Emotion

So it has come to this: "Touched By an Angel" vs. "Touched By a President."CBS counters the first TV interview with Monica Lewinsky, on ABC tonight at 9, with big-hair star-power of its own, a midweek "Touched by an Angel" repeat with guest stars Celine Dion and Wynonna.Lewinsky's two-hour interview with Barbara Walters, however, should top even "Party of Five" -- usually the place for melodramatic Wednesday-night tears -- in the emotion department.For all the impeachment battle's historical importance, and the wonderful characters that have populated it, the Lewinsky affair didn't necessarily play well on TV. The only pictures from the past four months have been from dull committee rooms and congressional chambers.

AS EVERYBODY knows, my Jews are among the planet's most contentious, kvetchy, opinionated and boisterous of all human beings. Get any two of us in a room, and automatically you have 16 different opinions because God forbid a single emotion should ever go unexpressed.So naturally, as we watch the state of Israel reach its 50th birthday in front of the whole world, we're torn between love and self-consciousness and pride and some pretty accusatory glances in our family mirror.Even from safe America, we think we know what gives in the Middle East, and therefore have the right to vent like any citizen, even if it's only citizenship of the heart.

DENVER -- The difference between Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols is written into their faces.McVeigh sat stonelike through his trial earlier this year for the Oklahoma City bombing, never signaling emotion -- not even when jurors sentenced him to die.But Nichols, appearing at the start of his trial yesterday, looked frightened.He, too, is charged in the bombing, and when jury selection began in the morning and the first prospective juror was asked her views about a man's life or death, Nichols suddenly blanched.

Organization helps dyslexics learn to readMichael Olesker's Sept. 9 column about 82-year-old Betty Mandell was very interesting. However, he should have ended with this note: Today, we are so fortunate to have an organization called May Day Inc. (which stands for Maryland Association for Dyslexic Adults & Youths Inc.) Had this been in existence in Ms. Mandell's youth, she would have been taught to read.I think this is a worthwhile organization that needs everyone's support.Shirley MilnerBaltimoreAge no hindrance to determinationMichael Olesker's Sept.

Most weekday mornings, James Schmidt is standing in front of Spartan Pizzeria in Highlandtown before 6. He catches a bus across town, then takes the light rail north to Baltimore Polytechnic Institute High School, arriving in time for "coach class," an early morning tutorial.Schmidt's daily journey is long -- "It usually takes me an hour," he says -- but it is nothing compared with the emotional distance he has already traveled.In just seven years, the shy, slightly built 15-year-old has come from hospitalization at Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, an 18-month stay at a private residential facility and a stint at a city school for special education students to a place in the freshman class at Poly, the prestigious citywide math and science school.

Davey Johnson isn't much for nostalgia, he says. He isn't very emotional, he says. But the man who pushed the cold, hard reality of computer-generated baseball statistics on Earl Weaver was swamped with feelings on Opening Day, Johnson's first game as manager of the Orioles.After receiving the largest pre-game ovation for anyone not named Ripken, Johnson watched from the top step of the dugout yesterday as the Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-2, before a sellout crowd of 46,818.Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken drove in three runs with two singles, Mike Mussina pitched seven strong innings for the victory, and new closer Randy Myers buzzed through the Royals the ninth.

COLLEGE PARK -- Maryland finally got the payoff to its season of tribulation last night, but only after considerable angst and hand-wringing.The Terps had to wait out all four regionals and 60 other teams before learning they had made the NCAA tournament for the third straight season.Their reward was the seventh seed in the West Regional, and an opening-round game against 10th-seeded Santa Clara Friday in Tempe, Ariz.That matchup was the next-to-last announced during CBS' broadcast of the 64-team pairings.

CHICAGO -- As the Orioles' second baseman from 1966 to 1972, Davey Johnson took it upon himself to enliven the infield. Now, more than two decades later, he feels compelled to push the same emotional buttons as the Orioles' manager.Johnson last night raised concerns voiced by his predecessors, Phil Regan and Johnny Oates. He described the Orioles as "more veteran, less emotional," but quickly added that it's difficult to act excited when you're getting trounced."I'm not saying you've got to have that [emotion]

If conflict and rancor now buffet your marriage, there's hope: A new study says that couples who manage to remain together learn to get along better as they age.The study by researchers at Stanford University, the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley, also appears to -- the long-held theory that emotions generally dampen with age. In fact, both positive and negative emotions remain intense throughout life, according to the...

Washington. -- My dinner partner was Heritage Foundation president Ed Feulner. Predictably, in a room containing four U.S. senators, the speaker of the House and Jack Kemp, talk turned to presidential politics.''Who do you like?'' asked Mr. Feulner.''Who I like and who I think might win are two different questions,'' I said. ''But I like Newt Gingrich -- and I think he'll run this time.''''I'll bet you $5 he doesn't,'' said Mr. Feulner conservatively.''Make it $50,'' I replied more liberally.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A cell phone was pressed to Sen. Barack Obama's ear as he slouched down in a black leather chair in the front cabin of his campaign airplane. He leaned away from the headrest, where his name is spelled out in blue stitching. A few miles away, thousands of people streamed into JFK Stadium at Parkview High School for a late-night rally on Saturday. But Obama stayed on his chartered Boeing 757 as he spoke by conference call to thousands of his team leaders around the country, the volunteers who form the ranks of an army that he hopes will give him an edge in the waning hours of the presidential race.

"That iconic scene is the physical and emotion climax of the play ... if I do that with pants on, it would be (stupid)." Daniel Radcliffe, who bares all this week in his wet end stage debut in Peter Shaffer's "Equus."

The howling and barking begin before the double doors swing open to unleash the Ravens for their short walk down the concourse and into the darkened tunnel. It's game time, and the team that has reached the playoffs on emotion as much as timely offensive plays and crunching defense is filling its tank. The biggest men, helmets already in place, lead the way, the clatter of their spikes lost beneath the wave of sound that rolls from the locker room and is met by a wave of sound from the field and the stands.

New York -- Leading up to Game 1 of the National League Division Series yesterday, the New York Mets constantly were reminded of what they did not have. No Pedro Martinez. No Orlando Hernandez. And, because of those two missing pieces, maybe no chance against the Los Angeles Dodgers. What everyone forgot, except for the Mets themselves, is that the argument made little sense. The National League East champions won 97 games during the regular season by being relentless and resourceful, and they used both strengths to topple the Dodgers, 6-5, at Shea Stadium and take a 1-0 lead in this best-of-five series.

Not long ago, in an act of near-adolescent abandon, my wife and I had unprotected sex. We were not trying to have a baby; rather, in the heat of the moment, we never quite got around to using birth control. When we realized what had happened, we were faced with a conundrum: Should we simply wait and take our chances, or should we try a more active approach? In the end, my wife called her doctor and asked for a prescription for Plan B, the "morning-after" birth control pill. Plan B was back in the news last week with the Food and Drug Administration's announcement that it would allow over-the-counter sales of the pill if access is restricted to adults.

ROCKVILLE -- Lee Boyd Malvo walked into the packed courtroom yesterday in a dark suit and white shirt and barely looked at the man he once considered his father. Called as a witness in the sniper trial of John Allen Muhammad, Malvo spoke softly, looked right at the prosecutor who questioned him, frequently gesticulated with his hands and raised his eyebrows. He was rarely at a loss for words and had no traces of an accent from his native Jamaica. But overall, the 21-year-old betrayed little emotion as he described how he came under the influence of Muhammad and how the two of them plotted and carried out the 13 Washington-area sniper shootings, 10 of them fatal, including the six murders for which Muhammad is being tried here.

How much of a factor is emotion in the boys lacrosse rivalry between Severna Park and Broadneck? "Emotion is such a big thing in this rivalry, you just never know what's going to happen," said Jimmy Beardmore, Severna Park's third-year coach. "In a big game like this, you just have to withstand their emotion, hopefully, and settle down." The ninth-ranked Falcons got caught up in the emotion against the 12th-ranked Bruins for three frenetic quarters last night, during which the game was tied five times.

Detroit -- The Ravens' season, like their players, is spiraling out of control. Falling faster than another penalty flag, the Ravens melted down in a 35-17 loss to the Detroit Lions yesterday, leaving them with the worst start in franchise history at 1-3 and a disturbing portrait of a team that lacks discipline. In perhaps the most humiliating performance of the team's 10-year existence, the Ravens had 21 penalties (one shy of the NFL record), four turnovers and two players ejected. The Ravens' fifth straight road loss delivered such forgettable images as Terrell Suggs arguing face-to-face with an official, Chris McAlister throwing the ball at a receiver after an interception and Maake Kemoeatu flashing an obscene gesture to the Ford Field crowd.

SEATTLE - It wasn't an unusual goal that ended Maryland's season after the Terps reached the NCAA round of 16 for the first time since 1996. Instead, it was a Washington score that was called back about seven minutes earlier that sent Maryland into an emotional tailspin from which it never recovered. The Huskies' Katy Dowling sent the ball across the line but an offsides call quickly followed. The Terps had just one, weak shot on goal as they couldn't find any rhythm in absorbing a 1-0 loss to the Huskies last night in the tournament's third round.

NEW YORK - Mariano Rivera was so overcome by emotion when the New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox in Game 7 of last year's American League Championship Series, he ran from the dugout to the mound and collapsed. Aaron Boone had just hit his 11th-inning home run, and the rest of Yankee Stadium was pandemonium, but Rivera spent those moments alone in prayer on the same spot where he had just pitched three brilliant innings. The emotion the normally stoic Rivera expressed that night showed how deeply the feelings run in this epic rivalry, which resumes tonight right where everyone expected it to resume, in Game 1 of another ALCS.