Ryan Braun Says He Never Had Herpes

At least once over the past few months, you probably heard some variation of this story emailed to us back in December:

Let me start off by saying that there is no way I can confirm this story, but a close friend of mine is a pharmaceutical rep in Milwaukee. He's been doing it for a while now and has gotten to know a few of the nurses fairly well. A few months ago he and a nurse were shooting the shit while he waited for the doctor and as a girl walked out the door the nurse told him that she was in there because Ryan Braun gave her herpes. He thought it was a joke but she was dead serious. I am sure this breaks some sort of nurse code but would Valtrex or some other med elevate testosterone levels?

When we unpacked Braun's case back then, we didn't mention the herpes story, because it was both medically unfounded and way too convenient. (The rumor sated those message-board-dwellers who assumed there was something lurid and wrong with Braun's test, even though it was nonsensical.)

But in his press conference today, Braun, who also said he was willing to bet his life that PEDs never entered his body, denied the whole thing.

"I've never had an STD," he said. So there, ladies of Milwaukee and Kenosha and Racine and Manitowoc. Ryan Braun is back in business.