October 30, 1994

In the world of college rankings, where appearances are often everything, looks can be deceiving. But not today. Penn State, needing a decisive victory to keep Nebraska from surging into the top spot in the polls, pulverized Ohio State, 63-14, before a record homecoming-day crowd of 97,079 at Beaver Stadium.

WHILE nationally the Democratic Party could lose more than 20 seats in the House elections and still retain a majority, New Jersey Congressional Democrats have just one seat standing between them and minority status. As Election Day approaches, the state's Congressional delegation is split 7 to 6 in favor of the Democrats. The Republicans have singled out three seats they feel are vulnerable in their effort to gain control of the state delegation for the first time since 1964.

ONCE upon a time, the word "revolution" conjured up images of bloody peasant uprisings in China or of ragged guerrillas in Cuba overthrowing a dictatorship of the rich. A revolution was an angry upheaval of the power structure, a word usually associated with violence. But that's history. In America today, "revolution" has become a marketing buzzword most often invoked by buttoned-down business executives at telephone companies and movie studios and computer companies. They blather on and on about the information revolution and the communications revolution, and say, in effect, if you thought sliced bread was something, wait'll we really transform people's lives and in the process make lots and lots of money.

THE wonderful world of interest rate swaps has largely been hidden from public view. Now, as some of the big losers in the game cry foul and sue, more of it is coming to light. Last week, Procter & Gamble became the second Cincinnati company to sue Bankers Trust. Like Gibson Greeting Cards a few weeks earlier, P.& G. sees itself as a swindled innocent that relied on the advice of a slick New York hustler and lost millions.

Even a league that has Reggie Miller to shoot jumpers, Shaquille O'Neal to deliver dunks and Kenny Anderson to make dazzling passes has worried about offense. On many nights in the National Basketball Association, particularly during the playoffs, end-to-end action has given way to players grappling in the low post like Sumo wrestlers or struggling to get away from defenders allowed to hold them. Scoring in the N.B.A. has declined in 9 of the last 10 seasons, and physical contact has increased. For the league's hierarchy, it has been a situation getting out of hand, hurting the game and its appeal.