Damn you Ryan Braun

I usually don't resort to such hostile words, I honestly don't.

After all, I do have family that reads this.

But there is no other way of describing these emotions swirling my head.




Damn you Ryan Braun, you are ruining baseball.





Damn you Ryan Braun for taking away the focus on all these wonderful stories happening in baseball: including the mammoth rise of the Pirates and Orioles, the continuing bafflement of the Rays, the slew of wonderful young stars ranging from the hard-as-nails Puig saving the Dodgers to competitive-as-nails Wil Myers giving Tampa a boost, the Red Sox rising after tragedy, Matt Harvey giving life to the usually-lowly New York Mets, the quiet rise of the Cleveland Indians, Chris Davis actually giving Roger Maris a run for his money, the emotional good-bye tour of Mariano Rivera, and finally Miguel Cabrera being one of the greatest hitters in the past decade making another run at the Triple Crown.

Damn you Ryan Braun for once again making us question the heroes and stars that we desire and follow vividly.

The most disturbing thing about all this is all the millions you will still make once the suspension is over. While your reputation is in the crapper, this was a sacrifice you were willing to make in order for those millions to continue flowing into your bank account. You owe the man whose job and reputation you ruined with layers of lies an apology, you owe your defenders of the previous offense an apology, you owe the Brewers an apology, you owe the state of Wisconsin an apology, and you owe practically all of Major League Baseball an apology.

And I think the only way to truly tackle and flush out this steroid or PED issue is to strike more viciously then just a 65 game suspension or a 100 game suspension. After all, Melky Cabrera got a $16 million contract after his suspension. And we all pretty much forgot that he was caught.

Expulsion should be much more of a potential threat. If you get caught the first time, 100 games AND your contract gets voided. The whole thing. You lose all money you could be making and you have to go prove yourself to the team you played on before getting caught. The team gets first dibs, gets a month to claim you, and then you get paid the MINIMUM that year. Trust me, nothing will hurt more than going from 7-10 million a year down to a mere 500,000. The second time you get caught? Well, you get to join Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose.

And then we should go after the teams. If you sign a player previously busted and they get busted again---not only do they get expelled, but your team also gets fined for housing a repeat offender. This way teams will think twice before signing a convicted cheater. While I would prefer an expulsion the first time you get caught, I am suuuuuure that the Player's Union wouldn't appreciate the idea as much. But these punishments need to be harsher, so that way players think twice before considering to cheat, and teams can think twice before getting someone of this negative caliber.

I despise talking about this, I honestly do. I want the Steroid Era to become a pure thing of the past, as we focus on the influx of young stars that have overtaken the sport. But unfortunately until we flush out the lying douchebags like Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, and potential others during the latest investigation.

Bud Selig, this all must end, we must be harsher, more ruthless, and even less tolerant of the cheaters.

But damn you, Ryan Braun.








Damn you.