Embattled Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun has been making a round of apologies after he publicly said he was sorry and admitted to using performance enhancing drugs last month, but he failed to say he was sorry to one important Wisconsin figure and close friend, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
After the public apology where Braun admit his ties to anti-aging clinic Biogenesis instead of continuing his facade of denying the use of banned substances, ESPN reported last week that Braun he began calling up Brewers season ticket holders and issuing them a personal apology.
Rodgers said that Braun, a longtime friend and former business partner, hasn't reached out to him with one of those apology calls.
"I haven't gotten one of those calls," the Green Bay quarterback said on his weekly radio show on WAUK-AM in Milwaukee, according to NESN.
When asked if he was upset about it, Rodgers simply said, "No."
Perhaps the Green Bay quarterback has more to worry about as the Packers (0-1) try to bounce back in Week 2 when they take on the Washington Redskins (0-1) in their home-opener Sunday.
Braun agreed to a 65-game suspension from MLB for his connection to the Biogenesis clinic and use of banned substances, and has seen a lot of his endorsements go out the window as a result. One of them was a business venture he shared with Rodgers. The two athletes opened up a restaurant together called 8-Twelve MVP Bar & Grill in Brookfield, Mich., but reports surfaced recently that the restaurant group became the latest brand to cut ties with Braun. The restaurant will be renamed at the end of the year.
The restaurant group, SURG, joined Nike and convenience store chain Kwik-Trip in dropping its affiliation with Braun.
Braun won the NL MVP award in 2011 after batting .332 with 33 homers and 111 RBIs and only played in 61 games with Milwaukee this season before the ban. Following the 2011 season, reports began to rise that Braun failed a urine test but he was able to get off on a technicality while all-the-while exclaiming his innocence.
Rodgers stood by his close friend through all of it, but once Braun was caught up in the Biogenesis scandal, there was nothing more Rodgers could do to help his friend's reputation.
While Rodgers has said he was not disappointed over the fact that Braun hasn't called him yet, he definitely seemed a bit betrayed when he found out that his friend, who he had been defending all along, was a cheater.
"Well, I was shocked, I really was, just like I know many of you were," Rodgers told reporters after Braun's suspension, per NESN. "I was backing up a friend, who looked me in the eye on multiple occasions and repeatedly denied these allegations, said they weren't true. So it is disappointing, not only for myself as a friend but for obviously Wisconsin sports fans, Brewer fans, Major League Baseball fans. It doesn't feel great being lied to like that, and I'm disappointed about the way it all went down."
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