Watchin’ the game … enjoying it thoroughly. And it just occurred to me that Barcelona vs. Manchester Utd. really is a battle of Good vs. Evil, or at least Rich vs. Poor — something that couldn’t be more clear in the two opposing sponsors, Unicef and AIG.

Here we’ve got Unicef, a major international organization that looks out for the poorest children in the world … vs. AIG, the disgraced American banking behemoth with a corporate mission to repay taxpayers all the money their leaders stole/squandered by making as much money as possible off (the fear of) disaster and catastrophe.

Tags: Barcelona, Manchester United, sponsorship deals, uefa champions league

The connection between online gambling and soccer continues to grow in prominence — damn, I really need to learn to bet on soccer — with 188Bet becoming the first two-team kit sponsor in the EPL … their brand soon to be on both Wigan and Bolton. In a two-year deal, gone is JJB Sports and Gone-ish is Reebok.

188Bet-Bolton and 188Bet-Wigan join Mansion-Tottenham and SBOBET-West Ham … making online gambling outfits the torso sponsor of 20 percent of the EPL.

PokerStars, of course, recently entered into Mexico’s Primera Division with FC Chivas, PartyBets has a Coca-Cola team with Leyton Orient, and of course the big boys, Bwin, have Real Madrid, AC Milan, and Bayern Munich. I’m almost sure I’m forgetting a few others …

188Bet, interestingly enough, is an online gambling op that currently draws 80 percent of its customers from the Asian market, and it’s just a coincidence that the new Bolton jersey image above happens to be sized at 188 pixels

Tags: 188Bet, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Bolton Wanderers, bwin, kits, Real Madrid, Reebok, soccer betting, sponsorship deals, Wigan

You mean EPL? No, I mean EPT … the European Poker Tour. Apparently Inter’s Christian Vieri has got the Texas Hold’em bug … and plans to play in the EPT’s Championship at Monte Carlo. That’s the big-boy across the pond, and you can only imagine the sharks are happy to add some Serie-A money to the prize pool. At the same time, every so often a world-class competitor on another field surprises the poker-peeps and shows he can play.

Anyhow, Go Poker, Go Soccer, and Go Christian Vieri.

You can pretty much rest assured, with Poker Stars, at a minimum he’ll get a nifty sponsorship deal out of it.

Thanks, Craig, for the link!

Tags: Christian Vieri, European Poker Tour, Inter Milan, poker, Serie A, sponsorship deals