It just never smelled right.

When news of Ryan Braun's positive drug test was leaked to and then reported by ESPN, it just seemed to not add up. Of course, the journalist in me is loathe to believe a cheating professional athlete who claims innocence. After all, how many times have we been lied to over the years by someone caught red-handed who just wants to beat the rap?

Furthermore, as a Milwaukee journalist sticking up for the city's biggest superstar, charges of blind cronyism can call into one's entire body of credibility. If you believe Braun, the cheater, what else are you going to buy hook, line and sinker? Santa Claus? The Tooth Fairy? Will you, the journalist, be mocked by your peers as the one dummy gullible enough to actually believe the player over science?

So that having been prefaced, I fully know the risks of saying this, but I'm going to say it anyway.

I don't think Braun cheated.

I will never claim to be someone who runs in the same circles as the Brewers superstar MVP. He has a $100 million contract and a $5 million house with an ocean view in Malibu. I do not. I have never been to Braun's lakefront condo, I have never been in his car, played golf with his dad or met his mom. I will not make the claim that Braun and I are friends, because we aren't. Our relationship is purely professional, and I am perfectly fine with that because the last thing I would ever want is for someone to say my objectivity is clouded because of a personal relationship, because that is simply not the case.

But I just don't think he cheated.

Monday, on Dan Patrick's national radio and television program, Patrick cited inside sources as saying that he has been told that Braun may become the first player in Major League history to win his appeal for a positive banned substance test.

"There were whispers that this was a personal medical issue, that he was taking something for that, that may have spiked his test," Patrick said Monday. "I since found out that that is not the case. Ryan Braun may be exonerated here. He may be found innocent. And judging from all of the information I was told, there's a good chance that he should be."

Patrick cited "somebody involved in the process" when making his comments, which were measured and come just days after Braun's hearing in New York before baseball arbitrator Shaym Das, who now has 25 days in which to make a final determination. Patrick added that what Braun tested positive for was not a masking agent, either, unlike the case of Manny Ramirez and others.

Since the beginning of this saga, Braun has steadfastly maintained his innocence. He has done that via his representatives at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), text messages to reporters, and now, at the Baseball Writers Association awards banquet. Saturday night, Braun accepted his National League MVP Award and took a few moments to make the first verbal statement in regards to the matter.

"Sometimes in life we all deal with challenges we never expected to endure," Braun told the audience at the Hilton – New York Midtown. "I've always believed that a person's character is revealed through the way they deal with those moments of adversity. I've always loved and had so much respect for the game of baseball. Everything I've done in my career has been done with that respect and appreciation in mind, and that is why I'm so grateful and humbled to accept this award tonight."

Perhaps it is naive to think that Braun is telling the truth, but he sure doesn't sound like someone who uses performance enhancing drugs. His work ethic has been praised by teammates and team executives alike since the day he got to the Major Leagues. At every turn he has thanked his parents for instilling in him the virtues of hard work and not cutting corners.

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