Team member Spencer Ackerman at The Washington Independent sends over the story that General Motors (NYSE:GM) has tried to keep quiet.

Following Sunday’s Super Bowl, the automaker — keeping with a marketing tradition — awarded the game’s MVP with the car of his choice. Santonio Holmes, the Steelers wide-out who caught the game’s winning touchdown, chose a Cadillac Hybrid Platinum. Price tag: $85,200. 

Why we should care?

Well, for one thing, GM has accepted $9.4 billion in taxpayer funding in December and January, and is slated to receive another $4 billion in February. The New York Daily News reported Monday that the struggling automaker knows it has an image problem:

But breaking from recent tradition, there was no Cadillac on the field Sunday night during the awards ceremony and no Cadillac in the hotel ballroom Monday for the MVP news conference. Usually the MVP marks off on a board which car he wants. There was no board, either. It was all done in private.

Over at Deadspin, Rick Chandler asks the only relevant question: “Hey, Did You And I Just Buy Santonio Holmes A New Cadillac Escalade?”