NEW YORK -- Ryan Brauns lawyer criticized the lengthy statement from the person who collected the sluggers drug sample, saying Thursday the NL MVP "was properly vindicated." "Ryan Braun presented a winning defence in the forum that counted," attorney David Cornwell said in a statement. "The landmark decision in Ryans favour was based on the evidence and the plain meaning of the words in baseballs joint drug program. The collectors attempt to re-litigate his conduct is inappropriate, and his efforts will only be persuasive to those who do not understand the evidence or the rules. "Ryan Braun was properly vindicated. Both Major League Baseball and Major League Baseball Players Association should be applauded because their joint program worked." Braun escaped a 50-game suspension last week when his positive test was overturned by arbitrator Shyam Das. The legal team for the Milwaukee Brewers outfielder argued in a grievance hearing that the drug collector, Dino Laurenzi Jr., did not follow the procedures specified in baseballs drug agreement, which states the urine sample should be taken to a Federal Express office on the day it is collected "absent unusual circumstances." Laurenzi issued a statement Tuesday defending his actions, saying he never tampered with the urine sample. Laurenzi collected the sample on Oct. 1, a Saturday, and said he placed it in a Rubbermaid container in his basement office because "there was no FedEx office located within 50 miles of Miller Park that would ship packages that day or Sunday." Laurenzi took it to Federal Express on Monday. "At no point did I tamper in any way with the samples. It is my understanding that the samples were received at the laboratory with all tamper-resistant seals intact," Laurenzi said in his statement. Rob Manfred, MLBs executive vice-president for labour relations, said last week the league "vehemently disagrees with the decision" and called the collector "extremely experienced," adding he "acted in a professional and appropriate manner." Manfred declined comment on Cornwells statement as did Boyd Johnson III of WilmerHale, the lawyer retained by Laurenzi. cheap nfl jerseys .C. -- Its time for No. wholesale jerseys . They also weigh in on the injury to World Peace and LeBron getting hacked. 1. With their season winding down and the playoffs out of reach yet again, what are the Raptors biggest needs this off-season? Mitch Ward: Start by dealing Andrea Bargnani for an asset the team can use like a backup point guard, a three-point shooter, some help in the post. http://www.wholesalejerseychinast... . After a first half which saw the lead change hands several times, the Americans came out in the second half with an 18-7 run, keyed largely by Miami Heat forward LeBron James. [url=http://www.wholesalejerseychinastore.com/]cheap jerseys . A co-scoring leader with the Roughnecks last season, Dobbie was named the Offensive Player of the Week after scoring three goals, adding three assists and collecting three loose balls as the team rallied for a 12-9 victory on the road over the defending champion Toronto Rock on Sunday. wholesale nfl jerseys . What his New York Mets teammates would really like, however, is to make their own run at October with Beltran by their side. "Whats the option, give up? Let us take it down a different path? We want to make it hard for the front office," starting pitcher R.BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU committed major violations while recruiting a junior college football player, but wont be slapped with any post-season bans or future scholarship reductions, the NCAA ruled Tuesday. The governing body decided to place the school on probation for a year and cited a former assistant coach for unethical conduct. The investigation found that ex-assistant coach D.J. McCarthy improperly arranged for transportation and housing for former defensive lineman Akiem Hicks in 2009, then later tried to cover up those actions. The NCAA accepted LSUs self-imposed reduction of two scholarships during the 2010-11 academic year, as well as a 10 per cent reduction in official visits and reductions in recruiting calls. LSU already had begun reducing official visits during 2010-11, but the NCAA expanded the punishment to include 2011-12. McCarthy resigned in December 2009. Hicks never played for the Tigers before he left LSU. NCAA Committee on Infractions chairman Dennis Thomas said LSUs violations all were considered "major." Yet he stressed that punishment could have been more severe if not for the efforts of LSUs compliance department to discover and report the violations, and to co-operate with subsequent NCAA inquiries. "The committee really felt that the LSU compliance staff and institution did an excellent job, and that they assisted the (NCAA) enforcement staff in the investigation regarding these violations," Thomas said. He pointed specifically to senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar, who became suspicious of Hicks living arrangements from the time he arrived in Baton Rouge. According to an earlier LSU report on the matter, Segar spent weeks pressing for answers and made the decision to bar Hicks from travelling to LSUs 2009 season-opening game at Washington because she was unsatisfied with the information she had received. "That was critical," said Thomas, who is also the commissioner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. "If that had not been done, the institution could have really been under more severe and serious penalties as well." The violations reported in the case also included more than 3,600 phone calls that three non-coaching staff members either made to or received from high school coaches and administrators, prospects and family members of prospective students. LSU has said most of those calls concerned clerical matters, were not football related and resulted from a misinterpretation of NCAA rules. Still, LSU also reported those violations after seeking clarification on the NCAAs interpretation of the rules regarding permissible phone calls. LSU chancellor Michael Martin said the university does not plan to appeal. In effect, LSU already has served its punnishment regarding scholarships, having limited itself to 83 total scholarships during the 2010-11 academic year.dddddddddddd That means the Tigers will be playing with the maximum 85 allowed scholarships in the 2011 season. LSU has a lot of key players returning and is a popular pick to contend for Southeastern Conference and national titles this season. "A situation that could have been much worse was made better by the dedicated work of the LSU athletics compliance staff and I am pleased that the NCAA recognized LSUs effort to co-operate and be proactive," Martin said. "The compliance staff ... made an exemplary showing of how a university should react when mistakes are made." The NCAAs report details violations that included McCarthys use of a cellphone that was not registered with LSUs athletic department. He did not log those calls, which caused other coaches to inadvertently break the rules by making further calls that put LSU over the NCAAs one-call-per-week limit. McCarthy also held a conference call with Hicks and another female student who worked in the athletic department, during which the three agreed to provide false information about Hicks living arrangements for the summer of 2009 to LSU compliance staff. Hicks met the female student during his official visit to LSU and kept in touch with her. Because she worked for the athletic department, their phone calls to one another amounted to violations relating to excessive calls to a recruit, the report said. Hicks also stayed with her, free of charge, during an unofficial visit, and later moved into the vacant Baton Rouge apartment of a former LSU player in an arrangement made by McCarthy, according to the report. To comply with the NCAAs ruling, LSU will have to issue a report next year on measures it has taken to avoid a recurrence of the infractions revealed by the probe. LSU also will have to inform prospective recruits that it is on probation and explain why. Meanwhile, the NCAA also placed restrictions on McCarthys ability to work for any NCAA football program he works for in the near future. He must avoid phone contact with recruits, their relatives or legal guardians for a year and enrol in an NCAA rules seminar as well as ethics training. After McCarthy left LSU, he was hired by the WRA Receiver Academy, which conducts instructional camps. According to the academys website on Tuesday, McCarthy was still part of the staff. A phone message left with the organization was not returned. McCarthy played receiver in college for Washington in the early 1990s. Before arriving at LSU as a receivers coach in 2007, he was an assistant at UCLA, Central Florida and Nevada. He also coached defensive backs for the Oakland Raiders from 1998-2000. cheap nfl jerseys wholesale jerseys ' ' '