Niners Nation

NN/SBN New Search Function

Fooch — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:08:59 -0000

Even though we've converted over to SBN 2.0, our tech folks (Trei and company) have not taken a break to smell the roses. Instead, they're working to make 2.0 the best blog framework on the Internet. As part of that, they've completely refashioned the search feature and it is now unveiled for your use.

On the front page (and also in this FanPost), on the top right side below the upper banner ad you'll see the search bar. Below are some of the specifics on the features but just to give you a basic idea first: If you type in Larry Allen, you'll be whisked away to search results that appears like an SBN version of a Google search. After you've searched Larry Allen, you can click to view this search in stories, FanPosts, FanShots and comments. However, if you want to see what other SB Nation blogs are saying about Larry Allen, at the top you'll see tabs titled "SB Nation Network" and "National Football League." If you click on the NFL tab it'll show search results at all the NFL blogs (that can be sorted by stories, FanPosts, FanShots and comments). If you click on the SB Nation tab, it'll show every blog in the network. Furthermore, you can click on the power search link to the right side and search even more specifically by user who wrote whatever about Larry Allen and when they may have written it. Suffice to say, this is amazing to my non-technical mind!

So Trei put together some specifics on the features and would love to hear what everybody thinks. If you have any comments, suggestions or questions post them in this FanPost. Trei has had us tag the FanPost as sbn2 so he can track the feedback across the network. And I'm curious what people think as well.

- Improved UI: clean, open search page designed for ease of scanning results and to quickly find what you're looking for

- Comments are searchable again

- With one search you can view the number of results for all content: front-page stories, FanPost, FanShots and comments. One click to view those results.

- Relevant excerpts with highlighted keyword matches are displayed with very result

- You can sort by date or by relevancy

- Pages for matching players, events and teams, including quick links to stats, rosters, news and schedule are displayed in results

- Power search allows you to fine tune your query, show more results per page and filter your search by user or date

- Easily increase the scope of your search by including results from the league or the entire SB Nation network with the tabs at the top

- If you're looking for something posted by a particular user, just click their name anywhere on the network and use the search box on their profile to automatically filter results by their name.

Larry Allen?

JAKE85 — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:07:28 -0000

This may have already been discussed and I missed it but my buddy and I got into a debate the other day about whether or not Larry Allen was still playing for the Niners, I have gone to several different sites to look at the roster and I haven't seen him on any of them. Did he retire or is it a he'll show for minicamp? Does anyone know what the story with him is?

Amazing football sim game

montasmob69 — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:14:50 -0000

http://goallineblitz.com/game/signup.pl?ref=6565232 Basically, you create a player, sign a contract with a team and level up, by gaining experience points or by using "flex points" to level up your player. You can purchase equiptment, buy teams, train, and set tactics for your player. you can even watch highlights of your teams games and request a trade if you are unhappy with the trade. it is not like madden, it is a football simulation game. however, you can do a lot on the game and the best part is you can be on the site for hours or just go on a few minutes each day or so. The game is expanding and is changing everyday. It is completely free and is a lot of fun. Check it out

Draft Recap

grantmp — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:55:35 -0000

Here's a link to a video from the World-Wide Leader where McShay compares the success the teams in the NFC West had in the draft.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=3372865&categoryId=2459789&n8pe6c=2

He ranked the Niners 1st, Seahawks 2nd, Rams, 3rd, and the Cards 4th in the division. The consensus seems to be that the Niners draft wasn't a home run, but that it also wasn't a stinker, and when you put it into a context that actually matters (how does the talent we picked up stack up in comparison with the talent picked up by the teams we play half of our games against?), it actually starts to mean something.

McShay had a lot of good things to say about the Niners draft. He really liked the Balmer pick, the Rachal pick (even suggested that he could start this year, which seems a bit optimistic), and the Smith pick (he praised his versatility).

My take?

I like the Balmer pick for a number of reasons. He seems like he's got a great attitude (AND he's a UNC alum...Go Heels!), and a really good fit for the defensive scheme, especially if he can play to the standard he played in his senior year. The story about his dad wearing a Niners cap during the draft was awesome, too. Seriously, though, he seems like he'll be able to hold down that LDE spot for a good long while. When he was on the board, this pick looks to have been a no-brainer, since they took all of 15 seconds to hand in the card.

I wasn't initially sold on the Rachal pick because it seemed like a reach, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense; if you look at who was on the board as far as O-Line talent, he was the only genuine 2nd-round talent that was there. I'd rather have Rachal than Mike Pollack and John Greco--the next two O-Linemen taken. In fact, I might rather have him than Duane Brown or Sam Baker, two 1st-rounders. We should also consider that he's coming out as a junior because he wanted to help his mom out with a medical problem, so he's still a work in progress.

The Reggie Smith pick is OK, but this is one where I wonder why they didn't go for a pass-rushing OLB, since there were a few guys who would've been available at that point. It seems like they would've had the night to go over their assessments of Crable, Avril, and Wheeler, since that's a real need area. Perhaps they were thinking that they'd only get ANOTHER Parys Haralson/TBC-type player, and that Smith was too good a value to pass up, not least because he can play a couple of different positions. I like him as a Nickel corner early on, since Shawntae doesn't seem to be developing beyond what we've seen, and it'll be good to have him for when Walt Harris is too old to keep running to the fountain of youth. Also, the "he's a potential match-up for some of these big-bodied recievers" rationale does make some sense to me, since Boldin, Fitzgerald, and Holt aren't going anywhere. Also, if he turns into any kind of return man, that's great.

One thing that had me wondering, though, was whether the Niners took a hard look at Lavelle Hawkins. He was there in round 4, and while I think the Wallace pick makes sense for depth and for a long-term succession plan should Heitmann leave, I'm not as sure about it.

SO...Anybody have info on Hawkins? Your take on McShay's assessment? On Smith vs. big-bodied receivers? On why the Niners went for Smith over an OLB?

QB comparision

montasmob69 — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:15:46 -0000

Hey it's "sourdoughsam69." I got my new sb nation 2.0 on gsom so i made it a warrior name(even though i like the niners more.) Anyways,I thought that we did a fine job drafting and we need to look ahead to the regular season. QB- ?, Grade- ? Well, we really do not know who is getting the starting good. i have always been a big Alex smith fan and i think e diserves it. If you breakdown smiths 3 healthy games to hills, they are not so far apart. 2-1 for smith, and 2-0(minnesota does not count). Smith had 1 TD-1 Int with about 500 yards. That's not good or bad. But factor a few things in. one, if you watched those game, you know battle fumbled on the 1 and VD dropped 2 tds against the rams. Now that's a 4-1 td-int ratio. Now we are talking. Hill, aroung 500 yards with a 5-1 ratio. Then look at what teams we were facing. An 8-8 cardinals, a healthy rams defense, an the pittsburgh steelers. Hill faced a prevent defense Minnesota Vikings, cincinatti, and tampa's back ups. Smith had the harder match ups. So if you really look at this you see two guys putting up similar stats with smith playing harder defenses. And when you look at 06, you can really see great potential in him, and top it of with a solid sart in 07, and 08 looks pretty good. Keep in mind that Hill was using a basic offense, tha is to simple against good teams. I think smith will win the job because of his football inteligence, and his atural talent he has when healthy. Just watch in 2008 smith will have, 3,578 yards, 18 TDs and 7 INTs. Why only decent stats? Well when you have Frank Gore who will have 2,231 yards, and 19 TDs, you don't have to pass to much.

Boring is beautiful

Nineraguan — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:36:00 -0000

My other favorite 49er blogger, Vince Chhabria at the Merc, headlined his latest post, "Boring is not necessarily bad." I've found some numbers that support Vince's theory. To summarize the findings, the teams that improved the most in the course of one off-season were also teams who had relatively boring drafts prior to their improved year. Here are the details.

Since realignment in 2002, there are 10 teams that have made the leap from not-very-good to division winner in the course of one year. Each of these teams won their division after posting a record at or below .500 in the preceding season. These teams are:

'07 Packers
'06 Ravens and Saints
'05 Bears, Panthers, and Bengals
'04 Chargers and Falcons
'03 Chiefs and Rams

I looked at the first 4 rounds of each team's pre-breakout draft with an eye toward the "boringness" of the position selected. Instead of trying to define boring, I'll just give you the key numbers, then follow up with some half-baked conclusions.

Defensive Backs: 11
Offensive LIneman: 8
Linebackers: 7
Wide Receivers: 7
Defensive Lineman: 6
Running Backs: 3
Quarterbacks: 0

Conclusion 1: These are boring drafts

No matter how you define boring, these were some boring draft classes. The most striking figure is the number of offensive skill positions selected. The guys who get the ball made up about 23% of the picks. Normally, over 33% of the players taken in the first four rounds are offensive skill position players.

Conclusion 2: Trenches over edges

The less flashy Defensive Tackles were selected over Defensive Ends 5-1. If I had only considered the first 3 rounds of the draft, that number would have been 5-0. The same is only sort of true on the offensive side of the ball, with Guards/Centers being chosen over Tackles 5-3. The positions usually split 50-50 in the first 4 rounds of the draft. This is surprising considering the importance (and salary) of Tackles compared to Guards and Centers.

Conclusion 3: Defense over offense

This is iffy because of the sample size, but the 10 teams I looked at did favor defense over offense, especially in the first two rounds where defensive players were chosen over offensive players 16-6. This is notable because the league average is 50-50.

Caveats Galore

FIrst, a draft does not an off-season make. All kinds of things happened to these teams in addition the draft that bumped them up, including earlier drafts, free agency, strength of schedule, new coaching staffs, etc. Second, don't take this to mean that teams that won did so because of their conservative draft. There are probably plenty of teams that drafted more conservatively and still either continued to loose or lost more. A more likely explanation is that the teams that don't make flashy picks feel they are sufficiently strong in the skill positions and are bolstering the rest of the roster. Finally, the data is based on a teeny, tiny sample of 10 teams over the course of 6 years. I'm not Doug Farrar and don't pretend I am. If you want to find flaws in the data, you will.

So what does this all mean for the 9ers? I'll leave that as a question for anyone who took the time to read this post.

NinersNation NFL Draft Prediction Contest Results

howtheyscored — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:56:43 -0000

Here they are! The Draft Prediction Contest results! I know you've been clamoring, and I'm here to deliver.

As a group, I would say that we all did significantly better than I thought we would, just considering that none of us individually really know 1) many of these players or 2) the internal workings of most of these teams. It was a really tight race as I was scoring. That is, right up until the last entry on the page. The guy who got his predictions in last, also got his predictions in best. Which just proves the old agage right: He who predicts last, predicts best.

Anyway, without further ado:

Breakneck (as methodrampage): 24.5
StrictlyFootball: 23.5
gatling (w/ trades): 21.5
bayboy: 21
jtoj: 21
wjackalope: 21
howtheyscored: 20.5
gatling (w/o trades): 19
illini49er: 19
cornball: 17.5
rufio: 11

Me, I just wanted to beat wjackalope, but that jerk wouldn't even give me that satisfaction. Now I'm a loser AND I'm unsatisfied. Second time tonight, too....

Er... ummm... to get back on track, scoring this game was a little more difficult to me than the regular season games (especially with those of you who didn't list positions... psh, making me work for it...), and I'll admit there is a greater chance here for human error than usual just because I had to do everything here essentially by hand. If you think there's a problem with your score, feel free to ask and I'll double check it the first convenient chance I get. Although I think it's a fair bet that even if I got your score a little wrong, Braekneck still beat you.

So congratulations to Braekneck! And stop beating me at things wjackalope! I liked it better when I beat you!

Jason Taylor and the Niners

cuse7284 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:16:40 -0000

Can someone please explain why the Niners wont go after Jason Taylor... Its said that the dolphins would ask for a 3rd round pick or so for him. We need someone to create havoc inside especially with BY gone and any pick besides a first rounder seems worth it for a former NFL defensive player of the year.

Just to prove my point even more, who would you rather have in a niners uni- Reggie Smith (our 3rd round choice from oklahoma) or Jason Taylor?

I know Taylor is on the older side but it doesnt mean he couldnt help out for a few years at least...

Niners Undrafted Free Agent List:

saint — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:14:53 -0000

49ers TE Joe Jon Finley (Oklahoma)
49ers WR Cameron Colvin (Oregon)
49ers LB Ezra Butler (University of Nevada)
49ers WR Robert Jordan (University of California)
49ers LB Gary Guyton (Georgia Tech)

As a Raider fan I am bummed because Robert Jordan is JaMarcus Russell's cousin and I like his game.

This was a very deep draft and you can see by the talent level of the UDFAs that many teams are getting better as I write this.

Cheers,

Saint

Day 2 picks (esp. for round 3)

grantmp — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:58:29 -0000

Here are some guys that I think could help us on Day 2. I would be shocked if Dan Conner fell to us, but he's not gone yet, so he's on the list. I think our biggest needs are probably at linebacker after the first 2 picks (loved the Balmer pick, by the way--talk about a guy who brings flexibility to your D-line; I'm less wild about the Rachal pick, but I think he has the ability to contribute and the potential to develop into a solid player, particularly because he's a Junior with upside). The guys are listed in the order they appear on newerascouting's site. I've listed in brackets my own order of preference and reasoning after each of the guys listed. Right now I'm bummed about the Chicago flip-flop, because I think some of the top-drawer guys here will be gone, but I'm confident that there's still value to be had. We shall see.

Dan Connor, LB
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=25
(1-coulda/shoulda been a 1st-rounder, and would line up at the TED spot nicely; he's the sure thing)

Shawn Crable, DE/OLB
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=36
(2-seems to fit the pass-rushing OLB need really nicely, and if he could live up to the Julian Petersen-esque upside, that would be outstanding. If Connor’s the sure thing, Crable’s the guy you pick on potential.)

Reggie Smith, S
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=90
(4-I know that safety isn't a huge need, but everything I've read about this guy says that he should be gone by now, so this is a value pick. He'd be another guy who could even step in as a nickel corner and bring some good coverage ability to the safety spot--which we know is not Lewis' strong side.)

Earl Bennett, WR
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=106
(7-I like his experience coming out of Vandy and his potential in a Martz-ian offense. He also seems to fit Martz’s draft metrics—though he’s a bit slow. He’ll probably work the slot better than Caldwell will, so his contributions could come earlier than Caldwell’s would)

Andre Caldwell, WR
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=135
(6-this is another value-type pick. I like his stretch-the-field speed and his route-running ability.)

Justin King, CB
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=123
(11-I’m surprised no team has become infatuated with his 4.31 combine time…and think I’ve become infatuated by it myself. Having a DB with that kind of speed just seems like a good idea, even if he could play the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz. Deion couldn’t tackle either).

Xavier Adibi, OLB
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=67
(10-I'm surprised how little I've heard about this guy given the scouting report they've given him. The biggest worry I have about him is his size and whether he's a fit for the 3-4. He’d probably need a year before he was ready to play a big role, but the scouting report projects him as an inside-backer in a 3-4, so I’m willing to go with that.)

Erin Henderson, ILB
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=51
(9-Here's another guy who could step into the TED spot, though I think he'd only really be a contributor next year, after he’s gone through the Singletary School of Linebacking. I like his potential, and he’d be higher on this list if it weren’t for his recognition issues and his injury history.)

Dajuan Morgan, S
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=136
(7-This is another guy who could give some flexibility to the defensive backfield. He looks like a guy with good physical tools

Cliff Avril, DE
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=148
(3-I like the look of this guy at the pass-rushing OLB slot, too--love the 4.5 speed and the Purdue pedigree. In fact, I wonder why they have this guy so far down the list)

Ali Highsmith, LB
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=46
(12-This guy is the anti-Justin King. Tons of heart and smarts, but no brains. The disconnect between the film and the combine numbers might play in this guy’s favor; it just seems like he was too highly rated before the combine to be so far down draft boards after it. If he could learn to shed blocks and live up to his potential (newera compares him to Briggs), he could be a real steal…so maybe we could pick him up in round 4?)

Carl Nicks, OT
http://www.newerascouting.com/profiler/viewprofile.php?id=88
(5-He seems like a guy that has dropped because of character concerns, which I don’t think are THAT big, especially after Matt B’s interview this past week. He’d be higher on this list if Rachal hadn’t been picked)

Congrats on Balmer:

saint — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 22:24:09 -0000

It looks like you'll be poised to add a receiver with the second pick.

With the Raiders being "Light" of draft picks, i have to live vicariously through local players and other teams.

You are guaranteed to get a real stud with your next pick. I am guessing it will be Hardy.

Desean Jackson would be the best fit for your system, but i think that he will be gone before you pick again.

Cheers,

Raider Nation

My 49er Draft Picks

warriordrp — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:40:56 -0000

Here are my choices for who the 49ers should draft (if of course, they are available).

29    James Hardy, WR, Indiana, 6-6 220
39    Calais Campbell, DE, Miami, 6-8 280
75    John Greco, OT, Toledo, 6-5 320
107    Frank Okam, DT, Texas, 6-5 320
174    Dwight Lowery, CB, San Jose St, 6-1 185
214    Dennis Dixon, QB, Oregon, 6-4 205

I think this is pretty realistic, based on the mock drafts i've seen. I'm less sure about the 29th and 39th pick and would prefer trading down.

Greco would make a nice pairing with Staley at the tackles.

Okam has big upside (not sure why he's projected so low)

Lowery is a stud (can play CB and FS)

Dixon is a game changer (if his game can translate to the pros)

What do you all think?

2008 Niners Nation Draft Prediction Contest

Fooch — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:19:37 -0000

Editor's Note 2:05am: The updated first round order is in the entry body of this so it doesn't take up too much space on the front page. Click on comments to see the updated draft order.

The 2008 NFL Draft is 10 days away and now seems as good a time as any to get the Draft Prediction Contest up and running. I'm creating this as a diary I'll promote to the front page for today. Then I'll move it back to the diaries so it stays up top as the thread for entering predictions.

It certainly won't be easy to get all of them accurate so we've developed some rules that should make things a little more interesting. The specific point totals aren't final, but here's what we're looking at, along with an example to make it clear:

For every correct player picked in the exact spot, you get 2 points - Pretty straight forward - You say the Bills take DeSean Jackson and they do, you get 2 points.
If you predict the correct position taken, you get 1 point - You say the 49ers will take Gosder Cherilus (OT, BC) and they take Jeff Otah (OT, Pitt), you get 1 point.
If you predict offense or defense correct, you get 1/2 point - You say the Texans will select a running back and they take an offensive lineman, you'll get 1/2 point.
If a team trades out of the first round completely, everyone loses out on the pick.
Obviously, you'll be predicting all 31 first round picks.

Now, if you make your predictions today and then next week decide you want to make a change, here's the process. You'll make your prediction in this specific thread. If you want to make a change, just reply to your specific comment with the changes. Do NOT add a new comment at the bottom as that will clutter things up.

This is kind of a work in progress, so if anybody has suggestions for improving this I'm all ears. Additionally, our boy HowTheyScored will be helping to keep score so everything should be on the up-and-up. Best of luck to all. For now the winner gets a front page post, but I'm trying to come up with something better. Keep your fingers crossed.

1. Miami
2. St. Louis
3. Atlanta
4. Oakland
5. Kansas City
6. NY Jets
7. NE England (from SF)
8. Baltimore
9. Cincinnati
10. New Orleans
11. Buffalo
12. Denver
13. Carolina
14. Chicago
15. Detroit
16. Arizona
17. Kansas City (from Minnesota)
18. Houston
19. Philadelphia
20. Tampa Bay
21. Washington
22. Dallas (from Cleveland)
23. Pittsburgh
24. Tennessee
25. Seattle
26. Jacksonville
27. San Diego
28. Dallas
29. San Francisco (from Indianapolis)
30. Green Bay
31. NY Giants

Is Vernon Davis a Bust?

Pops35 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:49:31 -0000

Editor's Note 8:45am - Yesterday I came across an interesting article over at ESPN. Scout's Inc ran a piece evaluating every first round pick since 2000, and with Pops35's diary it seemed appropriate to include it with this. The 49ers have ZERO first round picks from 2000-2004 with the team, which might be part of the reason the team is struggling to take the next step. Thoughts?

First off let me start by saying hello to I'm new here and I am not trying to push buttons I am really trying to get an understanding.

I was recently reading a story on Fox sports about Five-year draft rankings (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/8068754/Five-year-draft-rankings:-Teams-25-32). And the Niners are ranked 30th out of the 32 teams. While I am not disputing the ranking because (I will be the first to admit) the Niners have not had great drafts since (in my opinion) the 1996 draft class with T.O. but there are very few exceptions. But anyway during the reading they (the writer) eluded to Vernon Davis being a bust. Now my question to you all is why is he being labeld a bust? I don't think he is because with the position he plays it is hard for him to produce when you don't have a quaterback or at the very least a half decent starter. If anyone should be labeld a bust it should be Alex Smith, and when they drafted him in 2005 I thought it was possibly one of their worst picks ever. I have always thought Alex Smith was a product of the system Urban Meyers runs. But like I was saying I just personally don't see Davis in that light and I would really like to know how he has apparently earned that title.

This is my opinion and I would like to hear/read honest and open responses!!!

Poll

Do you believe Vernon Davis is a bust?

Nolan article and video

sakefan80 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:40:35 -0000

This article is a few weeks old but i came across it when poking around nfl.com and found it to be pretty interesting.There is also a ten minute video with nolan as a guest on nfl network explaining what has gone wrong in the past and how he plans to succeed in the future through the draft and training camp. He also touches on the Martz signing. So if you havent seen it yet, Check it out.

Nolan Video

Welcome to the new Niners Nation and SB Nation

clockwerks — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:43:38 -0000

Fooch's Note: 7:35am: Alright folks, the long-awaited switchover has taken place and thankfully we've got a few days to figure out the bells and whistles before the draft. Trei has put together a run down on many of the new features. As questions come up, post them here and I'll hunt down answers. Hope everyone enjoys the new experience!

Hey Niners Nation,

Today is the big day. We've switched your community over to the new SB Nation sports blog platform. My name is Trei, and I'm here to help you get adjusted to the new home we've built for you. If you have questions or trouble with the new system, post a comment in this thread and myself or one of the team (lovitt, sixfoot6 or odacrem) will try to point you in the right direction.

Before we begin, I want to let you know we still consider this a beta platform, so don't be surprised if you find a few bugs or if everything isn't exactly right yet. We hope you'll take the time to report any problems you encounter at bugreport@sbnation.com. We'll be continuing to make changes and improving things.

Please take a few minutes to read about what's new below. But if you just can't wait to jump in, here are some quick things to check out:

Sign up for your SB Nation network account and claim your old blog accounts
Once you're logged in, press your Z key in any thread with new comments
Explore your dashboard and setup your profile
Read the guide to the new FanPost editor
Install the FanShot bookmarklet and post videos to Niners Nation from YouTube or images from Flickr
Click the "Rec" button on posts and comments to help other people find the good stuff.
Customize display options on your Edit Settings page

What Has Changed

SB Nation Network Accounts - the Big Change

Readers across all of our blogs told us they wanted one account to use on every SB Nation blog. To make this work, we're requiring that everyone create a new SB Nation network account. In most cases you should be able to keep your old username, but a few of you may have to choose something new, since every other community in SB Nation will be going through this same transition. We tried to be as fair as possible in deciding who gets to keep which name, using a formula that takes into account length of membership and frequency of activity.

We want to make it as easy as possible for you to participate on all of our blogs, but we don't want to encourage everyone to start visiting rival team blogs and initiating flame wars. To maintain friendly communities we ask that you explicitly join each blog in order to participate. It's a two-click process, but it does means accepting each blog's community guidelines. Just as you join each blog individually, you can be banned on each blog individually.

You can claim old accounts from multiple SB Nation blogs, and your new username will be retroactively attached to all your old comments and diaries. So now you'll be able to access all your writings from your single profile page... like magic.

To get started, click here to claim your old blog accounts and create a new SB Nation network account.

FanPosts (the Section Formerly Known as Diaries)

We changed their name. Why? Because we took this major upgrade as an opportunity to leave behind some vocabulary that never made much sense for a sports blog. SB Nation is the network of, by and for fans, and these are the blog posts we make. So we call them FanPosts. When you're at a bar telling someone to check out your online sports opinions, you don't have to suggest they read your diary.

FanPosts are displayed differently on the homepage - we include your avatar to give more credit for the time you spend writing great posts. The new post editor has a WYSIWYG view that provides easy formatting. It also auto-saves drafts so you don't have to worry about losing your work when you compose a post within the web browser. And you can now associate teams, players and games with your posts: these tools promote your FanPosts on our new team, player and game pages - across the entire network.

The new system does not work like the old diary editor. For example, in HTML mode the new editor doesn't auto-create a new paragraph from two line breaks. But it does offer a whole array of new features. Look for the blinking help button on the right side of the FanPost editor for quick tips, and take a look at our full guide to writing FanPosts on the new platform.

IMPORTANT - if you write your posts in Microsoft Word or some other off-line editor, you will get the most reliable behavior if you cut & paste your post into the HTML view of the FanPost editor. And if you do that, remember to wrap <p></p> tags around each paragraph so your text doesn't run together.

Visual Redesign

This one is probably the most obvious change of all. Like other major websites working to improve readability for their audience, we've adopted a fixed-width layout optimized for the 1024 x 768 resolution used by the majority of Niners Nation and SB Nation network users. Use the switcher below the user menu if you prefer the wider layout designed for 1280 monitors. We've introduced a top navigation bar with quick links into old and new sections of the site. We also polished a few edges, made some things larger, others smaller and moved a few boxes here and there. More changes and adjustments to come.

Search

We've completely replaced the old search engine with a new one. We're excited to make it easier to find old posts and comments, but we've only taken our first pass on the tools we're offering. We're focused on making search even better than what you had before, so please know that we're aware search is missing key features and we're working on it.

What's New

Schedule, Scores, Stats and Roster

Niners Nation now has all the basic information about the San Francisco 49ers and hundreds of other teams. During games you'll see a regularly updated line score, and as the season progresses we'll track team stat totals and leaders. This is just our first step, so look for us to publish more detailed and archival stats in the future. The best part about all this sports data is that we've integrated it directly into the blog so. We now have special pages that aggregate all blog posts written about games, players and teams.

Recommending FanPosts

Some writing deserves more attention and more conversation. If you want to bump a FanPost up to the top and keep it there for awhile, just click the 'Rec' link under the body of the post. When a FanPost receives enough recommendations it will make the recommended list.

Auto-refreshing Comments

You no longer need to refresh the page to see new comments. If you're logged in, new comments will automatically appear on the page every few seconds. When you post a comment, the page will not refresh either. If you want to quickly cycle through all the new comments, you can press the C key on your keyboard. Unmark a new comment after you've read it with the X key. And use the Z key if you want to umark comments as you're cycling through them.

As you use these shortcuts to cycle through comments, press the R key to reply to the current comment. All these helpful keyboard shortcuts are listed at the top of each comments section for reference.

Recommending Comments

Now you can reward those folks who take the time to look up stats and make smart arguments in the comments. Next to each comment there is an 'actions' link that you can click to find the recommend and flag options.

Flagging Comments

To help the moderators on a site, we've built-in tools that let you flag comments that are spam, trolling or just plain inappropriate. Only moderators can see those flags.

FanShots

Many members of the community just want to post that one link, video, photo or quote, but don't need a full FanPost. We've got you covered: FanShots let you share YouTube videos, Flickr or PhotoBucket photos, quotes from articles, portions of chat transcripts, top 5 lists and simple links. If it's a video or image we'll put a thumbnail on the homepage when you post it.

For those of you who are experienced internet hunter-gatherers of San Francisco 49ers material, install the bookmarklet onto the links bar of your browser and share FanShots with the community from wherever on the web you find that killer quote or photo.

Avatars

Upload an image so folks can see your custom avatar on your profile, your FanPosts, and all your comments.

Network Profiles

Now that we have unified SB Nation network accounts, your profile will be your central hub for all of your activity on any blogs where you are a member.

Network bar

The top bar stays with you on all SB Nation blogs. It's a quick way to login and logout. When you're logged in, you'll see your avatar and screen name which links to your profile. The icon to the right leads to your Dashboard area where you can edit your settings, profile, account details and any FanPosts or FanShots you've published. As we add more blogs to the new SB Nation network, the My Blogs menu will be a handy way to navigate between the blogs you've joined.

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There are plenty more small changes and additions we've made, so please take a careful look around and explore this new system. We appreciate your patience and hope you'll help us improve the new platform for this and all the other SB Nation blogs.

And in case you missed it, you'll want to start by claiming your old blog accounts and creating a new SB Nation network account.

urlacher wants out?

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 03:49:59 -0000

from si.com-
http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/nfl

One league source says Brian Urlacher's agents have asked the team if they could explore a trade. Another says Urlacher is threatening to retire because of neck and back problems, a move in which he wouldn't have to repay any portion of the $13 million signing bonus he received in 2003, when he received a nine-year, $56.65 million deal

Karma, stoolies. Karma. Maybe you should go cry to the league office about this.

Trade Idea

enut21 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:30:33 -0000

After passing on Ryan the Falcons trade #34 and 37 to us for #29, 75, and next years 3rd or 4th to make sure they get Brohm.

We would then have picks 34, 37, and 39 and could grab 3 of the following:

Mayo
Groves
Baker
Nicks
Laws
Sims
Kelly
Hardy
Avril

Probably won't happen but its fun to speculate.

2008 SB Nation Mock Draft (Rd 2, Pick #13)

Fooch — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:16:07 -0000

Apologies for the delay in getting this up. I'll plug in the picks as they're posted at Mocking the Draft. I'm including Matt Miller's grade for each pick as well. I'll keep this as the top diary to keep the discussion flowing...And I'll make sure to keep the comments section enabled. Also, feel free to use this to discuss possible 49ers options as we approach our pick.

Miami Dolphins - Chris Long, DE, Virginia - A
St. Louis Rams - Vernon Gholston, DE, Ohio State - B+
Atlanta Falcons - Jake Long, OT, Michigan - B
Oakland Raiders - Darren McFadden, RB, Arkansas - C
Kansas City Chiefs - Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC - B+
New York Jets - Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU - D
New England Patriots - Leodis McKelvin, CB, Troy - A
Baltimore Ravens - Matt Ryan, QB, BC - A+
Cincinnati Bengals - Keith Rivers, LB, USC - A
New Orleans Saints - Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, CB, Tennessee St. - A
Buffalo Bills - Malcolm Kelly, WR, Oklahoma - B
Denver Broncos - Derrick Harvey, DE, Florida - B
Carolina Panthers - Ryan Clady, OT, Boise St. - C
Chicago Stoolies - Rashard Mendenhall, RB, Illinois - F
Detroit Lions - Chris Williams, OT, Vanderbilt - B
Arizona Cardinals - Mike Jenkins, CB, South Florida - A
Minnesota Vikings - Phillip Merling, DE, Clemson - A
Houston Texans - Jonathan Stewart, RB, Oregon - A
Philadelphia Eagles - Limas Sweed, WR, Texas - B+
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - DeSean Jackson, WR, California - A
Washington Redskins - Aqib Talib, CB, Kansas - B-
Dallas Cowboys - Antoine Cason, CB, Arizona - A
Pittsburgh Steelers - Brandon Albert, G, Virginia - A
Tennessee Titans - Calais Campbell, DE, Miami - F
Seattle Seahawks - Brian Brohm, QB, Louisville - A
Jacksonville Jaguars - Trevor Laws, DT, Notre Dame - B
San Diego Chargers - Kenny Phillips, FS, Miami - A
Dallas Cowboys - Felix Jones, RB, Arkansas - A
San Francisco 49ers - Gosder Cherilus, OT, Boston College - A-
Green Bay Packers - Sam Baker, OT, USC - B+
New York Giants - Dan Connor, LB, Penn St. - A
Miami Dolphins - Jeff Otah, OT, Pittsburgh - A
St. Louis Rams - Devin Thomas, WR, Michigan St. - A
Atlanta Falcons - Joe Flacco, QB, Delaware - A
Kansas City Chiefs - Carl Nicks, OT, Nebraska - B
New York Jets - Justin King, CB, Penn State - A
Atlanta Falcons - Kentwan Balmer, DT, North Carolina - B+
Baltimore Ravens - Brandon Flowers, CB, Virginia Tech - A
San Francisco Ravens - Quentin Groves, OLB, Auburn - B
New Orleans Saints - Jerod Mayo, LB, Tennessee - A
Buffalo Bills - Martellus Bennett, TE, Texas A&M - A+
Denver Broncos - Chris Johnson, RB, East Carolina - B
Carolina Panthers - Dre Moore, DT, Maryland - D
Chicago Bears - Anthony Collins, OT, Kansas - A

PLEASE GET OCHO CINCO!!!!!!!!!!!

49er BOMBERO — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:00:27 -0000

Johnson is demanding a trade and stated he will not show up for any Bengal meetings, practices, or other activities. He is egotistical and a pre madonna, but he produces. He never gets into in any real trouble outside of the lines he just wants to win and he likes to celebrate. He is a huge difference maker. I know there is no way in the world that Nolan will make a move for him or would support an acquisition of one of the most productive receivers over the past five years but it would be nice.