In advance of Sunday midday...

I was on the fence about this post. It is silly, certainly. I thought I might discuss the horizontal symmetries of the two clubs' jersey sponsors.

See?

Or I might mention the fact that Greg Vanney is now a "Herbalife-sponsored player" (see: New Stars in the LA Galaxy) and has 10 appearances this season for the Galaxy after most recently playing for DC United.

Or I might find some ridiculous quote to mock from herbalife.com; perhaps this...

Our Founder Mark Hughes: As a teenager he made a decision to improve people’s lives with better nutrition. This led him to found Herbalife in 1980.

Forget the fact that the Herbalife website is virtually impossible to navigate. You have to walk a tightrope with your mouse to use the dropdowns across the top of the site. With a touchpad, that's hard.

But then I found what I was looking for and I knew that "worlds colliding" was the theme of the post that I was looking for.

I saw this (4th item) and some smoke came out of my ears....

Grammy Winner Nelly Furtado Favors Liftoff®
According to People magazine, award-winning recording artist Nelly Furtado favors Liftoff® effervescent dietary supplement for "quick-me-ups." Furtado told People that she used Liftoff® tablets to get ready for her high-energy performance during the 2007 Grammy Awards.

BECAUSE...

Remember this?




So who will she be supporting on Sunday?

Farfegnugen

Or, It Could Be a Multi-Level Marketing Scheme, So Be Thankful It's a Real Company At Least

The news this morning is of United's forthcoming announcement of VW as the official jersey insignia. By, I'm sure, complete coincidence, last night I was watching a rerun of Top Gear and there was a review of the Volkswagen Golf GTI W12. Jeremy Clarkson noted that this particular car, while seeming to combine the best of various other models, was unfinished, couldn't change directions well at all, and was slower than it should have been. At this point, you should be able to draw the connection.

That being said, short of Ben's Chili Bowl sponsoring United, this isn't bad. There's at least a local connection of sorts, it's a real company, and the money is decent. If it had to happen, and it did have to happen, it could have been so much worse.

So welcome aboard VW, and now let's ask the next question. With a debut on ESPN of the new front-of-shirt logo, and a designated player signing, and all the attention that brings... Does this raise the pressure to get results? Will the front office accept losses with our new corporate partners looking on? I mean this seriously. I think the leash just got a bit shorter.

UPDATE: This is Kinney just adding on to D's post. Goff is reporting that the contract with VW gives them the option to purchase the naming rights for the new stadium...whenever that gets completed. Also, for anyone thinking about going to Thursday's game, apparently VW is picking up the parking tab, so it will be $12 cheaper if you are a driver.

Learning to Love the Bug

The Washington Business Journal has announced that Volkswagen and DC United have signed a jersey sponsorship agreement. The deal will bring 3.7 million dollars annually to DC United and is the second largest deal in league history, behind Beckham's deal with Herbalife. There have been some rumblings about this, specifically in the Examiner, so it is not entirely out of the blue, but it sure came quick.

This sounds like a good deal to me, lots of money, an international brand, and a company that has a good history of sponsoring soccer teams. MLS rules will prevent the blue logo that would clash badly with the black and red, much like it used to clash badly with Werder Bremen's green and white, which is one of the main reasons I am pleased with the choice. But I want to know what you guys think. Do you love it? Hate it? Or could you care less?

Thanks to Mike H over at My Soccer Blog for the mock up jersey which is a photo shop job and not the official new look.