Guilty Until Proven Innocent – Braun

Ugh. That was my reaction yesterday when I heard about Ryan Braun’s supposed failed PED test. I couldn’t believe that one of the best young players in baseball – a guy who Selig himself referenced a few years back as one of the clean guys – was guilty of cheating.

After digging a little more, I started to become suspicious. To begin, Braun categorically denies cheating. He didn’t come out and blame some sort of B-12 shot (seriously Clemens?). Braun didn’t say he was trying to fight back from injury (Pettite). He sit on a panel in front of Congress that was designed to talk steriods, then refuse to talk seriods (McGwire). According to former NBA star Reggie Miller’s twitter (@reggiemillertnt) “Just spoke with my neighbor Ryan Braun, he says test is bogus.” And you know what, for whatever reason, I believe Braun.

My question to you is, at this point, does it matter? In 2011, there are so many news outlets, that fiction tends to travel faster than fact. There’s no fact checking or backup sources, its just a fancy game of telephone tag. Look, I just quoted Reggie Miller’s twitter on a baseball performance-enhancing drug case and it seems valid. At this point, Braun’s toast. To casual fans, he’ll always be a tainted MVP. To die-hards, we’ll always been suspicious no matter what his excuse is.

This is the sports world that McGwire, A-Rod and Bonds have created, so if you’re looking to place blame somewhere, start with them.  Look, if Braun is guilty, so be it, but let’s for once give him the opportunity to explain himself.

And hey, if Braun is indeed guilty, we can just tell him to eff-off. We’ve gotten pretty good at that as baseball fans.

Allow me to reintroduce myself…

To begin, I’d like to welcome you all to this blog! For a while now I have wanted to share my thoughts about the world of sports with a larger audience, so here is my attempt to do that.

Right off the bat (sports metaphor, nice) I’ll go ahead and tell you that I’m a fan. My opinions here are bias, but I’m more than happy to debate any of them with. Since I can remember, I’ve been a Yankee/Packer/Sixer fan. Go ahead and criticize for not being loyal to one city, I like to think it as being loyal to one country (plus, what 9-year old didn’t like Jeter, Favre and AI? It’s not my fault my parents didn’t push me in one direction.)

What exactly is the goal of this blog? I want to give you fun, daily readings about the things that are happening in the sports world. If it’s important, I guarantee you that I have an opinion about it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy, but to a point disagree, because that’s what’s going to make this fun. If you think I’m an dumbass, tell me on here (I think you can do that right? I’m new to WordPress.) If not, check me out on twitter @nickssportswld and facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicks-Sports-World/249834111746326.

If you’re a rap fan you get the title of this post (Jay-Z, although, Eminem is better). My goal is to be set up an environment where almost anything can be said, like the rap world. I want to make this fun, engaging, and open. Say what you want, but be prepared to defend it.

For those of us who truly love sports, we understand that there is so much more to it than the actual game. There’s build up and excitement; there’s trash talk and rivalries. Those are the things that make us watch 3 hours of ESPN when we have a project to be doing. Those are the things that our girlfriends (or boyfriends, I’m cool with the chick fans) won’t ever understand. The games are just the least fulfilling slice of the pie. So let’s talk. Let’s engage. I’m done introducing myself. I’m not HOV, but I am a guy who loves sports.