WHY WOULDN'T A TOP ATHLETE BE MORE CAREFUL?

I thought this was interesting and wanted to bring it to you.  Sure, it has everything to do with speculation in the Biogenesis Clinic scandal and sure, no one truly knows the behind the door conversations, but everyone is clearly either not bothered by it, or wonders how all this stuff comes down.

We heard from Ryan Braun this week when he released a statement about Anthony Bosch, read HERE, when he stated:

"During the course of preparing for my successful appeal last year, my attorneys, who were previously familiar with Tony Bosch, used him as a consultant. More specifically, he answered questions about T/E ratio and possibilities of tampering with samples...There was a dispute over compensation for Bosch's work, which is why my lawyer and I are listed under "moneys owed" and not on any other list.... I have nothing to hide and have never had any other relationship with Bosch... I will fully cooperate with any inquiry into this matter."

My pal Andy is an attorney and clearly he got to thinking about how this whole mess went down with Braun too. Plus, he was trying to keep it light here.  Andy told me simply, "Ryan Braun needed to consult with an expert to defend against his PED use charge so he consulted with Bosch and that, according to Braun, is the reason why he shows up in Bosch's notebooks." OK, I got it so far... and?

Andy then told me he expected Braun's conversation with his attorney must have gone something like this:

Braun's Attorney: "Ryan, we are going to have find some heavy hitting experts to help line up our defense if we want to have shot at beating these charges." 

Braun: "Yeah, you're right, but who can we use?" 

Braun's Attorney: "Well, there's this MD/ PhD out of Stanford who invented drug testing."

Braun: "Nah, he sounds to sciencey.  Who else do you have?"

Braun's Attorney:  "There is a research scientist out of Johns Hopkins who came up with the test for HGH."

Braun: "Still too sciencey.  Who else?"

Braun's Attorney:  "There is this guy Bosch out of Miami"

Braun: "Chris?  I know him, he is a good guy, let's go with him."

Braun's Attorney:  "No, no, Chris is a basketball player.  This guy is Tony Bosch. He does not have any medical degrees or formal training but he operates an anti-aging clinic in Miami."

Braun:  "Oh, yeah, the Dominicans love him.  Let's go with him."

So what's the point of this? Quite simply this:  Why in the world would a world class athlete consult a random guy with no medical or scientific training with his career on the line when he surely had access to the most highly qualified experts? 

Andy's right.  You have to think that most of these athletes can contact any top level physical out there for advice.  Then why be connected to Bosch?  Look, Andy and I talk a lot about this stuff and there is 1 part of this PEDs issue that we always circle back to: "I have no clue if he was using or not." That being said, again we have an accusation with Bosch and again, we can ask, "Did Braun (OR insert any name in that notebook) actually use Bosch's products?" We don't know. One things for sure though,  many find it hard to believe that he or any of them would consult with a guy with no expert qualifications on these technical issues.

In closing, Andy told me this, and this is a quote... remember, he's an attorney: "I have been involved in drug testing cases before and there are loads of experts out there. If you showed up in court with this guy Bosch, the judge would probably sanction the lawyer for even trying to pass him off as an expert." 

Food for thought.  Happy Saturday. For those in the Northeast, read us first, have some coffee and then go tackle the driveway and dig out... like me.

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