Red blogule to Bud Selig's National Pushtime

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig named George J. Mitchell to lead an investigation on steroids in baseball.
Even if former Senate Leader Mitchell did a nice job as the chairman of another investigation team (the Salt Lake City 2002 case for the IOC), many wonder how far he will go considering his position in the Bossox board and yet another chairmanship, that of The Walt Disney Company, owner of ESPN, owner of the MLB broadcasting rights*.
Mitchell should be under the fire of journalists, but let's not forget Selig himself.
He did a not so lousy job as a Commissioner, bringing the National Pastime back on the sports map. But at which cost ? MLB became hot again when Jose Canseco turned 40-40 seasons into a commodity, when Mark McGwire suddenly made ballparks look smaller, when Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds joined the ride, when good guys became big guys... when steroids became hot.
It took Selig too many years to start this controversial investigation. Meanwhile, the younger generations learnt what to do in order to make it into major league superstardom. Those who couldn't accept the idea of steroids turned to other competitive sports : athletics and Human Growth Hormone, business and cocain...

* ESPN will air "Bonds on Bonds" as scheduled - these 10 part series are not about Disney's value at the NYSE but about the rise and rise of Barry Bonds.

White blogule to "Paris 2020"

The year of the Trafalgar bicentennial, the year when Saint Tony reached the European throne, the year France said merde to Europe, how could Paris win over London for the 2012 Olympics ?
Paris has to wait at least after New York 2016 : (ex-) Europe can't possibly get two Olympic Games in a row and the Lords of the Rings cannot offer more than three consecutive gifts to non-US televorus popcornicum vulgaris. Dubya's successor is a sure winner in 2009, but he'll also need a second mandate to fully enjoy the show... and if Hillary is not that one, she can always claim part of the success (exhibit A : a token for attending Singapore 2005 board meeting).
If Paris were eventually awarded the 2032 Games, Chirac could be celebrated for the centennial of his birth as a turn of the millenium Coubertin breathing to his last gasp the spirit of Olympism : "the important thing in the Baghdad 2028 Olympic Games is not to win, but to participate", citius, altius, fortius, fabius...