1.   Injury forced him into premature retirement.

2.   A back ailment sent Andy Van Slyke into premature retirement.

3.   But the weight of his worries pushed him late last season to talk of premature retirement from a game he adores.

4.   De La Hoya was asked what it would take to keep him from premature retirement.

5.   Gone are rumors of premature retirement, of a diminished role, or his release by the Patriots.

6.   He had to survive a mind-bending first-round knockout by Riddick Bowe that nearly pushed him into premature retirement several years ago.

7.   Jiang emerges from the conference with his personal authority strengthened and his chief party rival, Qiao Shi, nudged into premature retirement.

8.   The concussion was his sixth, and he has talked of premature retirement -- not this season, but earlier than you might otherwise expect.

9.   The cruise-missile conversion would save the four Trident submarines from premature retirement, a Bangor official said.

10.   The occasion was surely bittersweet, since the board that had just honored him had also pushed him into premature retirement.