"I'm not dumb enough to pretend this is going to go away. I recognize that this is going to be a challenge I'll have to face for awhile."

Those are the words of the legally vindicated Ryan Braun on Friday, one day after learning that he became the first major league player to successfully appeal a suspension for a positive test of an illegal substance.

But however the Brewers leftfielder was exonerated in the court of Bud, it is still entirely a different story in the court of public opinion.

Perhaps it is where we are as a society in disbelieving what even the most ardent doubter had to agree was a sterling performance at the makeshift podium at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix as the sporting world watched and listened. For as direct as Braun was, there are still millions around the country who cannot wait to boo him the moment he steps into the batters box anywhere but Miller Park.

"I promise you on anything that's ever meant anything to me in my life – the morals, the values, the virtues by which I've lived in my 28 years on this planet – I did not do this," Braun emphatically stated.

Perhaps with the bald-faced lies told with straight faces by the likes of Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and others, many baseball fans around the world scoffed at the notion of being played for the fool yet again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me a seventeenth time ... well, you know it goes.

Even at Braun's news conference, after stating that he did not take anything at all that would have spiked his testosterone levels, even addressing the most sordid of rumors, "there's never been a personal medical issue, I've never had an STD," the very first question posed to the reigning National League MVP was how could he explain the high T/E reading that baseball's lab in Montreal found.

I'm not sure if the questioner thought this would trip Braun up; because, assuming for a moment that he is telling the 100 percent truth, how could he possibly know?

Even Yahoo! Sports respected baseball columnist Jeff Passan wants that explained to him by Braun before he will think about believing his story. Passan even went as far as to say that he would think more highly of Braun if he had taken the Andy Pettitte approach and explained that he used just one time to get back in the lineup, apologized, and would never do it again, even after being acquitted by the arbitration panel.

But what if that isn't the truth? If Braun's truth is what indeed happened, that explanation would be tantamount to pleading guilty to a crime you didn't commit and serving probation to avoid possible jail time.

If you are innocent – truly innocent – human nature dictates you want to prove that innocence. How so many are demanding an explanation to something that is truly unexplainable flies in the face of logic.

That is, unless Braun has taken up acting and was lying through his teeth on Friday.

If Braun knew how his levels got spiked, then his appeal would have gone completely flat with longtime baseball arbitrator Shyam Das. Remember, baseball's drug testing protocol does not afford the player one iota of wiggle room. It is, by far, the most stringent and unforgiving of any North American sport.

If Braun had taken anything ... any medication, any illegal substance; whether it was a performance enhancing drug or not, it would not matter to the appeal panel. Baseball is very clear in this. Every single substance, whether it is food, medicine, beverage, or anything else, that player is responsible for it. "I didn't realize" is not a defensible position.

"If I had done this intentionally or unintentionally," Braun continued, "I'd be the first one to step up and say, 'I did it.' By no means am I perfect, but if I've ever made any mistakes in my life I've taken responsibility for my actions. I truly believe in my heart, and I would bet my life, that this substance never entered my body at any point."

Brewers fans, of course, are elated that their superstar will be in the lineup on Opening Day and beyond. But even many that will be cheering him on will be thinking that he is a cheater based not on Braun himself, but rather on how many times we as a sporting public have been duped.

I think that is a mistake. Not because Braun is a Brewer, but rather because this was such a bombshell that was dropped the evening of Dec. 10.

Prior to that cold Saturday evening, Ryan Braun's name had been nowhere near the topic of performance enhancing drugs. In fact, he was just the opposite; a player that was regularly lauded for being one who achieved excellence the right way.

With every other baseball player that has ever come under serious scrutiny for using performance enhancers; none of them have come as a surprise. Palmeiro was testifying on Capitol Hill after being accused by Jose Canseco in his book "Juiced" of regularly using anabolic steroids, even being injected with them by Canseco, himself.

Sammy Sosa talked a big game about steroids until he was actually presented a cup and an offer to have his urine tested that day.

The landmark Mitchell Report outed many players that were hardly a surprise as well. For example, no one was surprised to see Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, or Juan Gonzalez' name attached to PEDs.

But Ryan Braun? In 2011, with everything that is at stake? With not only a 50-game suspension looming but also your entire reputation and even potentially Cooperstown hanging in the balance?

What it boils down to is belief.

Do you believe that labs never make mistakes? Do you believe that Braun's test showed T/E levels more than three times as high as any other baseball player ever, or do you believe the reports that other athletes (but not baseball players) have had tests that were higher?

Do you believe Ryan Braun is stupid? Certainly he would have to be to risk his entire reputation and future for a fleeting moment of strength or endurance.

Those are the pertinent questions that each of us has to work through individually. Because while there are many that put their blind faith in a player, there are many more that put their blind faith in what they believe is an infallible system.

Certainly there are many questions that need to be answered, aside from what the actual test indicated.

In the 24 hours since the not guilty verdict was rendered, both the union and MLB concluded that neither side leaked the information to ESPN.

So if it wasn't the Braun camp and it wasn't MLB leaking the information, who was it? Was it someone at the lab? Was it an acquaintance of Braun's that had an axe to grind? Was it a teammate who Braun confided in that accidentally let it slip to the wrong person?

We may never find out.

And if there are skeptics, that is OK. After all, we are taught to believe that authority ultimately has what is best for everyone in mind when they make the rulings they do. But if that is the case, then you have to take Das at his word as well.

Das has degrees from Harvard, Yale and the University of Chicago. He has been one of the most respected legal arbitrators in the country and has worked with manufacturing, steelworkers, transit authorities, air traffic controllers and their managers to find workable solutions when none appear to either side. Das has been baseball's final word on disputes since 1999.

In other words, he has been around the block a few times. And this is the first time he has ever ruled for a player in a PED suspension case. His final word should at least be respected, even by the doubting masses. After all, it's not going to change.

The question for everyone now becomes how to move on.