<strong><span class="subhead">A new soccer style</span></strong></p><p>The latest fashion statement out of Italy: soccer players dropping their shorts to score goals.</p><p>It seems that on free kicks, the players on the kicking team tug their shorts as low as possible &#8212; sometimes even exposing underclothing &#8212; to block the view of the ball by the opponent&#8217;s goalkeeper. It&#8217;s a move that former referees coordinator <strong>Paolo Casrin</strong> calls &#8220;unsportsmanlike and in bad taste.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">No financial Band-Aids</span></strong></p><p>The International Olympic Committee confirmed Monday that Johnson &amp; Johnson won&#8217;t be renewing its global sponsorship deal that was worth up to $100 million. The company had paid between $60 million and $80 million to be the official health-care products provider of the Olympics during 2005-08.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">He didn&#8217;t do me right</span></strong></p><p>Country singer <strong>Mindy McCready</strong>, fresh from being released from jail after serving about 30 days for a probation violation, says she broke off her relationship with pitcher <strong>Roger Clemens </strong>because &#8220;I wanted him to do right by me ... and when he wouldn&#8217;t, I broke it off.&#8221;</p><p>McCready told the syndicated show &#8220;Inside Edition&#8221; that they met in a karaoke bar when she was 16 and that her relationship with the pitcher didn&#8217;t turn sexual until several years after she met him. She said she went on vacations with Clemens and never met him in secret.</p><p>&#8220;Carrying on a relationship with him is not something I&#8217;m proud of,&#8221; she said, then continued, &#8220;&#8230; Roger Clemens is one of the most wonderful men I&#8217;ve ever known &#8230; He treated me like a princess.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Woodland at Q-school</span></strong></p><p><strong>Gary Woodland </strong>of Berryton, Kan., just north of Topeka, will play in the second stage of the PGA Qualifying school this week at Lantana Golf Club in Lantana Texas. Last week <strong>Ryan Vermeer </strong>of Lawrence, shot rounds of 70-66-72-72 and finished at 8 under par at a Q-school tournament in Pine Mountain, Ga. Vermeer finished tied for 21st, in a tournament where the top 20 and ties advance to the final stage of PGA qualifying school.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Pro team drafts 16-year-old girl</span></strong></p><p>High school student <strong>Eri Yoshida </strong>was drafted by the Kobe 9 Cruise, a professional team in Japan&#8217;s new independent league that will start its first season next year. She throws a side-arm knuckleball and won her spot in a tryout when she held male batters hitless for one inning in the tryout.</p><p>Yoshida stands 5-feet tall and weighs 114 pounds. She would be the first woman to play professional baseball in Japan.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Elsewhere</span></strong></p><p>&#8226;A Thoroughbred appraiser has set a $20 million value on reigning Horse of the Year Curlin and is recommending that ownership be consolidated under primary owner <strong>Jess Jackson</strong>. Attorneys for the horse&#8217;s minority owners, who have been ordered to sell their share to pay off a court settlement, argued the value should be far higher.</p><p>&#8226;The Yankees will unveil their new stadium with two exhibition games against the Chicago Cubs on April 3-4. The first regular-season game at Yankee Stadium is scheduled April 16 against Cleveland.