Braun suspension - remainder of 2013 season

old_tony and oop holding hands and cuddling each other was the best part of that thread. Probably where they are now.

 

They'll always have this ...

 

He's a Lance Armstrong level sociopathic lying douchebag.

 

without bothering to read all the old threads, how were people defending him last year? he got off on a technicality that still made it clear he had doped

 

Brewers ownership shoulda gone real man:

 

While I've been skeptical of some of MLB's methods, I've said all along that if Braun is caught he gets the punishment he deserves.

MLB and MLBPA negotiated a 65-game suspension. MLBPA's participation confirms that he was dead-to-rights. Fair enough for me.

Braun richly deserves what he got. He'll never recover his reputation and the knives out for him will be long and sharp, as already evidenced by this thread. He reaped the wind, it's his cross to bear to sow the whirlwind. No sympathy in this corner of Brewers fandom.

Having said that ...

Get bent.

So what's your point? That Milwaukee fans got behind one of their best players, past and present, who, up until a certain point, had reason to believe innocence? That Bonds -- who was just as much of a liar as Braun is/was -- is somehow vindicated by this? That Milwaukee fans were wrong to boo a known cheater at the time in defense of Aaron, who is a deity in Milwaukee?

Never mind, I know the point is to get an extra dig in. Fine.

Of course a significant amount of Brewers fans got behind Braun. That's what fans do. It doesn't make them right in the end, but they felt right in the moment. ANY other group of fans can and would have done the same thing. See St. Louis Cardinals (McGwire), Chicago Cubs (Sosa), et al.

It didn't help that MLB handled this with the deft touch of a 20-mule team. While we know now that Braun was lying, it still doesn't change the fact that his original case was handled improperly and was properly thrown out. Nor that it was leaked to begin with.

It also didn't help that MLB declared its intent to "get" players, which is still find to be an odious statement they could have kept to themselves even if they knew they had evidence to get the players they got.

Braun's lies and the deserved scorn he gets will override it, but it also gives MLB the chance to skate for its past mistakes in the court of public opinion. Que sera, etc.

None of that makes Braun any less of a liar. Or a scumbag, if you prefer. I can get on board with that.

I'm a Brewers fan. Always will be. More important to me, I'm Milwaukee born and raised. And I'll stand up and be counted for being wrong about some of this. Braun's betrayal of his own fans is the one of the worst aspects of this.

But pointing the finger at fans being fans in light of hindsight? Fuck off. Keep your knives on Braun who deserves it.

 

But he has acknowledged in the past that he's not perfect, so there's that ...

 

1) Fuck yes. Bonds is vindicated -- not for being innocent but for being in such good company in his guilt. I've personally never argued that Bonds was even one shade of innocent, but MLB never had more on him than they had on Braun, and yet the thumb-sucking hometowners never wanted to see it in Braun. And it is goddamn motherfucking HILARIOUS that everyone has to twist themselves around saying it doesn't matter that they were booing Bonds and giving hand jobs to Braun through the whole thing. It's just another box to check off, though. He got it bad in Milwaukee, New York and L.A. especially. Now Clemens, A-Rod, Braun, Manny, probably Gagne, am I forgetting anyone else? Whole goddamn country was laughing at San Francisco five years ago, and now there isn't one fan base that doesn't have to look back and say "boy we were clueless on that." I wasn't really even part of the Bonds adulation, but it's pretty fucking hilarious to see explanations like yours that try to thread some kind of needle.

2) See 1. I believe the term in vogue during the Bonds era was "Kool-Aid drinkers." I hope you like the Miller-flavored Kool-Aid.

 

Oh Christ. That's some dumb shit there that ultimately has no point other than nah-nah scoreboard that only you care about. I seriously doubt joe average fan remembers what the decimal rate was in each and every stadium Bonds was booed at, Milwaukee included, but Bonds richly deserved to get booed. In Milwaukee, Wis. or Milwaukie, Ore.

Braun got booed plenty too and will get booed even more when he returns. And he'll deserve it as much as Bonds did.

 

No, the anger was a lot, lot higher for Bonds. Lots of fans swearing they'd never root for a cheater. Well, you did, knowingly, for all of 2012 and 2013. And it is a riot. Hypocrisy always is.

 

Though I think the real question on everyone's minds tonight at Miller Park is whether or not Tom Gorzelanny can continue to provide the Brewers with desperately needed rotation help or if Chris Denorfia or Jedd Gyorko will be too tough to handle.

In other news, I'm guess Yasmani Grandal has never been happier to be on the 60-day DL than he is tonight.

 

Hypocrisy? No. There were people inside and outside of Milwaukee who legitimately thought he was innocent.

You can say they got taken for a ride, but they're not hypocrites for believing what they believed, especially when his original case got thrown out.

The hypocrites are the assholes who have rooted for cheaters in the past and who are claiming moral high ground today.