September 23rd, 2013 at 11:27 am 
by Ron Cervenka This is from an email that I received from the ESPN PR Department on Monday morning. It is a partial transcript from Sunday night’s ESPN game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers in which play-by-play commentator Dan Shulman and analysts Orel Hershiser and John Kruk gave their personal opinions and perspectives regarding the Ryan Braun PED incidents.
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Dan Shulman: “There’s the suspension, there’s what he did to deserve the suspension, there’s the statement as opposed to sitting in front of microphones and taking questions. There’s been very little public face time for Ryan Braun. How do you guys look at the whole situation, the whole scenario with Ryan?”
John Kruk: “The last time he had a public statement about P.E.D.’s he kind of fibbed to all of us. He was very believable, that Spring Training day in 2012 was very believable. I walked out of there thinking ‘I believe the guy.’ Now I don’t think there’s anything he can say to the fans or anyone else that would make him believable at this point”.
Orel Hershiser
Orel Hershiser: “I got to spend some time with him right after that [Braun press conference] during the season and I’ll tell you what, I rode in a golf cart around the ballpark and he was in the golf cart for about five minutes and I said to him, ‘I’m going to go on the air tonight and I’ll support you if you tell me you didn’t do it.’ He said ‘I didn’t do it.’ He gave me five minutes about how he didn’t do it. It’s not only disappointing for me, it’s personal. I got lied to within about two feet of each other.”
Shulman: “The great unknown is what are the numbers going to be next year? How good of a ball player will he be? How long was he doing it?”
Hershiser: “I would love to see someone finally step forward and give some of the money back. I would love to see the players – I know the Players Association and agents wouldn’t allow it – but for complete redemption say, ‘you know what? I set some standards taking this stuff. And – if I don’t approach those standards – then let’s give some of the money back.’ It’s hurt the organization, its hurt baseball, it’s hurting the salary structure, it’s hurting everybody.”
Kruk: “You sign a guy that you believe is not on P.E.D.’s and he is, then all of a sudden he gets caught and decides ok, I’m not going to take them anymore, you aren’t getting that player….you can forgive a guy for making a bad choice, it’s hard to forgive a guy for basically coming out in Spring Training and lying to everyone. And not only lying, but basically ruining a guy’s life – the collector. That guy’s life has got to be a living you know what. I think fans can forgive Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte. Those guys have been forgiven because they have come out and said ‘yes, I did it.’ They were honest about it. But I think people don’t want to be lied to. If you did it, say ‘yes, I did it’ and if you’re caught, admit it.”
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I still can’t believe that Kruk and Hershiser were naive enough to believe the guy in the first place. The evidence was so overwhelming that Braun’s urine sample wasn’t tampered with and that he got off on a technicality. Had either of those guy done their homework, (especially Hershiser), he could have asked Braun to explain to him how the untampered vial of his sample was able to test positive and what the test taker had to gain by providing a tarnished sample for testing.
Quite often people believe what they hope is true. I know Orel and John are professional reporters and probably should be more aware – less trusting – than fans away from the scene.
I expect that during a golf game Orel didn’t want to go into a third degree and gave Braun the chance to confirm or deny use of PED’s and face to face was satisfied to get out of the conversation. I expect Braun had answers ready for those two questions as advised by his legal team.
Regardless, they have a pretty clear stance on the Braun topic now.
This belief has made many a criminal very wealthy.
I suspect that the Hershiser/Braun exchange had more to do with the ‘brotherhood’ between current and former MLB players. Make no mistake about it, the MLB is a good ol’ boys club – which isn’t a bad thing at all.
Also, there was no golf game.
Why do they call it a golf cart in a ball park?
Good question, although ball park cart is a bit longer than golf cart. I’ve also always wondered wonder why they call them ‘Jumbo Shrimp?’
Maybe BPC for ball park cart.
BPC – Perfect. Just like they call Manny Mota’s bike Manny Mota’s bike.
PS: This thread sure went alltohell.
What’s your point? lol. Wouldn’t have happened if I could read.
Should have stayed in school longer.
I would have if they let me, but they threw me out. The three best years of my life was the fourth grade.
Sorry – back on point. I agree with Evan. If his urine test had been done on a Thursday he would have already been suspended because the sample would have been on it’s way and not secured appropriately for the weekend. Orel knows this. He can’t put his head in the sand or pretend it’s the “good ole boy club”. I have too much respect for Orel and know he’s not that stupid. WWHT.
@Think_BlueLA Cool article