What was going on when I was born?

WASHINGTON THE talent was always there. He has the arm, the mobility, the desire. Especially the desire. ''I've never seen a guy who wanted to be the best more than him,'' Bobby Beathard, the Washington Redskins' general manager, said about Joe Theismann, the Redskins' quarterback. ''I mean, this guy is here all the time, running, working out in the weight room, looking for someone to throw balls to. He'll throw to a little kid if that's all he could find to throw to. ''This guy is everything you would ever want in a quarterback.'' Not only that, he's handsome in a manicured sort of way, with those dancing blue eyes, neatly coiffed hair, a quick smile. ''People say I look like that guy who played Marjoe in the movies,'' Theismann said, referring to an actor, Marjoe Gortner. And he loves his coach, his teammates, his wife, his children, his community. He owns two restaurants in the Washington area. He serves on the corporate board of the Children's Hospital National Medical Center. He works or has worked for the United Way, the March of Dimes, the American Heart Association, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Mental Health Association, the Special Olympics for the mentally and physically handicapped, the Boy Scouts, the Virginia Heart Association, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the President's Committee on Physical Fitness. How does this man find time for football?

WHITE PLAINS VILLAGE efforts to control late-night rowdyism closing bars earlier have reached the county level and may force public hearings on the issue. The Board of Legislators endorsed last week a call for a 2 A.M. countywide closing time for bars, thus joining the villages of Larchmont and Pelham Manor as well as a group of local officials. Bars with state licenses now may stay open until 4 A.M. in the county. Without debate, the Board referred to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, a state agency in White Plains, a one-paragraph resolution introduced by Legislator Ronald C. Tocci, Democrat of New Rochelle. The resolution urges the agency to adopt ''a mandatory 2 A.M. closing of all establishments involved in the sale of alcoholic beverages.''

Senior Administration officials have urged President Reagan to propose that employees pay a tax on part of the health insurance benefits they receive from their employers. Proponents say the tax would not only generate several billion dollars of revenue but would also help control health costs, which have been rising twice as fast as the Consumer Price Index. Richard S. Schweiker, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has recommended such a tax, and Martin S. Feldstein, chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, strongly supports it. David A. Stockman, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, proposed such a tax when he was a member of the House of Representatives.

Ordinarily, one might assume that a great artist's 80th birthday would be most appropriately celebrated on the actual day -in the case of Rudolf Serkin, on March 28 of next year. Mr. Serkin, however, is a shy man, and he has stoutly declined invitations from the likes of Seiji Ozawa and Claudio Abbado to mark his 80th birthday with gala concerts in Boston and London. But Mr. Serkin's admirers are many, lovingly loyal and not easily dissuaded, and so they have resorted to semi-subterfuge. Tomorrow night in Alice Tully Hall there will be a gala concert, ostensibly and legitimately a benefit for Young Audiences, which nobly pursues the task of bringing classical music to schoolchildren. It is a cause dear to Mr. Serkin. His Carnegie Hall recital in 1976, on the 40th anniversary of his American debut there, was a Young Audiences benefit, and he has agreed to attend tomorrow's gala.

a simple chance for President Reagan to travel to Latin America to preach his familiar gospel of democracy, vigilance and free enterprise. But well before it was over, Mr. Reagan's 11,000-mile journey became a lesson in what President Belisario Betancur of Colombia called ''the reality of the continent as it really is.'' The ''reality'' appeared mostly as a pervasive determination by less developed countries in the hemisphere to maintain a view of the world independent of that of the United States. Mr. Reagan's first trip to the third world thus marked a significant chapter in his Presidency. It was a test of whether he and his aides were ready to learn the lessons of the region's complexity, and a test of the marketability of the Reagan message and personality in not always welcome settings.

Manhattan today has more motor vehicle traffic than at any time in its history, and city officials say that more and more of these motorists drive as though signal lights, stop signs and speed limits were simply traffic tips, not traffic law. ''Today, it's a 50-50 tossup as to whether people will stop for a red light,'' said Police Commissioner Robert J. McGuire. The police said that traffic deaths -which jumped 14 percent last year -had decreased 19 percent in the first eight months of this year compared with the same period last year. But accidents and traffic injuries have increased, officials said. Deputy Mayor Nathan Leventhal called traffic violations in the city ''a very, very serious problem.'' He said the city was treating the problem as a ''high priority,'' but many residents have disagreed.

GREENWICH and Port Chester, contiguous communities in Connecticut and New York, have something more than a boundary line in common. For several years, both towns have been fighting a battle with their common supplier, Connecticut-American Water Company, over water rates and adequate deliveries. The drought of 1981 brought severe and allegedly avoidable water shortages to both towns, producing deep resentment over the water company's continuing applications for rate increases. In Greenwich, First Selectman Rebecca S. Breed has called for a special public hearing by the State Department of Public Utility Control, to be held at 10 A.M. Dec. 22 in New Britain. The hearing is to determine why the Connecticut-American Water Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Water Works of Westwood, Mass., has not complied with orders to make improvements. Those orders were issued after a rate hearing last June, when the utility department awarded the company a 13 percent increase, instead of a requested 48 percent rise, and announced that it would not consider further increases until the improvements were made.

TYPICALLY, last week's meeting of the Board of Legislators seemed to revolve around the recommendations, allegations, quips and insults of Richard L. Brodsky, Democrat of Greenburgh. But it was one of the last such performances, because Mr. Brodsky is going to Albany as a freshman Assemblyman. When he spoke of spending about six months a year in the state capital, Edward J. Brady, Republican of Thornwood, who has often traded barbed comments with the 36-year-old Assemblyman-elect, said he understood that Mr. Brodsky's constituents ''expected him to be in Albany 12 months a year, seven days a week.'' Mr. Brodksy said he might not go at all, the ''ultimate threat'' to his fellow legislators, if they did not approve one of his final pieces of proposed legislation, an amendment to the County Charter. It would provide for direct election of replacements for county executives - Alfred B. DelBello, the incumbent, is Lieutenant Governor-elect - and for county legislators.

Trade ministers of 88 countries last week sweated out an agreement that seemed to offer scant relief after five days of pain. But with protectionist pressures rising and more than 30 million unemployed in the West, even a shaky rededication to free-trade ideals seemed worth having.

Navy struck early to score after each of two big Army mistakes in the first four minutes today and then wore down the Cadets in the second half for a 24-7 victory in the 83d edition of the armed services classic. It was an exceptionally disappointing loss for Army, whose head coach, Ed Cavanaugh, seemed close to losing his job. After the loss today that gave Army a 4-7 record for this season, Cavanaugh walked slowly and alone into the Army dressing room five minutes before the team came in from the field. Cavanaugh, whose three-year contract expires at the end of this year, said he was ''realistic'' about his future. As a head coach, he is 0-2-1 against the Middies, and his only four victories this season were over Division I-AA teams.

The Gas Problem Scores of congressmen have begun a feverish campaign to deal with sharply rising natural gas prices, ''problem'' caused mainly by Congress itself when, in 1978, it rushed to deregulate energy prices after four decades of control. But analysts say it's unlikely that any of the half-dozen bills introduced last week to freeze prices, or provide other remedies, will pass in the current special session. There won't be enough time - with Congress devoting much of what's left in the special session to committee assignments and other administrative housekeeping chores. Nor would quick action, no matter how drastic, provide significant price relief for consumers this winter. Nationwide, prices are expected to rise an average of 20 percent, roughly the same as last year.

DIVIDING CREEK NEGOTIATIONS to save the remains of a privately held primeval swamp forest may lead to a land swap with the owners in what has been described as ''one of the most agonizing environmental issues in New Jersey.'' Under the terms of the proposed transaction, the specifics of which are expected to be announced within several weeks, mining and timbering interests would trade their land for less-ecologically fragile parcels now owned by the state. The area in question is the 3,400-acre Bear Swamp here in Cumberland County, and negotiations over its fate have been termed complex and riddled with bureaucratic setbacks. Seven entities are involved in the talks, including sand-mining and timbering interests, conservationists and the state's Department of Environmental Protection. Environmental officials said last week that only a third of the swamp forest, if that, could be saved through the state's efforts. Further complicating the most recent negotiations is an application being drafted by one of the mining concerns. It seeks permission from the D.E.P. to clear and mine 135 acres adjacent to a part of the swamp that is a nesting habitat for the state's only known pair of bald eagles.