Braun tests positive for PED | Presser update pg. 42

jimmybones · Post #721 » by **jimmybones** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:09 am

I have a more intelligent persona to live up to over there, haha.

jimmybones · Post #722 » by **jimmybones** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:12 am

But yeah, I'd be willing to bet Braun's camp played that card as well. How does a guy with no signs whatsoever of PED usage and multiple passed tests suddently pop up with the highest they've ever seen...in the playoffs of all times, when he knows a piss test is right around the corner. Maybe he wanted the extra boners. He did make it clear he opened up EVERY aspect life at that point to the MLBPA.

bigkurty · Post #723 » by **bigkurty** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:31 am

What I hate is that ESPN keeps saying he is the first to ever beat the system. Weren't there a couple of minor leaguers who beat it?

WEFFPIM · Post #724 » by **WEFFPIM** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:31 am

bigkurty wrote:What I hate is that ESPN keeps saying he is the first to ever beat the system. Weren't there a couple of minor leaguers who beat it?

There's been at least one minor leaguer to win.

dbrodz7 · Post #725 » by **dbrodz7** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 12:53 am

The whole notion of first to "beat the system" is a joke. He's the first person who's case went public to win. Every time first person to win is used there should be an asterisk because none of this should have been public and other people have obviously won appeals in the past.

JayMKE · Post #726 » by **JayMKE** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:07 am

WEFFPIM wrote:
bigkurty wrote:What I hate is that ESPN keeps saying he is the first to ever beat the system. Weren't there a couple of minor leaguers who beat it?

There's been at least one minor leaguer to win.

coincidentally, Brewers AAA player and former Braun teammate at the U Brendan Katin had his positive test overturned back in 2007

bigkurty · Post #727 » by **bigkurty** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:18 am

A couple other thoughts I had are that Kenosha is definitely home to more cubs fans than brewers fans. I worked in Kenosha for 4 years so I can say that with 100% confidence. Also didn't Dan Patrick say 2 other brewers tested high about a month ago according to his sources. If that's true, I am assuming they were let go too and they will try to protect them and never bring their names up. That to me would further make the whole thing seem ridiculous.

Post #728 » by **MickeyDavis** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:20 am

When Ryan Braun said Friday that he was the "victim of a process that completely broke down and failed," he was essentially talking about one person: Dino I. Laurenzi Jr.

It was Laurenzi, according to a source close to the situation, who collected the urine sample from Braun at Miller Park on Oct. 1.

Laurenzi did not respond to repeated calls to his cell phone number requesting comment. His listed address is in Kenosha County, located in a development of two-story modern homes.

According to his business card, Laurenzi is the director of rehabilitation services for United Hospital System. The back of the card includes this notation: "The Sports Medicine Department at United Hospital System is an official national rehabilitation network site for U.S. athletes and, therefore, bears the seal of the U.S. Olympic Committee."

On a website for athletes, Laurenzi's biography says: "Dino is trained in sports medicine and specializes in athletic performance training and rehabilitation of shoulder, knee and ankle injuries. His work includes performance training and rehab of athletes from a variety of venues including U.S. Olympic Athletes, NFL, MLB, collegiate, Club and high school athletes."

Braun said Friday that, typically, the only people who know who provided the sample are the donor and the collector. Braun said that on the day he provided the sample, the collector was accompanied by his son.

Laurenzi's 22-year-old son, Anthony, is a full-time student at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee studying athletic training. He was not able to be reached at his Milwaukee home or by email.

Braun, who did not identify Laurenzi by name, said the collector left Miller Park at 5 p.m., but did not deliver the sample to a FedEx location for 44 hours. Braun noted that the drug program requires that samples be taken to FedEx immediately, "absent unusual circumstances."

"Why he didn't bring it in, I don't know," Braun said.

Braun said people who were working in his behalf looked into the situation, and what they learned made them and Braun "very concerned and very suspicious."

Post #729 » by **paulpressey25** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:23 am

Here he is....

Post #730 » by **MickeyDavis** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:24 am

Post #731 » by **paulpressey25** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:26 am

I TOLD you to take the sample to the Fed Ex box right after you spiked it......and you kept it in your refrigerator you moron!

bigkurty · Post #732 » by **bigkurty** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:26 am

The PTI guys believe him and the guys on MLB.tv seem to believe him too. Even showed how his speed and power have not changed since 2007. I have a feeling those news stations and MLB are trying to put out info to help fend off lawsuits. Or maybe they do have those opinions and were allowed to express them but it's something to consider.

bigkurty · Post #733 » by **bigkurty** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:30 am

I don't get Fielders reaction at all though. Makes me wonder.

JBucks · Post #734 » by **JBucks** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:35 am

Fielder's...shall we say...a man of few words.

Post #735 » by **MickeyDavis** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:41 am

MEDIA: "Did you talk to [Braun] at all?"

PRINCE: "No. Not really."

MEDIA: "Did you text him?"

PRINCE: "No."

MEDIA: "When the [test results] came down [last fall], did you feel for him, commiserate with him?"

PRINCE: "I didn't talk to him. … (Pause.) I haven't talked to him about it at all."

MEDIA: "No player had ever won this kind of appeal. Were you surprised it came down like this?"

PRINCE: "No. I mean, he said he was innocent. That's what it was. I don't really know."

Even when the most pivotal question of them all came roaring right at him, the tone didn't change.

MEDIA: "Prince, in your mind does this clear Ryan? Or is he just 'not guilty'?"

PRINCE: "I don't know. I don't know. Obviously, it says he's not guilty. It's what it is."

Post #736 » by **paulpressey25** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 1:44 am

I know I'm hours behind some of you guys on this, but this is a good summary of the sample issue IMO.

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/pag ... ng-experts

If you believe the data in that article (and no one from either side seems to have contradicted it) then there was synthetic (not naturally produced) testosterone in the sample.

It got there somehow. It either had to have been a) planted by Dino or b) the wrong sample was tested by the lab or c) he was taking a PED. Is there another scenario here?

i.e. just waiting 48 hours at room temperature wouldn't have caused synthetic testosterone to start appearing in the sample tested.

Post #737 » by **paulpressey25** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:03 am

I'm reading some of the Victor Conte stories on this.

He has a lot of tweets.
https://twitter.com/#!/VictorConte

And this story from back in December which I think we discussed way earlier in this thread.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=t ... ing_121211

Put aside the Braun issue for a moment, I think he makes a good point when he notes that MLB for some reason does not test for synthetic testosterone UNLESS there is a very high presence of any testosterone (synthetic or natural) in the sample.

His belief being that if baseball were serious about PED use, they would simply do that advanced CIR test for synthetics right away upfront. He thinks they'd catch a lot of guys with that type of test.

Someone should ask Selig or Manfred why they don't do that. I can't buy into MLB complaining about the Braun decision if MLB "half-asses" the tests anyways.

Turk Nowitzki · Post #738 » by **Turk Nowitzki** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:05 am

Fielder's reactions is really weird, not sure what to make of that. Maybe he was just having a bad day?

Captain Erv · Post #739 » by **Captain Erv** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 7:51 am

Fielder's reaction doesn't really surprise me. He has always been kind of aloof about anything. It was mostly just "Cool. Ya know. Whatever. Let's play baseball."

PedroGrande · Post #740 » by **PedroGrande** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 11:13 am

A couple of thoughts:

In your judicial system (as it should be) its better to have 2 killers escape from penalty than have innocent people be guilty of a crime they never committed.

The main evidence of this was 48h in the basement fridge of a civilian? ok.

Is there any motive? Like someone said, braun numbers have been the same in years. In such a statistic defined sport like baseball.

Why only take it by the playoffs?

Unidentified sources can't be taken as science experts. Who knows who are we talking about, and what motivations (money) they have to now try to defend their word.

The fact that braun was found "not guilty" because of a technicality doesn't mean he hadn't another arguments or that he is morally guilty anyway.

Anti doping agencies are sometimes like UFO chasers. They can have good intentions. But they want so much to catch one, that every rock in the sky is one, when they should be trying to prove with every streght otherwise and just when all the possibilities are used they could say: ok perhaps its an alien ship (LOL)