chain of custody is lost, the sampel might as well not exist.

Braun is innocent. No other scenario exists.

It will be interesting to hear your explanation for why this does not equate to getting off on a technicality. Apparently, it was decided by a 2 to 1 vote that the tester taking it home violated the chain of custody. No one is alleging that taking the sample home over night changed the content of the bottle. One of the three arbitrators obviously did not feel it was exculpatory. If one of the other two had voted likewise none of the facts would be different, but the effects would be completely reversed.

Beyond your or my understanding of the term “technicality,” the bigger issue at play is once again we have a failure of confidentiality. The 2003 tests were supposed to be purely for a baseline and the names were never intended to be made public. Someone (or multiple someones) is leaking to reporters. Baseball needs to find the leak and destroy that person’s career. Only way to ensure no future leaks is to make sure everyone with access to the information fully understands leaking means you will never get a check from baseball again, not even as a ticket taker.

Most of us understand that this case should never have been made public in the first place- that’s in the contract-but once it was, transparency and detailed disclosure is imperative to maintain the fragile sense that baseball is committed to a PED free sport.