Aaron Rodgers Speaks for Everyone in Defending Ryan Braun

Let's face it. Every last one of us wants Ryan Braun's positive PED test to be a big misunderstanding. He's a great guy and a great ballplayer, and Major League Baseball can ill afford another tainted star.

Not surprisingly, "us" in this case includes Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. He's a good friend of the Milwaukee Brewers left fielder, which makes sense, seeing as how the two of them are the biggest sports heroes in Wisconsin at the moment.

Rodgers opened up about Braun's positive test, which was first reported by ESPN's Outside the Lines, during his weekly radio show on ESPNMilwaukee and ESPNMadison on Tuesday. He made sure to mention that he and Braun are "good buddies" and that the 2011 National League MVP is probably his "best athlete friend."

Said Rodgers: “I 100 percent support Ryan and believe in him and it’s not going to affect our friendship in the least. I’m 100 percent supporting him and behind him and believe in everything that he says.”

Then he went into full buddy support mode:

"

I’ve known Ryan for a while now and we’ve spent a lot of time hanging out. I’ve been in the locker room and I’ve seen him working out and stuff. It’s just ridiculous, the allegations. I think as much as he probably can’t say a whole lot right now, just the fact that he was willing to take a test right after that (says something).

I don’t know exactly all that’s out there, but I just am trusting that my good friend has not been using anything illegal. And I’m very confident that’s the case, because I know how much he cares about the integrity of the game and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.

"

On balance, fairly typical stuff as far as Ryan Braun defenses go. The difference is that this particular defense is coming from a close friend and a guy who knows a thing or two about professional sports.

From a PR perspective, it definitely helps Braun's image that Rodgers is one of the very best players in the NFL and is widely accepted as a good guy. In many ways, he is the NFL's version of Ryan Braun.

Does this mean we should take Rodgers' word for it that Braun's positive test is, as Braun put it in a text message to Tom Haudricort of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a bunch of "B.S."?

Um, no. That would be nice, but we can't go that far. 

It's okay for all of us to hope for the best in Braun's case, but nobody should do so while at the same time ignoring the reality of the situation. Major League Baseball has a very strict drug testing policy, and it caught Braun. Indications are that he has a case to fight this thing, but he's fighting an uphill battle.

Besides which, Rodgers admitted that he's not entirely up to speed on Braun's case. It was found that Braun had an elevated level of testosterone in his body, and testing revealed that some of it was synthetic.

This could be a fluke, but it could be legit. If it is, all one can do is hope that Braun made a mistake and that he did not knowingly go out of his way to cheat. Goodness knows that Major League Baseball has sent a pretty loud message to its players that doing so is a very bad idea.

For now, we wait. Braun is disputing the positive test result through arbitration, and it's going to be a while before this is all over. Either he'll be suspended for 50 games, or his name will be cleared.

Either way, Braun can rest easy knowing that a good buddy is looking out for him.