HOW WE SEE IT: Tainted Athletes Keep Lying

Monday, July 29, 2013

You’ve got to hand it to Ryan Braun, the now suspended all-star outfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers. When defending himself against allegations that he’d used performance enhancing drugs prior to 2012, he gave 100 percent effort.

For those who don’t remember, Braun failed a drug test in 2011 but appealed the result, accusing the testing company of incompetence or worse by mishandling his samples and, therefore, rendering them legally useless.

The ferocity with which he derided Major League Baseball’s drug testing methods, the employees of the testing lab and the media and fans for speculating about his integrity was astonishing. He then proudly proclaimed his innocence and claimed the moral high ground on the subject of performance boosters in sports.

That is until last week, when Major League Baseball announced Braun was indeed guilty of using illegal performance enhancers and would be suspended the rest of this season. Braun “apologized” for making mistakes, and joins that long and growing list of professional athletes who vehemently deny the use of illegal substances right up until the truth comes out.

It was almost as if Braun believed by proclaiming his innocence so ferociously he could actually bend reality to fit the lies he told. Such behavior mimics an ugly pattern. And there’s more to it.

Braun and his ilk (led by admitted liar Lance Armstrong) have no compunction about ruining the reputations of people who might shed a little light on their dark secrets. Braun went after a lab employee who failed to transfer his drug test samples according to policy while Armstrong, winner of seven Tour de France bicycle races while doping, filed a string of lawsuits against people who claimed to have evidence of his misdeeds.

Armstrong, like Braun, had to eventually come clean, offering weak half-apologies and asking for forgiveness from the fans who believed the earlier lies.

Both men, it should be noted, remain wealthy from their ill-gotten success. Braun, after he serves his 65-game suspension, will return to a lucrative contract. Armstrong, one of the most bankable sports stars of his era because of his inspiring battle against cancer during his prime, won’t ever want for money again.

But that’s not enough for him. He’s busy now trying to “rehabilitate” his own tarnished image by telling the European sports press all elite cyclists were cheating, so what’s the big deal?

That Armstrong is resorting to the same kind of general condemnations that he himself decried in years past is both astoundingly ironic and pathetically sad.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the Ryan Brauns and Lance Armstrongs of the world accepted responsibility for their actions with the same enthusiasm they denied the truth?

Maybe it would go something like this:

“I did it. I did it for the money and the fame and the glory. I didn’t care about the people I stomped on in defending my lies. It wasn’t a mistake. I wasn’t duped by some clever trainer. I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was wrong.

“I wish I could say I was sorry I did it. What I really mean is that I’m sorry I got caught. I’ll be more careful now. I’ll do my best not to get caught again. But I can’t promise that I won’t try again if I think I can get away with it.”

That would be pretty disturbing. But would it be more disturbing than what actually happened? No, not really.