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Looks like a case for Kramer’s lawyer

When Carlos Mojica of Toronto connected in a “Kick-To-Win” contest, lofting a soccer ball though a hole in a refrigerator-shaped cutout during a game, he thought he won $10,000.

But the home team Toronto Lynx balked, saying Mojica had only earned a consolation prize of $500.

Mojica rejected both the $500 and the team’s offer to negotiate a settlement, and had instead consulted a lawyer.

“I said ‘No, no, no.’ Why do I have to negotiate something that’s mine?” Mojica said. “I want my money. I want to fight for my money and I think I need a lawyer for this because it’s not fair.”

The Lynx have offered several explanations as to why Mojica didn’t hit the jackpot. Initially, team officials said it was because it was his second attempt and that only the first try was videotaped, as required by insurers.

Another expensive habit

Diego Maradona, the troubled Argentine soccer star attempting a comeback, has hired banned Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson as a $1,000-a-day personal trainer.

“I want to be the best in the world again,” Maradona said through a translator.

“Ben’s the fastest man in the world - a powerhouse, an animal.”

Johnson, 35, was stripped of his Olympic 100-meter gold medal in 1988 and suspended for two years for using anabolic steroids.

He was later banned from his sport for life after he failed another drug test in 1993. A court decision is pending.

Maradona, 36, was suspended by FIFA for 15 months in 1991 after testing positive for cocaine use following an Italian league game. He also was thrown out of the 1994 World Cup and suspended for using banned stimulants.

Just think how fast Johnson can get away if he’s caught with Maradona’s stash.

No more selling tube steaks on the tube

Oscar Mayer Foods Corp. is pulling its sponsorship from the Super Bowl halftime show, in part because last January’s program was not “family-oriented,” said Rick Searer, president of the Madison, Wis.-based processed meat company.

The broadcast during the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the New England Patriots included soul artist James Brown singing “Get Up, I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine” and rock group ZZ Top playing songs such as “Legs.”

There’s no telling how much Oscar Mayer will save by pulling the plug on its halftime spots, except that last year, it exceeded the $1.3 million that Fox Television charged for 30-second ads during the Super Bowl.

All the more money to gas up the weinermobile.

Dearest Mommy

PGA player Laura Baugh is seven months pregnant with her seventh child. When she teed off during the second round of the Oldsmobile Classic in East Lansing, Mich., a spectator shouted, “You the mom!”

The last word …

“What’s his resting heart rate, like 35? I mean, he’ll never die. He won’t.”

- Golfer Brad Faxon on U.S. Open champion Ernie Els

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo