You know, you really want to root for the underdog. You think, okay, Google’s basking in its record profits and empirical glory, so you’ll take a little time to cheer it’s Sunnyvale-based foe, Yahoo!, regardless of whether it’s really got anything in its arsenal to rejoice over.

But it’s getting so effin’ hard to throw a good word out for Number Two these days. First there was the China debacle it got slapped by a US congressional panel for a few weeks back. And now you read about some asinine agreement made between it and that love-‘em-hate-‘em company in San Jose, Cali, called Adobe, that will effectively ensure you see oh-so-colorful ads not only on your Yahoo! Mail home page, not only in the messages you receive, but also in the PDF attachments those messages carry. And you can only think: Oh, give me a [bleeping] break!

That’s right, advertisements in the PDFs you receive. In them. Inside the PDFs. But don’t you worry. They’ll be magic ads. Ads that only show up when you view those documents. When you get around to printing the pages, those graphical overlays will dis-a-ppear. So, you know, no big deal. Right?

Sure, no problemo.

I have to say, as the days progress, and Yahoo! continues along on its path to Nowhereville, I see fewer and fewer reasons to stand by the brand.

Clearly, Yahoo! isn’t doing as well as it wants to be doing. And because it’s faring relatively poorly compared to its $650-plus-per-share nemesis in Mountain View, it’s gotten desperate. So desperate that it’s taken to invading the white space on users’ PDF documents and slapping spots for online dating services and hybrid SUVs on ‘em, hoping upon hope that recipients will gladly click them – thus boosting the company’s revenue.

Only, in all likelihood, Yahoo!’s bottom line won’t make a noticeable budge for the better, and even in the best of circumstances the company will subsequently incur the wrath of irate document makers (namely you and I, and others like us), annoyed at having our work virtually altered at the behest of soul-less, money-grubbing corporations. As if such entities don’t have enough green to chew on already.

By the bye, what’s up with Adobe signing onto this incursion as well? Yahoo! did, after all, require the go-ahead from Narayan (replaced Chizen) and gang. How did the software maker – largely responsible for making the PDF what it is today – come to conclude the presentation of ads on its users’ digital papers a smart course of action? Was the red flag tagged ‘Beware of Backlash!’ in the wash? Perhaps the company board collective delirium resulting from their tryptophantastic Thanksgiving dinner last week lasted several crucial hours too many.

Whatever the case may be, this news is almost certainly bound to result in a Yahoo! user revolt. Adobe won’t necessarily have its head targeted with scathing mail, as this is an issue specific to Yahoo! Mail. If Google and Microsoft got on board the crazy train as well, then Adobe would presumably get muddied at bit. As for now, though, shame-shame Jerry Yang. You, sir, have stuck your greedy hands into one too many cookie jars. Here’s to hoping you reverse course. And soon. Otherwise, I believe you’ll be seeing an exodus happen, and not even a year into your tenure as CEO.

What do you make of this aggreement? Annoyed? Furious? Couldn't care less? Post your thoughts in the comments below.