April 15, 1991

They dieted, they wrestled, they cried and vomited in the hallways and behind the bleachers of the Palumbo Center. Welcome to the second annual National High School Wrestling Championships, Grapplemania II, at Duquesne University. Two days of half nelsons and full scholarships, of bloody lips and boastful pecs.

I.B.M., the world's largest computer company, has been pushed out of the personal computer and software spotlight by its software partner, the Microsoft Corporation, and this week, it begins a slow process of trying to push itself back in. In a series of meetings with analysts and software developers, I.B.M. will begin a lobbying and marketing campaign that trumpets the virtues of the operating system it will bring out later this year. At issue is not just who produces the better personal computer operating system -- which acts in the computer like the conductor of an orchestra, issuing orders and coordinating players -- but who sets industry standards.

The line score for the television ratings season that officially ended last night is dominated by negatives: short runs, no hits and many errors. For the first time in the memory of television industry analysts, no network added a real hit series to its schedule in an entire season. Most series introduced by the networks this year had brief runs and then were rejected by the audience. No hits broke through in the fall; no hits emerged in the spring.

Because of construction activity, the Park Avenue Tunnel from 33d to 40th Street will be closed from 9:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. for two weeks beginning today. Motorists are advised to use Lexington and Third Avenues as alternate routes.

Describing Herman Badillo's resurgent mayoral ambitions as suggesting a possible political comeback would be an overstatement. He never went away. Mr. Badillo first ran for mayor of New York City in 1969. Then again in 1973 and in 1977. He almost ran in 1985. A year later, he carried New York City in his statewide campaign for comptroller but lost the election. Yet political setbacks have not sapped Mr. Badillo's boundless self-confidence.