Lion S Den

Almost 15 years since he first sat in it, Bryant Gumbel is today vacating the host chair on NBC's "Today," leaving under his own power, with nary a hint of the cattle prod used on some of his predecessors.Did anyone ever suspect it would happen any other way? After the debacle that followed their roughshod treatment of Jane Pauley a few years back, there's no way the honchos at NBC were going to push Gumbel out the door. And any attempt to treat him the way Deborah Norville was treated, hung out to dry as the sacrificial lamb to her bosses' boneheadedness, probably would have resulted in bloodshed at Rockefeller Center.

I DON'T KNOW why, but every time I hear another troubling revelation about Sidney Ponson, I'm reminded of the way Steve Martin used to handle unruly fans when he was doing stand-up many years ago in Southern California. If somebody in the audience got too mouthy, Martin would drop a line that was - all at the same time - funny, condescending and razor sharp. "That's OK, son," he would say, "I remember when I had my first beer." It always got big laughs, and it usually had the desired effect, because the joke and the reaction of the crowd gently reminded the rowdy lout that he had reached the point where he was embarrassing himself and his friends.

As unusual as it sounds, Trisha Repsher was not looking for a repeat of last year's runner-up effort at the Run from the Lion's Den Invitational yesterday. That's because Repsher let first place slip from her grasp last season when she took a wrong turn on the 3.1-mile course at Liberty in Eldersburg and ended up finishing second. This time, the Westminster junior stayed on the right path and captured the individual title in a course-record time of 19 minutes, 14 seconds. Repsher's performance powered the Owls past No. 8 Winters Mill and No. 10 Mount Hebron to the team crown.

In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor. America is in need of unity."

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend came to prove that she has command of both the minutiae of policy and the basics of the English language. Robert L. Ehrlich sought to emerge as Daniel venturing into the lion's den - a Republican at a historically black campus at a forum sponsored by the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP. At the outset of last night's forum for the two major candidates for governor of Maryland, however, the question, at least briefly, was this: Would Ehrlich get a word out? As the forum began at Morgan State University last night, partisans in the crowd alternately cheered Ehrlich, the Republican congressman from Baltimore County, and Townsend, the state's Democratic lieutenant governor.

BOYS Ben Hostetler River Hill, football Hostetler didn't waste any time making his presence felt in River Hill's 40-6 victory over Reservoir on Friday. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior quarterback and defensive back, whose uncle Jeff was the New York Giants' quarterback when they won the Super Bowl in January 1991, intercepted a pass on Reservoir's first play from scrimmage and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. He intercepted two more passes to tie the school record for the second time this season, and he also made four tackles.

I DON'T KNOW why, but every time I hear another troubling revelation about Sidney Ponson, I'm reminded of the way Steve Martin used to handle unruly fans when he was doing stand-up many years ago in Southern California. If somebody in the audience got too mouthy, Martin would drop a line that was - all at the same time - funny, condescending and razor sharp. "That's OK, son," he would say, "I remember when I had my first beer." It always got big laughs, and it usually had the desired effect, because the joke and the reaction of the crowd gently reminded the rowdy lout that he had reached the point where he was embarrassing himself and his friends.

MONROVIA - Trisha Repsher knows how to keep a good thing going. So when the Westminster junior's decision to take a day off before the Run from the Lion's Den Invitational Wednesday led to the individual title, she decided to do the same thing for yesterday's Lancer Invitational. The formula worked again as Repsher ran away with the championship at Kemptown Park in Frederick County. The No. 2 Dulaney girls squad easily grabbed the team crown, while No. 3 Liberty took the boys title. Frederick's Morgan Sowell claimed the boys championship.

''Our children are being damaged in ways we don't even know about yet. In my own community, I see more helicopters flying around with searchlights than I ever saw in Vietnam.''--George Buntin, executive director, Baltimore NAACPAgain,I lie awake.Outside,I hear loud voices,gunshots, screams.Men run through the alley,laughing.Another pursues,cursing.Fools, I fume.They play, butlife is snatched awaywith the speed of a bullet.I circle through the bedroomstouching each childpulling flimsy coversover fragile limbsremembering the God Of Danielin the lion's den.

Trace Miller's first show in New York will open today, and he's not at all blase about it. After all, this might put him on the road to a national reputation."

BOYS Ben Hostetler River Hill, football Hostetler didn't waste any time making his presence felt in River Hill's 40-6 victory over Reservoir on Friday. The 6-foot-2, 180-pound senior quarterback and defensive back, whose uncle Jeff was the New York Giants' quarterback when they won the Super Bowl in January 1991, intercepted a pass on Reservoir's first play from scrimmage and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. He intercepted two more passes to tie the school record for the second time this season, and he also made four tackles.

MONROVIA - Trisha Repsher knows how to keep a good thing going. So when the Westminster junior's decision to take a day off before the Run from the Lion's Den Invitational Wednesday led to the individual title, she decided to do the same thing for yesterday's Lancer Invitational. The formula worked again as Repsher ran away with the championship at Kemptown Park in Frederick County. The No. 2 Dulaney girls squad easily grabbed the team crown, while No. 3 Liberty took the boys title. Frederick's Morgan Sowell claimed the boys championship.

As unusual as it sounds, Trisha Repsher was not looking for a repeat of last year's runner-up effort at the Run from the Lion's Den Invitational yesterday. That's because Repsher let first place slip from her grasp last season when she took a wrong turn on the 3.1-mile course at Liberty in Eldersburg and ended up finishing second. This time, the Westminster junior stayed on the right path and captured the individual title in a course-record time of 19 minutes, 14 seconds. Repsher's performance powered the Owls past No. 8 Winters Mill and No. 10 Mount Hebron to the team crown.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend came to prove that she has command of both the minutiae of policy and the basics of the English language. Robert L. Ehrlich sought to emerge as Daniel venturing into the lion's den - a Republican at a historically black campus at a forum sponsored by the Baltimore chapter of the NAACP. At the outset of last night's forum for the two major candidates for governor of Maryland, however, the question, at least briefly, was this: Would Ehrlich get a word out? As the forum began at Morgan State University last night, partisans in the crowd alternately cheered Ehrlich, the Republican congressman from Baltimore County, and Townsend, the state's Democratic lieutenant governor.

FREDERICK - As if in a recurring dream, Lisa Spicknall is seated in yet another courtroom awaiting a verdict. It seems the strangest place for her to have come voluntarily. After all, less than a year and a half ago, she attended her former husband's trial, which ended with his pleading guilty in Kent County to fatally shooting their two children as they lay strapped in their car seats. After her children were killed, the young Pasadena mother says she considered ending her life. Instead, she has found a way to slowly re-enter the world: by sitting in on trials alongside others who have also had their lives shattered by a loved one's murder.

Almost 15 years since he first sat in it, Bryant Gumbel is today vacating the host chair on NBC's "Today," leaving under his own power, with nary a hint of the cattle prod used on some of his predecessors.Did anyone ever suspect it would happen any other way? After the debacle that followed their roughshod treatment of Jane Pauley a few years back, there's no way the honchos at NBC were going to push Gumbel out the door. And any attempt to treat him the way Deborah Norville was treated, hung out to dry as the sacrificial lamb to her bosses' boneheadedness, probably would have resulted in bloodshed at Rockefeller Center.

In the days ahead, we must find common cause. We must join in common effort, without remorse or recrimination, without anger or rancor. America is in need of unity."

FREDERICK - As if in a recurring dream, Lisa Spicknall is seated in yet another courtroom awaiting a verdict. It seems the strangest place for her to have come voluntarily. After all, less than a year and a half ago, she attended her former husband's trial, which ended with his pleading guilty in Kent County to fatally shooting their two children as they lay strapped in their car seats. After her children were killed, the young Pasadena mother says she considered ending her life. Instead, she has found a way to slowly re-enter the world: by sitting in on trials alongside others who have also had their lives shattered by a loved one's murder.

Trace Miller's first show in New York will open today, and he's not at all blase about it. After all, this might put him on the road to a national reputation."

''Our children are being damaged in ways we don't even know about yet. In my own community, I see more helicopters flying around with searchlights than I ever saw in Vietnam.''--George Buntin, executive director, Baltimore NAACPAgain,I lie awake.Outside,I hear loud voices,gunshots, screams.Men run through the alley,laughing.Another pursues,cursing.Fools, I fume.They play, butlife is snatched awaywith the speed of a bullet.I circle through the bedroomstouching each childpulling flimsy coversover fragile limbsremembering the God Of Danielin the lion's den.