Braun responds to boos with booms

So Ryan Braun had a breakout game yesterday, much to the chagrin of Philly fans. I can't blame them. Back when Steve gave his take on the Braun situation, I still wasn't sure how I felt.  For whatever reason, Braun feels he needs to be as vague as possible about what exactly he did wrong, very Lance Armstrong-ish.  I guess one can appreciate what God has to go through with us, we kind of, sort of admit something wrong happened, but likely we were not personally responsible for any of it.  It's a little terrifying to think about when we meet Him face to face how we'll have to see the reality of our disgracefulness.

Note: If the embed doesn't work, watch Ryan Brawn hit 3 home runs to booing Philly fans.
By the way, this happened on the anniversary of thee greatest baseball player to ever play the game breaking Babe Ruth's long standing home run record - without enhancing his performance... Mr. Henry Aaron.  Did you know that when he came up into baseball he was hitting switch handed(with power)?!  He's such a simple, humble, wonderful man.  Highlights of Mike & Mike: Hank Aaron Reflects On No. 715, Home Run Record

Some additional thoughts on Ryan Braun, steroids and punishment

So with Ryan Braun now serving his 65-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's joint drug agreement, it's time to move on. Braun copped to the crime, is doing his time, and he'll lose $3.25 million of his salary this year. Moreover, baseball's tough prosecution of Braun, Alex Rodriguez and other chemically enhanced players will eliminate the incentive for other current and future players to use steroids and other banned substances.

Justice is served, right?

Count me among the unconvinced. As many have written, Braun is merely missing the end of a terrible season in which he's been hurt anyway. He can use the extended break to get healthy and come back in 2014.

More importantly, however is the impact of that $3.25 million in lost salary. That's a lifetime of wages for many. For Braun, it amounts to 2.2 percent of the $145.5 million dollars in past and future earnings from 2008-2020. Certainly, Major League Baseball probably punished the Brewer slugger about as extensively as possible. But if use of performance enhancing drugs can help secure a contract worth tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, the possibility of a $3 million fine isn't really much of a deterrent.

BrewCrewBall.com recently noted the temptation to cheat as illustrated by former Brewer prospect Nelson Cruz--who was also suspended in the Biogenesis scandal:

At 26 years old, Cruz's major league career might have reached its conclusion. If someone had approached him with a potential miracle drug to try, he really wouldn't have had much to lose. Cruz made it back to the big leagues with the Rangers in August of 2008....He was an All Star in 2009, hitting 33 home runs after never producing more than nine in any previous season. He has...142 home runs, has played in two All Star Games and been a member of three playoff teams. He's also been paid about $20 million over that time.

It's clear that astronomical salaries offer a great temptation to cheat. And since that's true, we ought to consider why and how salaries of professional athletes have gotten so high--and why they continue to rise.

Certainly, player salary is driven by the market. There are a very limited number of human beings in existence that can hit 35 home runs in a year. With an incredibly limited supply of elite baseball players, the demand is high. Therefore player salaries rise. The teams that don't pony up lose baseball games, then fans and finally money.

Thus, there is a great market-driven pressure to maximize the revenue needed to win games, fans and more money. One way that teams do this is through their stadiums. Sure big, fancy stadiums draw fans, but usually only for a year. A ton of money also comes from secondary marketing opportunities. Restaurants. Shopping centers. Banquet facilities. Sports stadiums are a year-round enterprise. You need look no further than the way the Packers are gobbling up land around Lambeau Field to extend their empire.

The market alone, however, can't completely account for the dramatic increase in player salaries (and the temptations players face when seeking to be rewarded with nine-figure pay days). That's because so many stadiums are heavily subsidized by tax dollars. Nearly three quarters of Miller Park's $400 ($519 million in 2013 dollars) million price tag  was financed by the taxpayers of Southeastern Wisconsin.

Imagine if the government injected a few hundred million dollars of capital into the company you work for. You and your colleagues would probably be hoping for a slice of the pie, and it would certainly change office dynamics.

In the case of Major League Baseball, public financing of stadiums has helped fuel a culture that--intentionally or not--lucratively rewards dangerous drug use. And tragically, the impact of this culture trickles all the way down to teenagers playing amateur sports.

They next time elected officials look to target steroid use in sports, they might begin by refusing to subsidize it.

Thoughts on the Ryan Braun suspension

As Matt posted yesterday, Brewers slugger and 2011 NL MVP Ryan Braun was suspended yesterday for the rest of the 2013 season.

I suppose the most obvious take here is that this story is one more reminder that we shouldn't take sports too seriously. The passion that many of us have for the Brewers, Packers, Badgers, Bucks (LOL, j/k!) and Golden Eagles can be fun, but at the end of the day, it's just a diversion.

Still--that's what makes Ryan Braun so disappointing to me. Watching the Brewers is supposed to be a diversion from all the lying, cheating and general corruption in our world. The economy is terrible. The headlines in the news are terrible. Our president is terrible.

But hey--at least I can take my son to the ballpark and forget about it all for a few hours a handful of times every summer. As James Earl Jones said in Field of Dreams:

They'll arrive...as innocent as children, longing for the past....It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.

I have written about how the Brewers provided a glimmer of temporal light two summers ago when we lost our baby to a painful and long miscarriage.

But it was more than that. And it was more than a much-needed escape. You see, the Brewers became the first real shared hobby that my four-year-old and I could bond over. He sat through six games, absolutely absorbed to the last pitch. He'll point out Ryan Braun or Rickie Weeks in the on-deck circle from row 15 of Terrace Reserved. And each day, the first words out of his mouth are "Daddy, did the Brewers win? Can we watch the headlights? (ha!)"  I'm still sad about the two children I've lost, but baseball has given me an awesome tool for cementing my father-son relationship with the little man that we do have. For that I will always be grateful.

What makes me most angry about Ryan Braun is the feeling that he stole the legitimacy of those memories. Probably the most fun I've ever had with my son was attending the Brewers playoff rally at the Summerfest grounds following the regular season. Peter and I went early to get a good view in front of the stage. We had a blast, and for Peter the pinnacle was seeing Ryan Braun speak at the end of the event.



My son Peter at the Brewers 2011 Playoff Rally

I'd been hoping to avoid the "Ryan Braun is a cheater" conversation with my son for the last 19 months, but last night there was no further avoiding it. I know it is unrealistic to think that ball players will be good role models. But I'm still mad that something I hoped would be pure and wholesome to share with my son is as sordid as the rest of our cultural cesspool.

I'm not just angry toward Ryan Braun for the memories that have been tarnished. I'm angry about the future too. How do I react when Braun is back in the starting lineup next spring? I won't cheer when he takes the field, but do I boo? When he's up with men on base in the bottom of the 9th, do I root for him to come through with the game-winning hit? Am I contributing to the problem by even buying tickets to see the team he plays for?

I don't know the answer to these questions.

Ultimately, I'll probably be back at Miller Park next year. Maybe because I'm a hypocrite. Maybe because I naively believe the end of the Field of Dreams quote I referenced above:

The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.

Baseball has never been perfect. You've got the Black Sox scandal of 1919, the exclusion of black players into the 1940s and Pete Rose's gambling problem among its black eyes. But baseball--like America--represents an ideal. In spite of its imperfections, we strive for and celebrate what's best about it.

And that, I suppose, is why Ryan Braun can't completely sully my memories of 2011. In the end, those memories weren't about him. They were about me and my son.

Ryan Braun suspended for remainder of 2013 season

I know, the pope's in Brazil, and I haven't even got a post out today(camping was fun), but this is a Sconnie blog.

It's official: Major League Baseball has suspended Ryan Braun for the remainder of the 2013 season.
Braun has accepted the punishment, meaning there will be no appeal. There will be no hope that he beats MLB once again. In fact, the amount of games missed was apparently negotiated between Braun and MLB.

The suspension spans 65 games. Not 50. Not 100. Not for life. So, I don't know. I guess the two sides came to an agreement. For my part, I think anything more than 50 games is absolute baloney. This is the first time that he has been actually suspended, he should not be suspended for more than set 50 game penalty for performance enhancing drugs.

Because, you know what, he wasn't technically suspended for that. He was suspended for violating the Joint Drug Agreement in the Basic Agreement. His actual violations were not specified. So well PEDs are probably what he was suspended for, MLB won't even come out and say it.

continue at BrewCrewBall

The statements from both Braun and MLB borderline on ridiculous on how totally ambiguous they are.

Guess what, should have kept Prince and let Braun go. 

Aaron

Aaron Rodgers has done several commercials for the Milwaukee Brewers this year.  They are fantastic!  He has a close friendship with Brewers (much maligned) All-Star Ryan Braun.