What was going on when I was born?

DENVER EARLY last Wednesday morning, Otis Armstrong stood silent and motionless at a hearing in a Denver district court, listening to a judge explain the felony charges against him. Armstrong looked timid and scared, a far cry from the bold and powerful running back he was for the Denver Broncos through most of the 1970's. Just five days before, a Denver grand jury had returned an indictment, charging him with seven counts of illegally obtaining large quantities of Percodan, an addictive pain-killer that contains a controlled substance. The indictment said that by ''fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, subterfuge and concealment,'' Armstrong had obtained nearly 1,500 tablets of Percodan from nine doctors within a six- month period. Each count carries a maximum possible sentence of two years in jail. According to the Physician's Desk Reference, a standard pharmaceutical text, Percodan contains an opium alkaloid and can be habit-forming; the normal adult dosage is one every six hours. The day the indictment was made public, Armstrong admitted that he took, on average, 8 to 10 Percodan tablets a day to reduce the pain from a back injury that he says ended his football career in 1980. He also said that the pain could be so intense that he would ''go to the moon'' to get more of the drug if he had to.

WHAT should be the fate of the Long Island Correctional Facility in Brentwood? There appears to be widespread support in the community and among government officials for turning the institution or surrounding buildings into subsidized apartments for the frail elderly. But how such a project would be financed or how soon it can be implemented has not been determined. A broader issue involving the prison concerns the 644 acres around the facility and whether they should be developed or preserved as a watershed. Much of the land, which the state owns, is part of the Island's last remaining stand of oak brush plains.

However fast time moves in the rest of the world, it moves faster in television. Four years ago, there was no Cable News Network. There was a UHF station in Atlanta, Ga., that had 96 employees and was owned by a wickedly dimpled man with a pencil mustache whom newspapers occasionally referred to as ''R. E. (Ted) Turner.'' This week, at the Republican National Convention, R. E. (Ted) Turner, the owner of the Cable News Network - whose continuous 24- hour reportage commands some of the attention of almost 30 million television viewers a day - plans to show up in Dallas to observe his operation: 300 employees providing the only full commercial coverage of the national political conventions during an election year. The Dallas convention represents the culmination of CNN's $8 million effort to build its election coverage this year into that of a ''fourth network,'' one that can stand next to ABC, CBS and NBC in the gaze of the American news viewer. Indeed, many within the television industry believe Mr. Turner at last has the right to say he owns a news operation that sometimes equals aspects of what the other networks bring viewers on a day-to-day basis and occasionally sets new standards for television. Mr. Turner believes that as well.

A fully loaded Panamanian oil tanker was struck by a missile in the Persian Gulf today, according to reports reaching here. The missile started a fire on deck that was swiftly brought under control, shipping sources said, and the ship, out of danger, steamed under its own power toward Dubai. It was the second attack on a vessel in the same area in four days. On Wednesday two unidentified planes fired rockets at the Johar, a Pakistani tanker, but missed.

For the second weekend in a row, a tentative settlement of New York City's hospital and nursing-home strike broke apart at the last minute yesterday. Just as Federal mediators walked through the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel to announce an agreement, a union delegate cried out, ''We've been double-crossed.'' Then, as television crews, reporters, other union delegates and curious hotel guests stood by in the lobby, the mediators and state officials representing Governor Cuomo circled Doris Turner, the union's president. They tried to persuade her that the issue at stake - every other weekend off - could be resolved later and that she should take part in announcing the settlement. Most hospital workers already have at least 26 weekends off a year, and many get them alternately, but Mrs. Turner said any contract would have to insure that all of her members are scheduled to have their days off on the weekend in alternate weeks.

Salvadoran military officials say that they are unhappy with the role of some United States military advisers here and that they are asking that the Americans' mission be redefined to emphasize basic training skills. Moreover, some Salvadoran officers say there is no need to increase the number of advisers, as has been recommended by Gen. Paul F. Gorman, the commander of United States military forces in Latin America. Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering said of the Salvadorans, ''I think there is a strong feeling that they would like to do as much themselves as they can.'' General Gorman said in Washington this month that he would like to increase the number of advisers to 125 from the current limit of 55, a recommendation he made a year ago that was turned down by the White House as too risky politically.

Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro said yesterday that her husband, John A. Zaccaro, had changed his mind and would release his income tax returns from the time she entered Congress in 1979. ''I am pleased by John's decision,'' Mrs. Ferraro, the Democratic Vice- Presidential candidate, said in a brief statement given to reporters waiting outside her home in Queens. ''My husband has decided that, on Monday, he will release his tax returns from the time I first entered Congress in 1979, and we began filing separately,'' the statement said. ''In addition, as I have previously indicated, I will release my tax returns since I entered Congress in 1979, as well as our joint tax return for 1978 when I ran for Congress for the first time. Such a release goes beyond the requirements of the law.''

ALTHOUGH few would disagree that good nutrition is vital to good health, exactly who is qualified to give nutrition advice is being vigorously debated around the state. Many of the state's 1,500 registered dietitians are promoting legislation to establish a licensing board. Only those approved by the board could call themselves ''dietitians'' or ''nutritionists'' and practice dietetics. Supporters say that this would protect the consumer's health and wallet from widespread nutritional quackery; critics call it an attempt by those responsible for hospital food to monopolize the nutrition field.

Almost as soon as tenants receive word of an impending change to co-op or condominium ownership, their lawyer is likely to advise them to get an engineer's report on the physical condition of the building. Such a report is normally recommended even though New York State requires the sponsor to include a comprehensive report from a licensed engineer in the offering plan he must file with the Attorney General. While both fully examine the structural and mechanical systems of a building, the sponsor's engineer, for the most part, has to certify only their current state. The tenants' report, on the other hand, emphasizes useful life and estimates the cost of repairs or replacements. It also should set out a maintenance blueprint that will give buyers an idea of what they might have to pay year by year to keep the building sound.

Lee Trevino, the 44-year-old Texan who keeps doing amazing things on a golf course without hours of practice, gained a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the 66th annual P.G.A. Championship today. His lead was three shots until he hit into water on the 18th hole of the Shoal Creek Golf Club course, and afterward the popular, talkative Trevino said, ''I got greedy on 18.'' He was forced to take a double- bogey 6, but still completed a round of 5-under-par 67 for a 54-hole total of 204. This gave Trevino, the winner of the 1974 P.G.A. Championship, two United States Open titles and two British Open titles, a one-shot lead over Lanny Wadkins and a two-shot advantage over Gary Player. These three former Professional Golfers Association tournament champions had been tied for the lead after Friday's second round. Wadkins shot 68 today and Player 69.

Carr de Naskra, whose speed carried him to an explosive victory in the Jim Dandy Stakes two weeks ago, came from off the pace under a shrewd ride by Laffit Pincay Jr. today to win the $307,500 Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Track. The winner, owned by Virginia Kraft Payson and trained by Richard Lundy, paid $10.20 for $2 as the third choice in a field of nine 3-year-olds. The son of Star de Naskra and the Cornish Prince mare Cornish Runner was close up all the way on the rail, split horses in midstretch, then easily held off the fast-closing Pine Circle by three-quarters of a length. Morning Bob was up for third, 2 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up and 1 1/2 lengths in front of Track Barron, the 8-to-5 favorite. Big Pistol, the 7-to-2 second choice, led until the far turn then tired badly to finish sixth.

When the scaffolding comes off the old Hotel Executive at 237 Madison Avenue next month, so, too, will its name. After a $6 million renovation, the hotel is being renamed Morgans as a salute to a distinguished neighbor, the Morgan Library.