X and Y were rivals in a sport. After retiring, X created a successful grill machine, while Y later launched a competing grill brand. They were likely athletes who competed against each other.
Manchester United was the first British club to have a shirt sponsor in 1979, signing a deal with Hitachi that they still have today in a partnership that is the longest standing in English football.
Sports Illustrated is known for a perceived "cover jinx", where athletes featured on its cover tend to experience a subsequent decline in performance, attributed to regression to the mean. In 2002, it addressed this by featuring a black cat on its cover.