http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2012/02/ryan-braun-brewers-suspension-drugs/1#.T0bAinlA2Ec

Of course Braun wins his appeal. To whom did he appeal? The guy who owns his team... or, at least, the guy whose daughter owns it and he used to own it.

I'm not sure how Major League Baseball can continue to function with so many apparent conflicts of interest arising from the Office of the Commissioner. Of course Selig is not going to suspend one of his own players. Just like he's not about to move his team back to the AL to balance leagues, he'd rather send a Texas team out.

Clearly, the NL is the desired league. Arizona paid off Skippy Hicks so they wouldn't have to swap with the Tampa Bay Rays as was specified in the entry contracts when the two teams were created back in 1998. Originally, Tampa Bay would play 2 years in the AL and Arizona the same 2 years in the NL then they would permanently swap leagues. This gave both teams the opportunity to play all of the teams in baseball. Seems some owners think the NL is the more prestigious league. Our not-so-esteemed commissioner appears to be one of those and he used his position to insure he got what he wanted.

And, this isn't the first time he's put the screws to Texas teams. He was the dog that ran down the Eddie Gaylord rabbit that would have moved the team from Eddie Chiles to Gaylord. The White Sox spearheaded the effort and had their Milwaukee puppet (Bud Selig) do all the work to get that torpedoed. Never mind that MLB had already allowed Gaylord to be 50% owner of the Rangers a couple of years earlier. And, never mind that, upon granting that ownership share, MLB had approved that Gaylord would be allowed to buy the other 50% should Chiles come to the point he wanted to sell. Gaylord had a superstation and Einhorn/Reinsdorf freaked at the thought of competition for broadcast dollars extending to a team in Texas - God forbid MLB should have their own Dallas Cowboys. So, they had Selig put together a way that this could be avoided.

Anyone remember the Astros in the playoff hunt with the Cubbies and Reds a few years back and Hurricane Katrina made it impossible for the Astros to play their series against the Cubs in Houston? Where did the Commissioner of Baseball send the game? Yup. Milwaukee. His daughter's stadium. And, just 90.6 miles up the road from Wrigley Field. So, the Astros, essentially, had to play a "home" game in the back yard of their opponents. Guess who had more fans attending.

Of course, MLB (and the other sports leagues) have long believed New York should be the city of champions - they get more visibility for their league that way. And Chicago and LA should also be well represented. But, other parts of the country should have to work harder to achieve the same success because they aren't as "good for the game" as NY, Chicago and LA. And, Milwaukee is a suburb of Chicago. I guess it'll do - especially since it's the Commissioner's team.

Of course Ryan Braun was going to be let off. His daddy did the adjudication. Granted, instead of Gaylord we got Rose & Bush & Co. and a new BallPark in Arlington... but, it took us another 20+ years before our TV contracts began to look anything like those of the Yankees, Red/White Sox, Cubbies and Braves. But, who cares? We aren't NY.