Yes, they are ticked off in Milwaukee at Ryan Braun. The Journal-Sentinel gave the story extensive coverage, including a front-page headline that only was a few counts off of “War Over.”
Columnist Michael Hunt took out the hammer on the “Hebrew Hammer”:
It’s my job to write that the tarnished golden boy, by his acceptance of responsibility for involvement with performance-enhancing drugs, is a cheater, a liar and a self-righteous one at that for his deceitful speech at spring training last year that pointed the finger at everybody except the one who bore the most accountability.
I have been a Brewer fan since the team moved to Milwaukee from Seattle in 1970. So as a hometown fan, and as one who works in PR, this is a case study for students in “crisis management.” Although Braun lied and threw anyone in his way under the bus, just having a statement through MLB saying he has made “mistakes,” and then leaving behind his fans, the organization, and his teammates is a PR nightmare scenario. Braun should have immediately come clean as much as he could have without any criminal charges being filed against him. Say something, anything. Admit you lied. Tell the fans and media that you will address the reasons he lied at a later date. Don’t leave all the thousands of people who wear his uniform number, dine at his restaurant, or use the products/services he endorses in the lurch. We as a society are a forgiving people. Instead of getting ahead of a potential PR mess, Ryan Braun has allowed his name to forever be “mud” in the eyes of sports fans around the world. And he’s only 29.