If there was any debate over how suspended Milwaukee Brewer's outfielder Ryan Braun is perceived by fans around the country after his 65-game suspension for violating the MLB's drug policy, a recent poll erases any doubt that Braun's popularity has hit rock bottom.
Repucom, a global source for sports marketing research, revealed that Braun is one of America's least-trustworthy athletes in the company's database of 2,988 celebrities.
Braun is looked down upon not only for his connection to a Biogenesis clinic in Miami that got him suspended for 65 games this season, but also because the outfielder openly denied the use of performance-enhancing drugs back in 2011 after his urine tested positive.
"When someone doesn't play it straight, they get brutalized," said Paul Smith, Repucom's CEO according to ESPN. "Ryan can't fall much further. Even Tiger didn't fall down this low."
Braun is ninth on the list of most untrustworthy athletes, falling behind Marion Jones, John Daly, Manny Ramirez, Lance Armstrong, Michael Vick, Metta World Peace, Pete Rose and Dennis Rodman. Braun is hated by many for being tied up with the Biogenesis scandal, but is also ill received for attacking the integrity of Dino Laurenzi Jr, who collected Braun's urine sample in 2011 and kept it for nearly two days before sending it to the lab, enabling Braun to get out of a 50-game suspension on a technicality.
Following the positive test, the 2011 National League MVP insisted that he didn't he didn't use PEDs and that the urine was mishandled, putting Laurenzi in a negative light. Only a couple of years later, Braun was found to be connected to the Biogenesis clinic and his star has fallen.
"As I have acknowledged in the past, I am not perfect," Braun said in a statement to the media after being suspended. "I realize now that I have made some mistakes."
Braun's mistakes have caused his reputation to plummet, and Repucom reports that the disgraced outfielder has become a household name for the wrong reasons as 30% of the general population know who he is following the news of his suspension, compared to 15% last September.
"We can't be perfect every day," Smith told ESPN. "But when we screw up, we can't screw it up again. Ryan really dug a hole for himself."
After openly lying, it may be impossible for Braun to dig himself out.
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