In a world where mood can be raised or lowered by a good promo, we lost one of the best last week.  Don LaFontaine passed away last week of a collapsed lung.  He was 68.
LaFontaine, who was born in Duluth, Minnesota, began as a voice actor in the mid-1960s while working as a recording engineer, according to his Web site. His strong, slightly gravelly voice was featured on trailers for thousands of films, including “The Godfather,” “Fatal Attraction” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” For a time in the late ’70s, LaFontaine was the official voice of Paramount Pictures.
His favorite work was one he did for the 1980 film “The Elephant Man,” he said in interviews, but whether the film was Oscar-caliber or a bomb waiting to blow, he handled every assignment equally.
“My philosophy is that you have to really believe what you’re reading, even if you think the film’s a piece of junk,” he told Swindle  magazine. “Even the worst picture is someone’s favorite film, and that someone is the fan I am always talking to.
In a world where good talent was appreciated, Don LaFontaine will be sorely missed.
Item:  Senator Hair-Butt-Plugs told “Meet the Depressed” on Sunday that he thinks life begins at conception:
Senator Joseph Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee for vice president, departed from party doctrine on abortion rights, declaring that as a Catholic, he believes life begins at conception.
[…]
While he said he did not often talk about his faith, he said of those who disagree with him: “They believe in their faith, and they believe in human life, and they have differing views as to when life – I’m prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception.”
How very nice.  We seem to have added another to our ever-increasing number of pro-life advocates.
Except for one, very minor, even trivial, detail:  Either it’s a deathbed conversion or the son-of-a-bitch is lying through his teeth.
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, Sen. Barack Obama’s choice for his vice presidential running mate, is a Roman Catholic with a long record of supporting pro-abortion causes and legislation.
Biden did repeatedly support enactment of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban, but when the ban came up for a Senate vote in 1999 he voted for an amendment by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that said the Supreme Court had acted correctly in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that declared abortion a constitutional right.
Biden has never wavered in defending Roe.
At a Democratic presidential primary debate in Las Vegas last November, he said that if he were elected president he would impose a pro-Roe test on anyone he appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I would not appoint anyone who did not understand that Section 5 of the 14th Amendment and the Liberty Clause of the 14th Amendment provided a right to privacy,” Biden said. “That’s the question I’d ask them. If that is answered correctly, that that is the case, then it answers the question, which means they would support Roe v. Wade.”
Bullshit.  One hundred percent pure, natural, unvarnished, unadulterated, non-biodegradeable bullshit.
Joseph L. Biden’s pro-life epiphany is about as authentic as that Obambi three-dollar bill down there on the sidebar.  It is nothing but crap, crap, crap.
And you can quote me.
Fantasy Footballers, the Humble DevilDog alerted me to a slight problem with roster tweakage.
Yahoo is employing a “Can’t Cut” list whereby less-than-scrutable team owners can game the system.  Since we’re all reasonably trustworthy here, I’ve disabled that little feature.
Just FYI.  Carry on.
Well, I’ll be damned.  They did  cover.
Arlington Heights 20, at Azle 7
at Texas Christian 67, Stephen F. Austin 7
UBuffalo 16, at UPittsburgh 27 (Buff covers SCBBS spread, counts as (moral) victory)
at #4 Oklahoma 52, Cincinnati 26
at Nebraska 35, San Jose State 12
Dallas 28, at Cleveland 10
Heights quarterback Mark Grace passed for 198 on 10-17 and the Jackets ran for over 100 yards in their victory of the Hornets.
…
UBuffalo kept it close until the fourth.  Drew Willy was 21-34-223 and a TD, but also threw one interception.  James Starks found the running a little bit tougher this week, managing only 97 yards.
LeSean McCoy had 93 yards & 3 touchdowns for the Panthers.
…
The Cornhuskers were in a nail-biter until Niles Paul had an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the first of three in the fourth quarter, to break the game open.  Pelini’s Blackshirts™ made it stand up.
However, this win came with a price.  Starting defensive end Barry Turner broke his leg and is likely done for the year.
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Sam Bradford throws another five touchdowns (two to Jermaine Gresham).  Another near-400-yard day.  Ho hum.  Another day at the office.
Probably didn’t help that Cincy lost its quarterback in the fourth quarter with a broken leg in the third quarter, but there was going to be no stopping the Sooner offense this day.  Freshman receiver Ryan Broyles caught seven passes for 141 yards, and Gresham added another sever for 93.  The ground game, led by DeMarco Murray, accounted for 156 yards and two TDs.
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I’m beginning to suspect that there’s some NFL officials that read This Fine Blog™, or at the very least read it back when I called him “Widdle Terri Owens”.  And I’m convinced that at least some of those zebras worked the game on Sunday.
For a long time, it seemed as if Cleveland couldn’t do anything wrong, whereas Dallas couldn’t do anything right.  And they were particularly hard on Owens – a ticky-tacky offensive pass interference penalty on him effectively killed what was probably going to be another long scoring drive, and then a ticky-tacky “excessive celebration” penalty (he dared  to put his hand on the ground, Olympic-runner-style) after a touchdown cost the C’boys another 15.  Those were part of 11 penalties for 82 yards.
No matter.  Romo threw for 320 yards on 24-32, and Marion the Barbarian accounted for 80 of the team’s 167 rushing yards and two of the three rushing touchdowns (a long bomb to Owens accounted for the other score).  Cleveland, minus Joe Jurevicius and Donté Stallworth, didn’t have the firepower to keep up.
…
By the same token, the officials SFA brought with them against TCU tried to keep them in the game.  The Frogs were penalized 11 times for 140 yards, while the Lumberjacks were only penalized 3 times for 25.
But Andy Dalton threw for 131 of the Tadpoles’ 205 yards, the running game accounted for 320 yards and Joseph Turner scored three ground TDs.  And the defense practically lived in the SFA backfield all night long.  The 67 points were the most scored in the modern era at TCU, and the Frogs actually covered the 45-point spread I mentioned on Friday.
Gary Patterson – you can hang around for one more week. 
This week:  6-0 (UBuffalo counts).  Perfect Football Weekend achieved (3).  Overall:  11-0.
The PFW will return on Friday to ask the question, “Y’mean, there’s just one of ’em?”.