Paterno is back on field at Nits' spring practice

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno was back on the field yesterday as the Nittany Lions began spring practice and he continued recovering from major leg surgery.

No cane in sight, no crutch in tow, Paterno appeared to be midseason form - at least when it came to his voice.

"It's nothing new," cornerback Justin King said with a smile when asked about Paterno.

Paterno did look a little slower than usual, although that might be expected for an 80-year-old coach only 5 months removed from surgery to fix a broken shinbone and two torn knee ligaments in his left leg. He suffered the injuries during a sideline collision at Wisconsin on Nov. 4.

He hasn't been on the field for a game since, though he did coach Penn State from the press box during the Jan. 1 win over Tennessee at the Outback Bowl.

Paterno said he expects to return to the sideline this fall for his 42nd season, which would break Amos Alonzo Stagg's record for the most years coaching at one school. Stagg led the University of Chicago from 1892 to 1932.

Yesterday with reporters, he was smooth Paterno, cracking jokes and answering questions.

"I think I'm coming around pretty good," he said. "The knee actually isn't the problem. The other leg I banged up a year ago when I broke my ribs is really bothering me more than the knee, so I think I'm going to be OK."

Golf

* Tiger Woods shot a 6-under-par 66 for a two-shot lead at Doral after two rounds of the CA Championship at Miami.

* Lorena Ochoa held a two-stroke lead with four holes left to play in the darkness-suspended second round of the LPGA's Safeway International at Superstition Mountain, Ariz.

Auto Racing

* Jeff Gordon won the pole for tomorrow's Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway with at lap at 125.453 mph. Five Toyota drivers qualified at Bristol, the most since the Japanese automaker entered the Nextel Cup Series this year.

* Hot-rod driver Eric Medlen died at age 33, 5 days after suffering a severe head injury in a crash during a test session at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

* Grand American Racing Series crewman Ty Manseau was hit in the head by a tire at Homestead-Miami Speedway and taken to a hospital.

* Female Venezuelan racer Milka Duno, 34, will join Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher in the IndyCar Series.

Soccer

* Alan Rothenberg, former president of the U.S. Soccer Federation and chair of the U.S. organizers of the 1994 World Cup, will be inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

* FIFA president Sepp Blatter said the system of rotating the World Cup among continents could end after 2014, which could hurt the United States' bid for 2018.

Sport Stops

* Lleyton Hewitt (back) withdrew before his opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. His replacement, Robert Kendrick, won. Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters were among the female winners.

* Las Vegas casino developer Steve Wynn dropped out of the competition to operate New York's thoroughbred tracks. *