Subliminal branding put to the test

Recently, I joined a "Monday Night Football" bowling and trivia league for something new. I'm admittedly a terrible bowler but was excited about the chance to put my wealth of useless knowledge to use... My chance to dazzle others with my pop culture smarts. To my dismay, the questions aren't centered around the names of Britney's children or George Costanza's ATM password (it's Bosco, by the way), but often around sports and other "general" trivia of which I apparently know nothing. After weeks of never having the answer, several sports questions recently came up that I actually could answer. The questions focused on the official ball suppliers of the MLB, NFL, and NBA (the answers being Rawlings, Wilson, and Spaulding).

How is it possible that I, a person who has never played these sports or enjoyed watching them, had any idea who supplied the tools of the trade?

I never shop for sporting goods, I don't recall seeing ads for their products...there's no good reason for me to have this information in my brain. Yet, I could easily visualize the company logos in my head the moment the question was posed. Perhaps it speaks to the power of subliminal branding and the fact that passive, subtle logo placement still works in this day and age of aggressive, in-your-face advertising. Maybe it pays to speak softly and carry a big stick (or bat, as the case may be). At any rate, I hope I get more sports questions like that next time.