Ryan Braun and the myth that is innocent until proven guilty

Anyone who has been a fan of baseball for the past decade or so has seen it too many times. One of your favorite players standing at a podium trying to explain himself after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and the list goes on. After having our faith betrayed so many times, we have been trained to assume the worst and leave hope out of it.

The Ryan Braun fiasco though is something completely different. Until watching his speech this morning, I was with the majority in thinking that he got off on a technicality. As I was listening though, I realized that this was something much bigger and more important than that. This was a great player who will be forever questioned because the media loves a good story more than the facts. The facts of the positive test and his subsequent appeal provide a much murkier picture than the media has been showing to the public.

Prince Fielder and the Worst Infield in Baseball

3rd Baseman? Sure

With the signing of Prince Fielder, everyone expects the Detroit Tigers to score a lot more runs next year. And they better. Apparently, for some reason that I cannot comprehend, the Tigers plan on Fielder playing at 1st Base and moving Miguel Cabrera to 3rd. For Cabrera, this may have been an okay move about 60 pounds ago, but now it is laughable. Cabrera's last stint at 3B in Detroit ended after 14 games. He had 5 errors in those 14 games. If he were to keep up a pace like that for an entire season, Cabrera would come quite close to the most errors ever by a 3B in one season. Fielder on the other hand is already below average at 1B, and will likely get worse as he gets older (and fatter). This could all be avoided if one of the players does not mind a move to the DH position, but I for one am hoping that we get to see at least one season of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Jhonny Peralta in the same infield.

Why the Packers Shouldn't Want a Home Playoff Game

If you are a Packers fan, you should be happy about the fact that your team has all but clinched the top seed in the NFC, but you shouldn't be quite so happy that the game must be played at Lambeau Field. Before you rattle off how great the Packers at Lambeau throughout their history, just think about the other top seeds in the NFC...

San Francisco 49ers- This is a team built on power football. Harbaugh has made this team into a real contenter, and in the conditions that Green Bay will most likely have at this time of year they will give the Packers all they can handle. If it was in San Francisco you are probably still going to need a light coat, but nothing like the Frozen Tundra of Green Bay.

The Fate of the Cardinal

Often times, sports journalists and announcers seem to only know how to speak in hyperbole. If we as viewers were to believe everything that we heard from different media outlets, we would believe that we were witnessing history just about every weekend. The first example that comes to mind is the Alabama vs. LSU game this past weekend. Promoted as "the best 1 vs. 2 matchup in a decade" for 2 weeks straight, the game really wasn't that great to watch, and because of the ridiculousness that is the BCS, we may be watching the exact same game in a couple of months. Sometimes though, there are games that do truly change the course of college programs and college football itself. I believe the Stanford vs. Oregon game this weekend falls into that category. The implications of this game are huge for Stanford, and in turn, the future of the West Coast college football landscape. Assuming that Stanford will beat 2 average teams in Cal and Notre Dame, here are just a few things this weekend's game will most likely determine: