Rage

Adrienne Goodson had 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Rage to a 68-56 victory over the host Portland Power in an American Basketball League game at Memorial Coliseum last night. It was a big win for Philadelphia (10-15), the last-place team in the Eastern Conference. Martika Aldridge and former Dobbins Tech star Dawn Staley each scored 11 points for the Rage, which won on the road for only the fourth time this season. "We've been waiting for this," Staley said.

The Rage's opening act in Philadelphia was just 12 days ago and was such a resounding success that even the cynics wondered if maybe this women's professional basketball thing had a chance to succeed here. The basketball was high-velocity, the Palestra crowd of 5,312 high-voltage. As "The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung at the Palestra last night, about 100 people were in the stands. Some Rage fans were no doubt stranded on the streets outside as Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived on Penn's campus.

The title of NBC's first mini-series of the season, to be presented Sunday and Monday (9 p.m., Channel 3), is Rage of Angels: The Story Continues. That isn't just a title. It's also a threat. Let's go back to 1983, when NBC televised the original (to abuse a word) Rage of Angels. It was based on the best-selling novel by Sidney Sheldon, the man responsible for such female-centered TV showcases as the CBS mini-series If Tomorrow Comes and Master of the Game, and even, believe it or not, I Dream of Jeannie.

The Rage's renewed progress came to a stop here last night as the Glory romped to an 88-73 victory at Morehouse Olympic Arena. It was the first time in four meetings this season that player-coach Teresa Edwards' squad defeated the Rage (7-11), who had won their last two games. Atlanta (9-9), which reached .500 for the first time this season, is beginning to play like the title contender it was expected to be because of the strength of its post players. That was apparent to the crowd of 3,575 who saw the Glory grab their sixth victory in their last seven games.

Zack de la Rocha isn't going quietly. Wednesday night at the Trocadero, the rapper, lyricist and chief provocateur of the L.A. band Rage Against the Machine was screaming to be heard. He raged on about police brutality, and about oppression in South Africa and South Central L.A. With a banner of Che Guevara behind him, he quoted Eldridge Cleaver and evoked the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. He was apocalyptic in his intensity, and flung his body into the mosh pit for emphasis.

R. Budd Dwyer's public suicide yesterday was a clenched fist shaken angrily at the world. The Pennsylvania state treasurer was ambitious and had achieved a high level of success in public life. Now, his world was crumbling. He faced sentencing today to up to 55 years in prison for his conviction on charges of conspiracy, perjury, mail fraud and racketeering. "Here's a man who's achieved the pinnacle of achievement and was about to lose that. His immediate future - if not fairly long-term - was . . . bleak," said Dr. John Fryer, a professor of psychiatry at Temple University Hospital.

As the chairman of General Motors offers a fatuous and trite message of Christmas cheer and charity to his employees at the riotous conclusion of Roger & Me, the voice of a victim of all that corporate good will rises in cursing dissent to almost drown out his words. The oaths are heartfelt and unprintable and directed at the sheriff who is evicting a poor black family from its shabby apartment. For when it came to good will, GM didn't include its own workers under the category of all men. The pungent juxtaposition of chairman Smith's seasonal pieties with the four- letter tirade from the ousted mother as her few pathetic possessions are piled on the sidewalk caps the inspired mix of ferocious ridicule and deadpan rage that is Roger & Me. Michael Moore's film lives up to all the lavish and enthusiastic praise heaped on it since its premiere last fall at the Toronto Film Festival.

Rollie Massimino always did wear his heart right there on his face. It was part of his frantic image, part of his rumpled charm. His hair shooting up for the rafters, his eyes tight in anguish, his belly sticking out from the expensive suits as he stomped around in a rage. "I call it controlled rage," Massimino's longtime Villanova assistant coach, John Olive, once said. "Most of it he did for effect, to motivate the kids. . . . When that 45-second timeout is called, all that is gone, and he's back in tune with the game.

The Rage set the kind of mark it would rather not, scoring a franchise-low point total in a 69-48 loss to the Columbus Quest last night. Katie Smith scored 16 points as the Quest beat the Rage for the third straight time. Markita Aldridge's 10 points led the Rage, which shot just 33 percent. The Rage also committed 30 turnovers. "They are a good defensive team," Rage coach Lisa Boyer said of the Quest, "but I am concerned with how we are handling the ball. "

The Rage likes its alternate home. Dawn Staley scored 28 points, including nine of the Rage's last 10, in an 81-74 win over the Atlanta Glory last night in its first American Basketball League game at the Apollo of Temple. The Rage plays most of its games at the Palestra. The Rage (8-12) began the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game, 62-56. Atlanta (10-11) cut the lead to 71-69 with 3:30 remaining, but Staley hit consecutive three-pointers down the stretch.