Ryan Braun Tests Positive for PEDs: Guilty or Innocent, Damage Already Done

Milwaukee Brewers LF Ryan Braun, perennial All-Star and 2011 National League MVP award recipient, has supposedly tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and faces a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball.

Braun, 28, has steadily improved his play year after year since breaking onto the scene in 2007 and taking home NL Rookie of the Year honors.

Considered one of the young superstars of the game, Braun has long been looked at as someone who "plays the game the right way."

Of course, everyone has their own definition of what that saying means, but generally speaking, this is the kind of player that you would want your children to emulate. Hard working, respectful of the game and his opponents and—of course—successful.

At the 2009 All-Star Game, responding to Albert Pujols trying to quell the constant questions about steroids, commissioner Bud Selig went out of his way to complement Braun:

"

"Albert Pujols is absolutely right. He has been tested since he started playing," Selig said. "So has Ryan Howard. So has Ryan Braun, Ryan Zimmerman. Since they were in the minors."

"

Thanks to Alex Rodriguez, steroids had been once again thrust to the forefront of baseball that season. His admission to using performance enhancing drugs led Braun to say, in an interview with mlb.com:

"

"... The best thing he can do is come out, admit to everything and be completely honest," Braun said. "The situation will die a lot faster if he tells the whole truth."

"

So while it is expected for his fans—and fans of baseball in general—to feel disappointed and let down by Braun, the fact is that before the facts have come out and before he has had his chance to explain the situation, judgment has already been passed.

I googled Ryan Braun when I started writing this, simply because I was unsure of his age—he just celebrated a birthday last month. Of course, one of the first links to come up was his wikipedia page.

This may have been changed by the time you read this, but here is how the beginning of Braun's page read:

"

Ryan "ANABOLIC STEROIDS SHOOTER" Braun (nicknamed The ANABOLIC STEROIDS SHOOTER; born ANABOLIC STEROIDS SHOOTER November 17, 1983, in Mission Hills, Los Angeles, California) is an ANDROGEN ADDICT Major League Baseball left fielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. A perennial standout, he was ranked No. 16 by the Sporting News in its 2011 list of the 50 greatest current ANABOLIC STEROIDS SHOOTERS in baseball and is the reigning ANABOLIC STEROIDS SHOOTER National League MVP.

"

Guilty until proven innocent.

Ryan Braun will have his proverbial day in court, a chance to address the accusations and state his case.

Sadly, what transpires there will have little affect on the perception that fans and the public-at-large has of him.

To many, he is tainted.

To many, he is a cheater.

To many, he is no different than Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez or any of the other greats to find themselves associated with what has become the bane of baseball's very existence.

Everything Braun has accomplished so far is out the window.

If he is guilty of knowingly taking a banned substance, then Braun bought this on himself and is deserving of all that comes along with it.

Whether he did or he didn't, a cloud of suspicion will hover over him for the rest of his days playing the game—and will cast a shadow on his career long after it's over.