Ryan Braun: Matt Kemp Wrong to Defend Brewers' Superstar

Matt Kemp is still young and relatively new to the whole "superstar" thing. But living in Los Angeles, Kemp needs to be more aware of what to say when a random person with a camera has a question for you. 

TMZ caught up with Kemp and asked him what his opinion of Ryan Braun's positive steroid test was. 

"

Nobody's proven anything, man. We don't know anything. That's a good dude. That's my homie.

"

Kemp also went on to speak positively of Barry Bonds. 

And we do know a little bit about Ryan Braun. We know about the report from Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn, that detailed the initial hot test. 

Of course, Kemp is right. Anything is possible and that test could well prove to be a false positive. Just because it's never happened before in baseball, doesn't mean that it can't happen. 

Still, the absolute last thing that anyone wants to do for their image is to defend a steroid user. Look at what Kemp said, "Nobody's proven anything." The person that applies to more than any is Braun and the fact is, he has tested positive. It's now squarely on Braun to prove that that test was false.

But believe it or not, Braun's guilt is not really in question here. Although it's less than a week old, the Braun issue is highly controversial. On a grander scale, the steroids issue has been a powder keg for a long time. 

Now, I am not saying that Kemp needs to publicly rip Braun when given the opportunity. No, he needs to take a far simpler option.

When Kemp is in public and asked about Braun, he needs to walk on and not answer question. At the very most, he needs to say something like "I'm not going to talk about that."

It's boring, but that's not Kemp's problem.

This applies to all athletes who are asked about alleged steroids users. The issue is just too touchy to say anything about. Even a politically-correct answer just looks bad. 

Being the runner-up for the MVP award that Braun won, Kemp is in a spotlight that he never really asked for. The same is true for celebrities that work and live in Los Angeles. I get that. I'm sympathetic to that, but not too much.

The moment he heard of the positive test, Kemp needed to come up with his answer if he's ever asked about it. That answer is, "no comment."

Even if it's fairly innocent, Kemp's words make him look like he's just defending a steroid user. That's not a place you want to be.

There's only one way to guarantee that that won't happen. When the name "Ryan Braun" comes up, walk on and keep your mouth shut. No good comes from talking.

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