Sports Beat

The onetime home run king takes a queen: On April 20 Mark McGwire, 38, married former pharmaceutical sales rep Stephanie Slemer, 24, in a low-key ceremony at the Mansion at the MGM Grand, an exclusive high-roller retreat connected to the Las Vegas hotel. Only 50 friends and relatives (including McGwire's 15-year-old son, Matt) were invited; none of McGwire's ex-teammates could make it because of the regular-season schedule. The couple, who've been dating for two years, then left for a two-week honeymoon in Mexico. It was Slemer's first marriage; McGwire vas wed to Kathy Williamson from 1987 to '91.

?Being the quarterback of a Super Bowl-winning team has its perks. Just ask Patriots pinup Tom Brady, who now counts Hollywood starlets among his groupies. Turns out Tara Reid, the sultry siren of the American Pie movies, got a charge out of seeing Brady lead New England to its last-second victory in the big game and asked her agent to set her up on a date with the quarterback. Reid even sent along a personal note. Brady was flattered but ultimately not interested. Makes you wonder who does make his cut.

? Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who usually can't go to the dentist without making headlines, somehow managed to get engaged to longtime girlfriend Tiffany Stewart under a cloak of secrecy. Cuban, 43, a tech billionaire who's never been hitched, met Stewart, 29, an advertising saleswoman, in 1997; the two were introduced by Cuban's friend and Mavericks project manager Danny Bollinger, who dates Stewart's sister Jamie. Cuban proposed to Tiffany on New Year's Eve, surprising her with the old ring-inside-a-box-inside-a-box trick. They initially wanted to keep the engagement under wraps because of what Cuban called "security concerns" but went public with the news after people started noticing the doorknob-sized diamond ring on Stewart's finger. No wedding date has been set, but friends of the couple predict a September ceremony.

?Sixteen years after winning a Super Bowl, Ron Rivera finally made it to the White House. Rivera, the Eagles' linebackers coach, was a member of the NFL champion 1985 Bears, a team whose ceremonial trip to meet President Reagan at the Rose Garden was canceled after the space shuttle Challenger exploded in January 1986. Earlier this month Rivera was invited along with eight other Latino players and coaches to meet President Bush as part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration. "When I told [former Bears cornerback] Leslie Frazier about the trip, he got jealous," says Rivera. "But I took a piece of the team with me—I wore my Super Bowl championship ring." Rivera became the second player from the 1985 Chicago team to make it to the White House; quarterback Jim McMahon made the visit after winning Super Bowl XXXI with the Packers in 1997. Says Rivera, "Maybe we'll just go there one player at a time."