What We Can Learn from Ryan Braun

There are lessons we can learn from Ryan Braun and they aren’t about fielding or hitting.  They’re about patience and certitude, control and timing.

When Braun spoke yesterday standing by himself on the field at Maryvale, the Milwaukee Brewers Spring Training Facility in Arizona, he seemed to me to be a person with such deep belief in himself and the rightness of his position that he was utterly comfortable alone. He didn’t need to be flanked by attorneys or supporters.  It was just Ryan Braun and the green of the baseball field behind him.

In my mind, the hardest part of this doping accusation had to have been waiting in silence for the case to be resolved.  Even though there were occasional Braun tweets about eventually being vindicated, he kept pretty silent which, to me, signified his respect for the process and his control over his own emotions.

It’s the latter that I think is most impressive.  This statement from Braun sums up what that challenge must have been like:  “With what’s at stake — this is my livelihood, this is my integrity, this is my character, this is everything that I’ve work for in my entire life being called into question…”

At 27 years old, this ball player had the ability to keep his own counsel and wait.  And then when it was appropriate to speak, he did.  He didn’t hide behind a lawyer or a publicist.  He didn’t issue a statement and refuse questions.  He just stood there on the first base line of Maryvale’s field and reclaimed his territory – honest, measured, definite.

Man, I really admired that.   A long time Brewers fan, I was never all that crazy about Ryan Braun.  But I think I am now.

_____________________

Find the story at http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/Braun_live22412-140317723.html (Photos from the JSonline story)