Will Columbia Sportswear win the Tour de France?

Corporate sponsors love it when the line between them and the athletes they back is blurred.

Headlines like the one today on the Oregonian’s sports page are making Columbia Sportswear swoon.

“Kirchen puts Columbia in yellow jersey”

How’s that?

Kim Kirchen rides for Team Columbia, sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, headquartered here.

Lest we forget: As the leader of the tour, Kirchen, NOT Columbia Sportswear, gets to wear the yellow jersey. Oh, and Kirchen is from Luxembourg, which is not sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, Nike or Adidas and is NOT part of Oregon … at least the last time I checked.

What Columbia Sportswear gets to do is pay thousands (millions?) of dollars to sponsor “Team Columbia.”

In return, Columbia gets publicity. Lots and lots of publicity, especially if "Team Columbia" does well.

As the Oregonian sports page story notes, Columbia Sportswear’s CEO is ecstatic because the team has “drawn mentions in 2,600 news stories worldwide …” (Someone is actually paid to tally mentions… 2597, 2598, 2599 etc.). The story adds that the Columbia tally does not include another plus — mentions in blog entries.

Including, alas, this one.