On a chilly Wednesday morning, and for the first time since being suspended for 65 games by Major League Baseball, Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun addressed the media.
Braun's appearance came at the end of his taking food donations outside Helfaer Field, in the shadow of Miller Park.
With temperatures hovering around 15 degrees and a brisk wind blowing, Braun stood in front of a bank of microphones and after an initial welcome opened the floor to questions.
With that, the media fired away.
Why did you lie?
"Obviously I’ve been through a lot and as I expressed in my statement that I felt was pretty lengthy and specific, I got into a lot of details at that point. I’m not really going to go into any further details. I’m deeply remorseful about what happened. I wish I had the ability to go back and change things and do things a lot differently, but unfortunately I can’t do that. All I can do is move on and try to do everything in my power to earn back peoples’ trust and respect and support. I don’t anticipate being able to earn back everybody’s support, but I certainly intend to do everything in my power to do that and I won’t stop trying."
What do you have to say to the kids who have looked up to you?
"I’ve always been incredibly appreciative of everybody’s support. I made a mistake – a huge mistake that has obviously been extremely difficult to deal with and will continue to be difficult to deal with. All I can say is in making mistakes, as I’ve stated previously, we all deal with adversity. We all deal with challenges in life. Any challenge you face, you have an opportunity to view as either an obstacle or as an opportunity to grow from, to learn from and to help other people avoid making that same mistake, and that’s what I intend to do."
What was worse in your opinion, using PEDs or lying about it after the fact?
"As I’ve stated, the goal for me is just being able to move forward. I’m not going to get into too many specifics about what happened other than saying I’m extremely remorseful. I wish that I could go back and change things but I don’t have that opportunity to do that, so I’m just going to do everything in my power to move forward."
Have you apologized to Dino Laurenzi, or made any payments to him?
"I have not made any payments to him. I’ve had some really productive and positive conversations with him. The Laurenzi family was actually gracious and kind enough to have my fiancÉe Larisa and I over to their house for dinner last night, and we had some really good conversation. We’ve made amends and I think we’re both excited to be able to move forward and put this behind us."
Keep checking back for a more complete transcript.
, its really that simple for me.