MORNING LINKS - Friday, October 3

HUGE win for the Panthers last night. Any victory over a top 10 team is great, but to do it on the road, on national TV, in an area where there are a lot of recruits to be had, is a great win for the Stache's Program.

Based on last nights win, and the Well documented struggles of the Big East, The Panthers may now be the team to beat.

By attempting his 1,500th career pass in Monday nights victory over the Ravens, Ben Roethlisberger now qualifies for the NFL career record books. SI.com has put together an article showing how he stacks up. I love how some haters still think he's nothing more than a Chad Pennington type game manager...

I'd be remiss if I didnt bid a fond farewell to longtime Pirates announcer Lanny Frattare. Lanny was the voice of our buccos for 33 seasons. He's been there through the fam-a-lee years, to the Drug Trials and other terrible 80's teams, to the battling Buccos in the early 90's, to the past 16 consecutive losing seasons. It's a shame that the Pirates franchise hasn't had a lot of success for Mr. Frattare to broadcast over the past years, as he seemed to have fallen victim to losing interest in the later months of these rough seasons (and who among us hasn't?). Lanny has been a wonder in the community, and figures to still be, and I'm sure he'll still be very visible at PNC Park in 2009, but not behind the microphone. Mr. Frattare, Thank you for the wonderful years.

Coming later today: NFL Week 5 picks and Fantasy Predictions.

On the Horizon: 2008 Pirates year in review, A little bit of NHL coverage, Continued Steeler coverage.