...that he will be the Braves' first baseman on opening day. It has to be that way. Heyman is a national baseball columnist for Newsday. Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

...different, to him, is religious intolerance. Soon Elian and his father will reunite and they shall, God willing, go back to being simple human beings. Then only the stench of political garbage will remain. Cocco is a columnist for Newsday.

...to poor and immigrant children will remain a challenge. These are a few things I feel certain will happen in the next century. And, if I'm lucky, I may even be around to see some of them happen. McCarthy is a columnist for Newsday.

...our values.'' We await October. Then the tortured syntax of January will be amplified in the general election campaign. And it no longer will be possible to be silent, yet somehow still acceptable. Cocco is a columnist for Newsday.

...are subjected to indignities and discrimination. How many of us can justly cast the first stone? The refrain ''John Paul II, we love you,'' is well deserved. (Koch, a former mayor of New York City, is a columnist for Newsday.)

...in the crowds. No one screamed curses. Most people were just worried sick. It seems the city got another kind of civic communion this morning. I didn't spot any nonbelievers. Dolman is an editorial writer and columnist for Newsday.

...There could be something to this. Meanwhile, the maligned hormones remain in my closet, but I've stopped taking them for the time being, and I may stop altogether. The jury is still out on the vitamins. McCarthy is a columnist for Newsday