Ryan Braun's punishment far from enough

Outfielder Ryan Braun has been suspended for the rest of the Brewers' hopeless season for his involvement with an anti-aging clinic in Florida. That's bad enough for baseball, but what really makes everyone mad is how Braun tried to lie his way through it all. I can't believe he said he wanted to apologize to anyone he "may have disappointed." Really? Braun is arrogant and deceitful. He has not apologized in a sincere manner. He's still looking for a way to beat the rap. He still believes that his reputation can be saved, simply by sitting out the final two months of this season. It is amazing that he thinks he can return to baseball next season and nobody is going to question his credibility or salary, which calls for $10 million in 2014, $12 million in 2015 and another $19 million in 2016. Does he think sitting out two months and losing $3.5 million will restore his credibility and that when he returns to spring training next spring, everything will be forgotten? Braun has been under a cloud since testing positive for testosterone in October 2011. He beat the rap on a technicality, blaming the employee who was handling his urine sample and proclaiming his innocence. The employee did nothing wrong. He was following procedure, but Braun tore him to shreds the following spring in a news conference. But despite getting off on a technicality, Braun never explained why his positive test, which showed high amounts of testosterone, was incorrect. That's a question that still hasn't been answered. Did he understand that the circumstance made him look guilty, no matter how much he pounded on the collector? Nope, he said he was innocent. And if we didn't believe him, then we were the stupid ones, he suggested. "I promise you on anything that's ever meant anything to me in my life, the morals, the virtues, the values by which I've lived in my 28 years on this planet, I did not do this," Braun said at the time. Braun is a liar. One day, he's going to learn that his reputation is more important than his $120 million contract. One day he's going to look back with regret that will never stop hurting. Taking PEDs is wrong, but lying about it, trying to wiggle out of it is worse. It's nearly impossible to recover from a steady stream of lies. Look at Andy Pettitte, Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi. All came clean and each is back in baseball, the stains almost forgotten. McGwire will not make the Hall of Fame, but he has something more important: Peace of mind without the burden of carrying around a lie in his heart. It doesn't seem like Braun understands that. That's why a 65-game suspension isn't long enough.