Is Ryan Braun Innocent or Did He Pull a Fast One on Major League Baseball?

When does an athlete fail a drug test?

The answer is not as obvious as it might seem.

For years the ATP, the governing body of the men's tennis circuit, did not publicize a positive drug test until the player in question had completed the appeals process. The ATP chose to err on the side of caution and not condemn a player who might have had a logical reason why he tested positive for a banned substance.

This is why Andre Agassi could have gone to his grave without anyone ever knowing that he tested positive for crystal meth in 1997. Agassi appealed the test result, claiming he unwittingly took a spiked drink. The appeals board exonerated him and no one would have been the wiser except that Agassi revealed in his autobiography that he lied to the appeals board and that he knowingly took crystal meth.

I was vice president of communications for the ATP when he tested positive. In cases involving other players, none of them stars, I was one of the inner circle who was told about a positive test so that I could being formulating ATP's response when the player's appeal process was complete and the positive test result upheld.

I was never told about Agassi, however. He was too big a name to risk a leak. I knew about it, however, because an ATP official told me thinking I was already in the loop.    

Major League Baseball, like the International Olympic Committee, takes a different tact. It tells the world when a player tests positive for a banned substance. A player is guilty until proven innocent.

That was the case when Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers was suspended for 50 games when it was announced last October that he had tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

The news sent shock waves throughout the sport because Braun had been named National League MVP in 2011 and it was believed that the era of performance-enhancing drugs was a closed chapter in baseball history.

Braun insisted that he was innocent of using PEDs, but where have we heard that before? Alex Rodriguez looked into a 60 Minutes camera and said he never used PEDs. He was a liar.

Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire are among the high-profile baseball players who insisted that they didn't use PEDs. Is there anyone who actually still believes that?

All of them would have been first-ballot inductees to the Hall of Fame if it were not for the stigma of performance-enhancing drugs.

So why should we believe Braun even if he won his appeal as Agassi did? 

ESPN reports that arbitrator Shyam Das absolved Braun the chain of custody was broken when the test collector kept Braun's sample overnight instead of shipping it immediately by FedEx.

The seals on the sample were not broken but protocol was, and that was enough to exonerate Braun, who, by the way, never said that "the science" of the test itself was flawed. 

And fans shouldn't accuse MLB of being co-conspirators given that commissioner Bud Selig was the former owner of the Brewers and Braun is one of the sport's good guys. ESPN further reported that MLB officials are "livid" over the arbitrator's ruling.

For his part, Braun issued a statement saying, "It is the first step in restoring my good name and reputation. We were able to get through this because I am innocent and the truth is on our side."

But will we ever know for sure? Don't hold your breath for any revelations if Braun writes an autobiography someday.