Aaron Rodgers Throws His Support Behind Ryan Braun

Aaron Rodgers Throws His Support Behind Ryan Braun

It didn’t take long for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to be asked about his friend Ryan Braun, the 2011 National League MVP who recently failed a drug test. The report came out Sunday — and the incident is still being appealed — which led to Rodgers being asked about Braun following the Packers’ 13th victory. Rodgers didn’t comment then, but does in the following interview, throwing his support out to Braun and saying that he doesn’t believe Braun would do something like that. Rodgers also admits to trying Creatine in high school but says he hasn’t done anything like that since then.Aaron Rodgers joined ESPN Milwaukee with Jason Wilde to talk about his reaction to the Ryan Braun story, why the allegations are hard for him to believe, how he avoids unintentionally testing positive for substances and what a drug test is like.

Your reaction to the Ryan Braun news:

“I thought, first of all, it was inappropriate that the second question in my football postgame press conference was about Ryan. That’s why I didn’t want to answer it in that context. I thought it was highly inappropriate. Ryan and I are good buddies, probably my best athlete friend and we keep in touch obviously throughout the year. I spend a lot of time with him. I was very surprised the news came out the way it did. You would think that there would be some sort of confidentiality surrounding the situation because he is appealing it. Other than that, I don’t really want to comment a whole lot on the allegations or whatnot. I would say I 100 percent support Ryan and believe in him and it’s not going to affect our friendship in the least. I’m 100 percent supporting him and behind him and believe in everything that he says.”

Do the allegations seem hard to believe because you know him so well?:

“Yeah, 100 percent. I’ve known Ryan for a while now and we’ve spent a lot of time hanging out. I’ve been in the locker room and I’ve seen him working out and stuff. It’s just ridiculous the allegations. I think as much as he probably can’t say a whole lot right now just the fact that he was willing to take a test right after that and I don’t know exactly what all is out there but I just am trusting that my good friend has not been using anything illegal and I’m very confident that’s the case because I know how much he cares about the integrity of the game and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.”

What is your own protocol to avoid an unintentional positive test?:

“The testing policy in the NFL, I think as far as for steroid testing, is in the right place right now. We get tested a lot; it’s completely random, you don’t know about it. You have a couple of hours to get it done once you’re notified first in the morning. The HGH testing which was proposed by the NFL was absolutely ludicrous. Our people went up to Canada and talked to the experts up there and the testing they wanted to implement was highly unreliable. All the data that we were told, the results, no research behind it. That being said the NFL has a strict policy with clearing different substances, just making sure it’s clean. There’s only a few companies that have been cleared by the NFL. Anything other than that I think is silly to use. What little stuff I use as far as protein shakes is all stuff that’s in our weight room has been cleared by the NFL. Other than that I really don’t try anything else. Back in high school, in the early 2000s, Creatine was huge. Just about everybody that I knew was using Creatine. I tried that in high school but since then I haven’t used anything other than whey protein or protein that’s cleared by the NFL.”

What is a drug test like?:

“Thanks to Onterrio Smith and the Whizzinator, it’s gotten a lot more intrusive over the last, since 2005 when I was drafted, I think the Whizzinator was shortly thereafter. But it’s part of the process. They’ve got a job to do. You go in there, do your business and get out.”