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Golfer begins new chapter

Hall of Fame golfer Nancy Lopez plans to stop playing tournaments full time at the end of this season, her 25th on the LPGA Tour. "I am not walking away from golf," Lopez said Wednesday before playing in the LPGA's second tournament of the season in Phoenix. "I am at the beginning of a brand-new chapter in my golf career."

She said she would compete in selected tour events and take part in corporate tournaments, course design work, and developing new ideas for her namesake line of clubs. Lopez, who has won 48 titles since she joined the tour in July 1977, was one of the first LPGA players to capture the attention of nongolfers.

Iowa State seems to have a big advantage as it tries to make the women's Final Four: The Cyclones won't have to leave home. But coach Bill Fennelly looks at which teams the Cyclones might play and asks: What advantage?

As one of the 16 highest-seeded teams, Iowa State is the site of first- and second-round games this weekend. Iowa State's arena, Hilton Coliseum, also is the site of the Midwest Regional. So if the third-seeded Cyclones win two games, they would play in a regional on their own floor. The regional winners go to the Final Four in San Antonio.

Just to get out of its subregional, Iowa State first has to beat Atlantic 10 champion Temple and then may meet No. 24 Florida from the Southeastern Conference.

Ruben Rivera, released this week by the New York Yankees after stealing superstar shortstop Derek Jeter's glove, says he made a mistake that he hopes will not end his career. "I made a rookie's error," the 28-year-old reserve outfielder said in a telephone interview with the Telemetro Canal 13 television station in his native Panama Wednesday.

Rivera acknowledged in the interview that he took a glove and a bat from Jeter's locker and sold them to a sports memorabilia dealer for $2,500. "I made a mistake that I'm paying for now," Rivera said.