Is that we are in this country now?
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No, we live in a country where a part-time sample collector can violate drug testing protocol and store urine in his unsecure, personal fridge.
It is alleged that the sample purported to be Braun's contained 3x the highest level of artifical testosterone ever recorded in the history of the MLB testing program. A second Braun urine test administered a week later under proper protocol was 100% clean.
Braun exhibited no other symptoms (physical or emotional) of an individual that had consumed enough artificial testosterone to kill small farm animals. Braun claims that he did not take the testosterone and offered to submit a DNA sample to prove that either the initial urine sample was not his or that his DNA sample - which should still have had some trace of the testosterone - was in fact clean. It should be noted that all 3 player urine samples the collector obtained that day and stored at his personal residence contained traces of the artifical testosterone.
Given this set of facts, it is just as likely that a part-time collector screwed up his attempt to tamper with Braun's sample and sell a leaked story of an MVP's failed drug test to the media.
Source?
If that is the case, I'm curious as to who the other players were and how much was in their samples.
Do you know how long the stuff normally stays in the system?