Tears

DEAR ABBY : I really need some advice or I'm going to cry my eyes out. I'm a 14-year-old girl and I really like this guy at school. I'm shy, so instead of telling him, I drew a picture of him, wrote on the back that I like him and taped it to his locker so he could see it. I didn't sign it. He thought it was weird and doesn't know it's me. He already has a girlfriend and she hates what I did. She says she thinks whoever did it is a stalker. I feel really stupid. I don't know what to do now. I wasn't trying to be creepy.

WHAT WE hate about the use of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes in Philadelphia, a scourge that Dana DiFilippo and Jason Nark have detailed in the Daily News over the past few weeks: We hate that riders, who tear down city streets like they're in a video game, sometimes crash, injuring and even killing themselves. We hate the fear the vehicles bring to the streets, both to people afraid for their own safety and to drivers terrified they'll bump into a swerving rider and send him sprawling to his death.

LONDON - A day after barely missing out on an Olympic medal, U.S. hurdler Lolo Jones got emotional during an appearance on NBC's Today show while discussing what she called "heartbreaking" criticism in the media. Asked specifically about a recent story in the New York Times, Jones said Wednesday: "They just ripped me to shreds, and I just thought that that was crazy. " Her voice cracked and tears welled in her eyes. "Putting your heart out there, obviously, it opens you up to a lot of negativity," Jones said.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Students and others gasped and burst into tears Monday morning in Pennsylvania State University's HUB student center as word of the NCAA sanctions hit them with brute emotional force. A crowd of about 50 had gathered at 9 a.m. in front of the large-screen TV in the heart of the campus to hear Mark Emmert, NCAA president, announce the anxiously anticipated verdict. Early reports had been circulating for days, predicting that the national student athletics organization would come down hard on Penn State's football organization for shielding former assistant coach and convicted child rapist Jerry Sandusky from authorities for more than a decade.

Sniffle . . . Sniffle . . . What's wrong? Nothing . . . Sniffle-sniffle . . . Are you sick? Just allergies, OK? Sniffle . . . Sniffle-sniffle . . . Hey, wait a minute. Are you crying? No! I told you. Allergies. Just leave it alone! OK? Take it easy. Geez. Sixteen years gone by, and still I can summon it, the tears, the American wrestler, the heavyweight Matt Ghaffari, standing there on the victory podium at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, standing one step below the top step, standing not where the gold medalist stands, but where the silver medalist stands, the runner-up, the second best.

President Obama burned through twice as much money in June as did his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who ended the month with more cash on hand and has staked out a dominant position in the presidential money race. Pushing to define Romney and respond to attacks from conservative groups, Obama spent nearly $58 million in June, far more than any previous candidate has spent at this point in the campaign. Romney's team, by comparison, spent $27.4 million. The numbers, in disclosures filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission, underscore how rapidly the fund-raising contest has been transformed since Romney was all but assured the Republican nomination in April with little money remaining from a brutal primary fight.

Adam Breneman, a Penn State commitment who is considered the nation's top high school tight end in the class of 2013, has a torn ACL in his right knee and will undergo surgery, his father confirmed Friday. Breneman, who is entering his senior year at Cedar Cliff High School, suffered the knee injury Thursday in a 7-on-7 drill. The MRI exam taken Friday revealed the damage, according to his father, Brian Breneman. "While he is disappointed he will be unable to play football his senior season," the elder Breneman said in a statement, "he is very optimistic about his future at Penn State and is totally committed to making a full recovery in time for the 2013 season.

Here's another lie people tell you: It all goes by so fast. It does not. Certainly not during the first few years of your child's life. Those years are long, exhausting, sleep-deprived, and brain-cell-zapping, marked by too many plastic toys, cartoon shows, and runny noses. Which you wouldn't trade for the world. Then it goes by so fast. They're never home, or they're home but talking to friends through machines. They remain the center of your universe while you dance on the periphery of their galaxy, like some outer ring of Saturn.

Donna Summer's family says the singer died of lung cancer even though she wasn't a smoker. TMZ says the diva believed she contracted the disease by breathing in toxic air after the Sept. 11 attacks in New York. Summer, who died Thursday at 63 in Naples, Fla., lived near ground zero. Summer's family rep, Brian Edwards, also said on Friday that the singer's funeral would be private and declined to disclose a time or place for the event. J-Lo: I'm undecided Jennifer Lopez denies she's already quit American Idol.