NIKE DROP JOEY BARTON

Nike has ended its sponsorship deal with English Premier League club Newcastle United MF Joey Barton, who recently completed a jail term for assault, Nike made the decision to sever ties with Barton, whose two-year contract with the company was believed to have been worth [US$75,159] a year, when he was imprisoned for assault in May. Barton recently served 74 days of a six-month jail sentence after a December '07 fight in which Barton punched one man 20 times and left a teenage boy with broken teeth.