Worst. Sponsorship. Ever.

It's interleague time in baseball, and in my neck of the woods, that means the Oakland A's are coming into town to play my San Francisco Giants. (By 'coming into town,' of course, I mean driving over the Bay Bridge.)

Over in Chicago, the White Sox are playing the Cubs and someone came up with what I actually think is a great idea - playing for the "Crosstown Cup," something the winner gets for bragging rights purposes, much like college football rivalries have.

The problem? It's sponsored by BP. That's right, folks, the most loathed corporation in the world will be giving out products stamped with their logo.

In a three-year deal announced April 26, less than a week after the deep-sea leak began with the explosion of an oil rig leased by BP, the oil giant agreed to sponsor the trophy that will go to the winner of the series each season. With BP's problems in the Gulf having been front-page news for weeks, the Cubs and the White Sox are introducing the BP Cup with much less pomp and circumstance than they might have originally planned, even though it is the only sponsored cup of its kind in Major League Baseball.

Come for the game! Stay for the oil!

As others have noted, the only other such sponsorship to have such notoriety was the Houston Astros' Enron Field (less noted was the huge sign they'd also bought in the Giants homepark, which also stayed up for a year after the firm collapsed).

But seriously, this is painful. Can anyone think of a worse potential sponsorship?

The Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities Yankees-Mets series?

The Tom DeLay Albo Pest Control Astros-Rangers series?

The Tiger Woods Celibacy Project Marlins-Rays series?

Bring it on, folks.