IBM chooses Manchester United as reference site

Forty eight hours after Loot Gerstner, the executive chairman of IBM worldwide revealed the extent of its PC losses, Big Blue has struck again. According to a release this morning, Manchester United, a football team from somewhere in England, is using Netfinity servers to brand its merchandise. There are some problems with this. English soccer is gladiatoral by nature, and if Manchester United (called by London teams "scum") is using IBM kit, that means other teams will call for a statement by Big Blue. Aston Villa, a Birmingham team, was sponsored by AST, because of the confluence of letters. Tottenham Hotspur, a London team, was sponsored by Hewlett Packard, but that sponsorship deal seems to have fallen apart. Compaq used to sponsor Queens Park Rangers, but that deal has gone too. Wimbledon was sponsored by Elonex at one time. Given the above, can it really be true that IBM, afraid of WWW.SOMETHING.COM is sponsoring the red shirts? ®